Is it better to hand out Duty when the player(s) actually finish a job that they are on for someone in the leadership to hand out rewards? We are almost finished with Beyond the Rim, and one of the players has the Tech Procurement Duty. Since there's nobody in upper management to recognize that this PC has done anything, I haven't awarded any Duty yet. But he has secured some of Cratala's cybertech, so I do plan on rewarding him when he "turns in his quest" so to speak.

Should I be giving him small amounts of Duty along the way to signify that he IS doing what he's supposed to do, and knows it so he can potentially bolster himself and the group, and when he is able to turn in his work, give him enough to bump up to 100 and a promotion?

Go ahead and award it, until he hits the threshold theres no huge story issue. Once he hits it, or is about to, toss em an adventure that resolvs the issue.

Or you can just say that he's already got upper management and he just failed to mention it until now.

I would award duty and XP at the same time.

As for when this happens I wouldn't over think it, you are finishing up for the game session, award some XP and duty. Let the player know he earned something for being at the game and playing. Players enjoy seeing their character get better, so show them.

Imagine you just landed a job where they paid you just once a year, not in advance either.

Thanks for the replies! Since I haven't awarded any yet since he started (he joined our group in August), played about 4 times since then, I'll give him 75 Duty to add onto his 10 he has.