Boeing plans $141M in bonuses for white-collar workers

EVERETT — Bonuses for Boeing’s white-collar workers are down for the second year in a row.

The company said Thursday that more than 42,000 Boeing employees in Washington are splitting $140.9 million for their annual bonus. Losses worth more than $1.6 billion from the 747 and KC-46 tanker programs dragged down the amount.

The payout is based on the company’s 2015 performance through the Employee Incentive Plan, which covers non-executive employees who are not Machinists. People in those jobs work as engineers, drafters, office support and others.

Individual workers will get from 8.25 to 9.75 days of additional pay depending on which business unit they worked in last year. The pay will show up in paychecks on Feb. 25.

“While 2015 was a solid year for the company and our employees, the economic profit scores were not as high as those for 2014,” the company said in a news release announcing the bonuses.

Boeing paid out $191 million, equivalent to about 12 days extra pay, through the Employee Incentive Plan last February. Two years ago, workers collected the maximum bonuses, which was 16 or 17 days of additional pay.

Economic profit scores are used to determine bonuses for employees at all levels in Boeing, including executives.

The scores were hurt by two write offs taken by the company last year. Boeing wrote off $885 million in the fourth quarter due to lower projected 747 sales. That amounted to a $569 million charge against earnings for shareholders after taxes. In July, Boeing wrote off $835 million due to development cost overruns on the KC-46 tanker program. That amounted to a $536 million charge against second-quarter earnings after taxes.

The company news release said Boeing plans to announce how much Machinists union members will get through the Aerospace Machinists Performance Program in “the coming days.”

Last year, about 34,000 Machinists split $77.9 million.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.