I recently had a conversation with a HR Director for a position where I was advocating for a significant increase in pay.
The HR Director went through their Remuneration Policy as well as their Bonus policy. This is a multinational pharma company that has billion's of dollars in revenue. They said that the 15% bonus is “pretty much” guaranteed subject to individual performance. The HR Director then asked “in light of this, would you be open to negotiating your salary expectations?”.
I took this to mean, since you are obviously getting a bonus will you lower your initial salary expectations?
Always say NO to this. A bonus may be highly likely, but if it is not part of your base remuneration, it is NOT PART OF YOUR SALARY. Don't feel pressured to lower your own value because of a potential bonus.
Instead, potentially say something along the lines of “I appreciate you informing me of your bonus structure and I am more than happy to discuss my salary expectations in light of any bonus after my first year with the business when I get a first-hand experience of the bonus structure in operation”.
Flip the script and lead the business on with a potential offer, not the other way around!