Zero (financial industry worker who doesn’t receive an annual bonus)

Many employees on Wall Street expect to see annual bonuses. A December 2010 article in the New York (NY) Times reported on a new club called “the Zeros”—people who didn’t receive bonuses.
 
However, many in the “Zero” club did see their annual salaries increase in lieu of a bonus.
 
 
New York (NY) Times
This Bonus Season on Wall Street, Many See Zeros
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and SUSANNE CRAIG
Published: December 19, 2010
Bonus season is fast approaching on Wall Street, but this year the talk does not center just on multimillion-dollar paydays. It’s about a new club that no one wants to join: the Zeros.
 
Drawn from a broad swath of back-office employees and middle-level traders, bankers and brokers, the Zeros, as they have come to be called, are facing a once-unthinkable prospect: an annual bonus of ... nothing.
   
Gothamist
Cold As Ice: Bonusless Wall Street Execs Called “Zeros”
Today, the NY Times looks at the plight of well-compensated financial executives who are having a cold holiday season. That’s because they aren’t getting a bonus this year (EVEN THOUGH THEIR BASE SALARIES HAVE INCREASED) and they’re dubbed “the Zeros” by management. One senior executive says, “It’s a real headache,” and to placate some whiners, “we’ll throw $20,000 or $25,000 at each of the Zeros so they’re not discouraged.”
(...)
By Jen Chung in News on December 20, 2010 5:08 PM
 
NYTimes.com - Schott’s Vocab
December 24, 2010, 9:00 am
The Zeros
Nickname for those on Wall Street who may receive no bonuses at all this year.