"Bonus" - definition please!

I thought a "bonus" was a sum of money paid to an employee in recognition of a good performance - a performance over and above of what is expected of them.

Some years ago my BIL was given a bonus at his last place of employment. It was awarded by his first boss there, before the company changed hands. 

My BIL had put a lot of extra hours into getting a major project off the ground after someone unexpectedly left the business. His boss was asking a lot more of my BIL than was in his job description and the bonus recognised that. It was presented to my BIL at the Christmas event, just after the successful completion of the project. 

He was a good boss. This is why a bonus should be awarded. It should be awarded for doing something extra.

There have been ructions here in Downunder because the former head of the postal service bought several Cartier watches as a "bonus" to senior executives. Now she may not have actually broken the law but her judgment has been questioned - and rightly so. The senior executives were well paid. They were doing the job that they were expected to do. What is more they were paid to do it and do it well. I would much prefer to see the young postal delivery person who was doing our round just before Christmas in 2019 get a "thank you". On several occasions when the Senior Cat was tottering around the front garden trying to do some watering this young person didn't put the letters into our box he came right in and handed them over to the Senior Cat. He didn't need to do that but it was that little extra service, the sort that should be rewarded. (Letter boxes in Downunder are on the street, not at the front door.) We tried to thank him with cold bottles of water on very hot days.

I don't believe our Prime Minister was being "sexist" when he questioned the judgment of the former head of the postal service. It is a judgment which should have been questioned. It is too easy to say the criticism is sex-related. And why were these particular people given an added bonus?

More than once I have wondered why people in some positions are given a bonus or some extra recognition. If you win a race and you get a medal then isn't that the appropriate thing? Why do  others then go ahead and give the medal winner extra recognition? Is that fair when there are other people who might have put just as much effort in but didn't quite make it? 

I am not suggesting we should give everyone a medal. That is just as silly. What I am suggesting is that we need to consider more carefully whether we should really be giving "winners" more than the medal or whatever initial reward was decided on.