No share bonuses will be paid to most ANZ staff this year, thanks to the bank's lacklustre 2016 profit.A more senior cohort that includes branch managers is also on notice to expect awkward conversations with their own managers as the performance review cycle proceeds over the weeks ahead.The least well paid employees at the bank learned early this week that there would be no bonus allocation this year. These staff members are classed as group five and group six employees in ANZ jargon.The bonus is a discretionary payment labelled an "employee share offer." They cannot be sold for three years and dividends are reinvested.Last year ANZ allocated shares to staff worth A$1000 each at a total cost of $17.3 million. In 2014 ANZ allotted $20.5 million in bonus shares.ANZ, in an email, confirmed the absence of a bonus following a review.Stephen Ries, head of media relations, wrote that "share offers were never guaranteed and we have allocated different amounts in previous years depending on performance. The normal cash bonuses will still be paid. Staff will be finding out about those this week."Ries said: "It's been a difficult operating environment for ANZ and our shareholders have already felt the impact of this through a reduction in the dividend."Future share offers will continue to be subject to the ANZ board's approval which is based on their assessment of overall company performance."Ries added that "more than 90 per cent of ANZ's group five and six employees received a 3.25 per cent across-the board pay increase this year, irrespective of performance rating."ANZ may find its (partly unionised) key operatives higher up the ranks willing to kick up a fuss.Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the Finance Sector Union, said: "The bank has forecast tough conversations ahead at pay reviews for group four employees." This group includes key line managers in back office operations as well as most branch managers. The union and the bank offered differing assessments on the likelihood of bonuses for these employees."It's a double whammy; no cash, no share allocation and so possibly no pay increase" for group four staff at ANZ, Angrisano said."Even for branch managers performing incredibly well."Ries demurred, writing in his email: "Pay rises for group fours will be focused on high performers."He added later "let's see" when confronted with the FSU's stirring.While the least well paid staff miss out on a bonus, different perspectives inform the pay arrangements for the ANZ brass.The bank's annual report, released this week, shows that bonuses (a mix of cash and equity, some short term and some long term) remain a cornerstone of the pay arrangements for the most senior staff.The total remuneration allocated for the CEO and "disclosed executives" (most of the executive committee) was $30 million over the year to September 2016, "most of which is attributable to reduced fixed and variable remuneration levels."Graeme Liebelt, chair of the human resources committee of the ANZ board wrote in this section of the annual report that total remuneration for the bank's key managers