My company gives out many bonuses and prizes. They’re based either on the company’s performance or individual performance. They are quite substantial. My company gives out lots of other smaller prizes of money or things (or both); it’s assumed that they’re a fun way to reward people. Where I work, people don’t need lots of motivation, but the bonuses and prizes contribute to a fun, exciting atmosphere.
I could say lots, but the company’s attitude is to be a bit secretive about this stuff, and I am not going to violate their confidence. Let’s just say that bonuses or not, it’s the greatest place in the world to work.
A hint: we get a Christmas bonus. It’s $1000, paid out in 10 crisp $100 bills.
I work at a post-production facility in LA. We have an employee of the month program, a year-end bonus thing, and occasional bonuses when managment recognizes you’ve been working your ass off. They are usually worth $100-250 and can be in the form of checks, gift certificates, or merchandise like iPod Shuffles.
I’m in Financial Services, we don’t get an Xmas bonus but we do get an annual bonus shortly. Apparently this is not based on a percentage of salary, but on your “total contribution to the business”. In reality, all us drones probably get about the same regardless of how many hours we put in. Apparently it is a disciplinary offence to talk about, so as I’m at work I’d better not go any further!
You’re kidding, right? I work for a nonprofit, and our 3-5% raises didn’t even qualify as cost of living raises last year (and our health costs went up 13%, so we didn’t even break even).
When I worked for a large law firm, we had huge bonuses to go with our huge salaries, but no hours with which to spend them. We operated under a “lockstep” system based on years at the firm and hours billed. When I was last there, I was a third year associate, billing 1950ish hours, which amounted to about $45k, iirc (a little less than 50% of salary, the other bonus progressions were 2200 and 2500 hrs billed). At my current job, even though this place is like the largest corporation in the world, through some magical, complex formula based on company metrics and business division performance, I have managed to maintain the same 18% bonus year after year. The rumor is that bonuses are supposed to be 24% this year, but we’ll see. I’ll find out in about 6 weeks. Some people, like me, also get Restricted Stock Units, and that has actually been more profitable than my bonus.
Mine are based in part on our consulting group’s overall performance and in part on my contribution, but are requisite on us first meeting a dollar goal. Usually they’ll average about 10 to 12% of my annual salary.
My wife’s though can be quite generous. This year she’s on track to make about 80% again in bonus alone, not to mention regular options grants. I think we need to invest it in a twin turbo but she wants to waste it on a bigger house.
I work as a paralegal. For 10 years it was on defense, and we got a year end bonus, usually a month’s pay and a nice bottle of booze.
About 5 years ago the attorney I work for decided to go to plaintiff side and partnered up with an established plaintiff’s firm doing catastropic auto accidents/med mal/products liability (cases we had defended for years). The deal a base salary w/o a yearly raise and a 1% bonus on cases I worked on leading to settlement and/or favorable trial outcome. This was a significant pay increase for me, especially as my case load was usually between 15-20 cases.
Last September, without notice, the firm did away with the case by case bonus for the paralegals and associates, and decided on a year end bonus which was a month’s salary, at least for the paralegals. My base salary w/o yearly raise was immediately renegotiated.
Now, just shy of a year later, the 2 associates are gone and aren’t getting replaced. Their paralegals are gone and aren’t getting replaced. My case load is upwards of 45 cases now that I have to work the bread and butter cases as well. We’ll see how end of year is.
I stay at home, but my husband gets bonuses. There’s a complex procedure for calculating what they get each year. It’s based completely on company performance, and he’s in IT, so it makes no difference how well he has done personally. The bigwigs set specific goals and each goal is worth a certain percentage. I could try to explain it but I’m not sure I get it.
His supervisors can give on-the-spot “thank you” bonuses for a job well done that can range from a $25 gift card up to a $500 check (they adjust the gross amount so you actually get $500 after taxes). He’s gotten each of those once.
No bonuses. I work for myself and I negotiate my fee and that’s it. Maybe I should add a clause that says I get an extra payment if they’re happy with my work.
