should the agreement be modified or terminated early the employee may receive a pro rata proportion of the bonus or may forego the bonus entirely 
some agreements may be structured so that the employee receives small portions over time i e 5 of the bonus each month for five months then the remaining 75 bonus in the final month of employment who is eligible for a retention bonus any employee is technically eligible for a retention bonus however companies most often offer retention bonuses to executives and to highly skilled technically proficient workers who would be difficult to replace employees with integral knowledge about a company a project or a department may be more likely to receive an incentive to stay can you negotiate a retention bonus yes an employee can negotiate a retention bonus in addition to negotiating the payoff amount an employee might negotiate the terms of the agreement to ensure they are comfortable with the date of the payment and the expectation of what the employee will achieve the bottom lineretention bonuses are incentives used to persuade an employee to stay with a company 