Seek out a couple or three, of high earners who received double bonuses, that you suspect to be of generous character. Explain about the obstinate boss, your error, that four of the most in need will suffer, and that your bonus is not enough to make up their loss. Appeal to their generous nature, in the season of good will, to help you right an injustice. Be sincere, honest and direct, but a little flattery wouldn’t hurt. You’re coming to them because you sense they have big hearts and generous spirits. Tell them you’ll owe them, always be indebted, whatever.
It never hurts to ask. Give them a chance to impress you and they just might! I wish you great good luck with this awful situation.
(Also, season of good will aside, it’s very generous of you to call your boss ‘odd’. He’s an ass. And when people show you who they really are, it’s your job to SEE!)
Well, if this is the case, why not just give the other four people the extra bonus, too? I mean how much money are we talking about anyway? Surely not more than a few thousand total. Okay, you made the mistake, but it wasn’t malicious, and your boss should cover you, not hang you out to dry. You might start looking for another job, too, one where your boss will back you up, even when you screw up.
A boss who sets you up so he can rub your face in something is not someone you want to work for for long.
Awful idea. You’re bringing in people who have aren’t yet involved (except that they received extra money) and using guilt to get them to give up money. This might piss them off, piss off your boss, and make a bad situation worse. The person who can and should deal with this is your boss. Inserting others into the situation is just a disaster waiting to happen.
You can distribute your own bonus if you want; asking others to do the same is probably the absolute worst thing you could do at this point.
Here is how I see this, YMMV. Several people in the company had the good fortune to receive a double bonus. This was in no way connected to their performance or the company performance the previous year, it was a clerical error. The boss decided, for whatever reason, not to correct the error. For those affected, this amounts to “found money”. It is no different than if a clerk had accidentally left several piles of cash lying on the floor around the office, a group of employees who happened to be in the right place at the right time found it and the then owner decided not to reclaim it. Would he then be expected to pay the same amount to every employee who didn’t find any cash?
It would certainly be nice if the beneficiaries of the found money shared with those who didn’t find any. It would be very nice if the boss decided to give piles of unexpected cash to everyone. It is not morally, ethically or legally expected that either do so.
On the contrary, they are absolutely being guilted. “There was a mistake and you got a bonus while others didn’t. Would you mind sharing your bounty with others less fortunate?”
It may not be intended as guilt but that’s how most people would perceive it, and I’d resent it from a co-worker. It’s taking a situation where a few people are upset and getting more people involved/upset. It could work out well by my guess is that it wouldn’t. Suppose one of those co-workers then goes to the boss and complains? This wouldn’t end well for the OP.
It’s a bad situation and the OP should do what’s in his/her power to help but involving other people is a bad idea. What might be acceptable in a community situation isn’t really kosher in a work environment. These folks didn’t lose any money, they just didn’t get some benefit that others got by mistake.
I definitely don’t think the OP should approach the people who got bonuses and ask them to share. If any of them spontaneously volunteered to share, that would be different, but to ask them–there’s nothing good about that idea.
Even though the OP made the mistake, the buck stops with the boss and HE should correct it or do his best to correct an inequitable situation, even though it wasn’t of his making. That’s called being in charge. For him to take the position “Fuck it- wasn’t my fault- has nothing to do with me” shows a serious lack of maturity, leadership, and understanding of where morale comes from. The good will that he would buy by throwing in the extra four bonuses would pay off many times over in the years ahead… as will his chicken-shit attitude (which I suspect he displays in many other areas, too).
What sort of cockamamy setup have you got going there? I can’t remember a single employer where Talking About Bonuses wasn’t highly verboten. This should never have been an issue, at least for the four people who got screwed. Instead your boss told you to tell them?
Yep. I don’t like to sound like Scrooge, but how is an accidental double bonus any different than two or three extra zeros on a check? The money should be recovered, but in a way that doesn’t cause problems for the employees. If it’s been spent, then set up payroll deductions over a period of months.
The boss has already decided to let the employees keep it. He has, in effect, doubled the bonus structure this year for everyone but four. I find that not equitable.
I also strongly disagree in asking other people to share the bonuses. There are no simple requests pertaining to salary or bonuses in the workplace. I’d be unhappy if my payroll officer made some assumptions about my wealth to determine I have enough to share. I should absolutely never know what bonuses other workers are getting, or not getting, unless I’m their superior.
I hope you’re not feeling too badly about this not what you’d expect. I always feel awful when I make a mistake at work.
This situation is messed-up, though. I’d be pissed off if I didn’t get a bonus, and then discovered almost everyone else got two bonuses. Especially if those people were already getting a lot more than I am. I know a person should be mature and “above it all” enough for stuff like this to not matter, but it does.
This will likely come back to haunt the boss. But don’t go feeling guilty about it! It’s his job to handle this kind of stuff, and it’s obvious he’s way in over his head.
I agree. In all the paperwork I signed at my new job, there was one paper that specifically said something about how if the direct deposit was accidentally for too much, then they’d recover the extra amount. I don’t remember exactly what the procedure would be- whether it would be a withdrawal, or less money on the next paycheck, but it wouldn’t be overlooked.
I agree, management does seem unprofessional and cruel. If an employee makes a mistake, the boss should correct and discipline the employee if necessary; shame and humiliation should not be a part of what happens.
OP, I don’t know what I’d do in your situation. I’d be afraid to make too much of a big stink of it on behalf of the four left out employees. I’d be afraid that if you complain too much for the four who only got the single bonus, then management would make it equal by taking away the extra bonus from everyone else. So then instead of four unhappy employees, everyone would be unhappy.
First, I’m a little surprised that talking about bonuses was not allowed at your previous jobs. Salary and bonuses aren’t usually talked about, but I thought that was the general American avoidance of talking about money, not because it’s common for talk of money to be banned from the workplace.
Second, at all my jobs, people usually don’t talk about specific amounts with bonuses, like “I received $2000” or “I got a 4% bonus”. But they definitely talk about when we would be getting bonuses, or if we’ve gotten them yet. And everyone would definitely be talking about if they had gotten a double bonus.
This is real money, or is it only real money if it’s the company’s not the employee"s?
Boss should have taken it all back, or doubled everyone’s.
If everyone is so worried about fairness, how is doubling the bonuses fair to the boss? Now he’s in a position to look like a scrooge if he takes them back, or pay twice as much as was budgeted.