# Holiday Bonus: How BIG or small? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719 "2001-11-28T15:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/1 "2001-11-28T15:51:46Z")
Thought I remember this figure expressed as a percentage; like maybe 3%??? What do you think? TIA, Steve ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/2 "2001-11-28T15:57:33Z")
3% would be very nice. Thank you! _(What was the question, again, please?)_ ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/3 "2001-11-28T15:57:36Z")
Mine’s (allegedly) going to be 5%, up to 7% if we can meet some revenue/profit goals in the next month. Let’s go revenue/profit!! ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/4 "2001-11-28T16:05:36Z")
Small, unless you want to take the absolute value. I’ll make a little less than 2/3rds of my y2k income in y2k+1. What exactly is the question here, or is this just some festive holiday survey? ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/5 "2001-11-28T16:18:23Z")
Everyone (~5000+) at my company will get a $500 “bonus” if we meet some preset goal for “earned-hours”. If not, nada. Either way we get a turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/6 "2001-11-28T16:20:32Z")
Oh, I still get a ham. Also free drinks and a company dinner. I’ll be drinking heavily… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/7 "2001-11-28T16:37:24Z")
With the US Government, it depends on how the employee performed during the past year. At least for those of us who are still on production. I can’t say for the others. I could have improved a bit, I was rated at “fully successful” instead of “outstanding” and received about a third of my usual paycheck (or just over 1% of my gross annual pay) as my bonus. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/8 "2001-11-28T16:43:34Z")
I don’t get a holiday bonus, per se. But rather a quarter end bonus that just happens to fall near the holidays. For my department, the annual total of your bonuses should be in the 15-20% of salary range. Based on the first three quarters I’m falling into that range (even though I also received two healthy raises this year as well). ---
**Author:** ![LiquidLobotomy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LiquidLobotomy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiquidLobotomy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/9 "2001-11-28T16:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*With the US Government, it depends on how the employee performed during the past year. At least for those of us who are still on production. I can’t say for the others. I could have improved a bit, I was rated at “fully successful” instead of “outstanding” and received about a third of my usual paycheck (or just over 1% of my gross annual pay) as my bonus. \*\* Yep, I’m another quasi-governmental worker, and I had similar ratings and as such I should receive about a third of my usual paycheck as well. Ho-ho-hopelessly caught in the golden handcuffs… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/10 "2001-11-28T16:49:55Z")
I work for a huge publishing corporation, and we’ve never gotten holiday bonuses (“bonii?”). ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/11 "2001-11-28T17:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blown & Injected \* > **Thought I remember this figure expressed as a percentage; like maybe 3%???** Looks like he’s either not online, or not interested in clarifying the question. Y’all have interpreted it as “How many percentage points is your bonus?”. But I interpret it as “Is your bonus a percentage, or is it a fixed dollar amount?” Only one of my employers has given bonuses, and that one gave a fixed $100 per year employed at the firm, to a maximum of $500, regardless of salary. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/12 "2001-11-28T18:27:02Z")
We’ve just been told that we’re getting 0%. Nothing. Zero. Nil. Nada. Mind you, that’s better than someone I know who just had to take a 10% pay cut. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/13 "2001-11-28T18:34:39Z")
You know, there’s a reason they call it a **bone-us**! 😉 Actually, I look to be losing my job before bone-uses come out in April. Hey, why pay a bone-us to ten people when you can lay them off? ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/14 "2001-11-28T18:42:32Z")
Wow, some of you people are really lucky. I don’t care if it’s $100 or 10% of your salary or whatever. That would be a nice treat at the end of the year. (As you can tell, we don’t get one. Well, we get a card with a small gift certificate sometimes, but I work at a school, so I guess that’s the norm.) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/15 "2001-11-28T21:12:49Z")
I’m supposed to get a bonus from my summer job, depending on my total earnings during the time I worked there. Thwy said something like 10-15%. The job was seasonal, kinda, but the money doesn’t come out til “mid-november”, At least, that’s what I was told. Of course, I haven’t seen a dime of it yet. I plan on calling in next week unless I hear from them, because they are NOT screwing me over on this one. It’s bad enough I never got the raise they promised, I am getting my bonus!!! Otherwise I would have worked longer than I did into the school year. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/16 "2001-11-28T21:21:58Z")
We don’t get holiday bonuses here. Sometimes we get one-time bonuses, but those get handed out when we get our yearly review and pay increase in the fall. Sigh. Time to go suck up to Manhattan again. And anyone else who recently got a raise. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/17 "2001-11-28T22:00:16Z")
My boss gives me a $40 gift certificate to a clothing store in town… ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/18 "2001-11-28T23:18:30Z")
What is the General Question here? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/19 "2001-11-28T23:30:56Z")
Our annual bonus is based on sales for the previous fiscal year and paid in August. Seeing as how sales are miserable, I look to not get anything, much less the $80 I got last August (I’m eligible for up to $2000). ---
**Author:** ![Houlihan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Houlihan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Houlihan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719/20 "2001-11-29T00:40:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*What is the General Question here? \*\* I think the “general question” is what constitutes an average holiday bonus, but I don’t think it’s answerable, because it seems to be industry-specific. I have been involved in three industries, and bonuses have run from 0% of salary average to 12-15% in my current industry. So I don’t think there is an answer the question. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holiday-bonus-how-big-or-small/95719.md?page=2)