Rationale for Award: Provide a brief explanation of why the bonus is being awarded. Use this email template to announce performance bonuses to your employees.There are numerous reasons why a company would want to use a retention bonus letter. A bonus is money your employer pays to you above and beyond your regular salary or hourly wages. Sometimes bonuses overlap with a commission. These bonus guidelines were written to help FAS managers think through whether a bonus is an appropriate mechanism to use to recognize and reward an employee. A performance bonus is a monetary reward given to employees beyond their regular salary, contingent upon achieving certain predetermined goals or benchmarks. A common example of an incentive is the signon bonus given when a new employee accepts an employment offer. How do you write a bonus letter to an employee? With the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, this is even more important in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.