I work for a multimillion dollar company that builds modular homes here in Canada. They are a private company so I don’t exactly how much in sales they make each year but a good guess would upwards of 75 million. I realize no company has to reward their employees with Christmas bonuses but I think if you respect and rely on your employees to grow and make your company profitable then a reasonable Christmas bonus is the right thing to do. With near 300 employees our gift for the year was $30.00, I consider this an insult not a gift. It only shows to me how much we are all appreciated “very little”. I would like to hear back what others think of this.
I for one do not expect any Xmas bonus from my employer. And although I usually get something (this year $50) I would not feel slighted or insulted if I did not get one. As long as they treat me well through out the year I would give the benefit of doubt to the employer. As you said, you don’t know what the financial situation is. They might have extreme outstanding debt (that might have been necessary to keep the place open for you to have a job). A large amount of sales or revenues do not necessarily equate to profits. Did the company recently buy new machines? Did they put on a new addition? Have they hired many more people this year? I’ll bet there are a number of things you don’t know about why a small gift was given.
I don’t understand why people expect or feel entitled to a Christmas bonus at this time of year. And many people don’t even celebrate the holy day because of different religious beliefs. But they still want the gift.
BTW… (and this is not directed at you in particular, the OP) but how many people “give” something to the company without expecting remuneration? Of course a lot has to do with the type of job and if there is a union involved or not. I, as retired person work part time for a local home improvement store and routinely stay an extra hour or do jobs over and above what is expected of me. But I also worked for some real ?ssholes. But still never expected or feel cheated because of a lack of Christmas bonus! Just say’n.
Are you new? Bonuses might be based on years of service. My first year at my current employer, I got around that for Christmas; considering we got nothing at my previous employer I thought that was pretty good. After working there for several years, this year I got about 1/3 of a current paycheck.
I don’t get a Christmas bonus. Wait, I think we got one back in Ought-Eight because we’d just landed a big client. So I’d be happy with anything, and realize that it’s money the boss didn’t have to give me.
Especially if it’s cash, hand-stuffed into an envelope. That takes some extra effort and thought.
But the real issue is “Is $30 a trifle compared to what they’ve given other years?”
If you’re new, ask around.* If *you can do so without becoming the next topic of gossip: “Can you believe Reggie? Complaining about his bonus! Probably thinks he should’ve gotten more than the rest of us.” “Yeah, guess 30 smackers ain’t good enough for him.”
Do you get a bonus at any other time of the year? We don’t get a Christmas bonus, but we do get one in March, which lines up with performance reviews.
You should kidnap your boss. Or get your weird brother-in-law to do it.
At least you didn’t get a membership in the Jelly-of-the-Month Club.
mmm
I wouldn’t see any gift a “slap in the face”. $30 is an odd amount though – $25 or $50 seems more common. Maybe they budgeted X amount, and X divided by Y employees = $30.
I only worked for one company that gave employees a Christmas gift – hams and turkeys, in alternating years. The hams were brought to the plant in trucks and we picked them up on our way out of the plant. The turkeys were done via a coupon, and the coupon was redeemed for a turkey at a local grocery store. It wasn’t much, for a multi-national company, but it was something, and most people appreciated it.
Like Bot3 said, knowing what kind of revenue a company makes tells you nothing about their financial condition. Even profit really doesn’t tell you much more about their available cash. For all we know they could have a bank loan that has a covenant specifically limiting their percentage of G&A Expenses to Revenue and they might be bordering on the busting the covenant.
If you don’t get two weeks pay as a bonus you should quit and find a better job.
You couldn’t make this up:
Setup: At my former employer (over 80 years in business), we made the glass parts for light bulbs - incandescent and florescent.
They used to give us a gift card of $25 for a local supermarket at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nothing great, but hey, it was a free turkey or ham, so it was cool.
It was bought out by another company, and the first Thanksgiving under their illustrious stewardship, they gave us a 4 pack of 60W light bulbs.
Most of us threw them away on the way out the door, or didn’t bother picking them up after hearing what they were giving out.
We never got a bonus after that. Five years later they laid most of us off, and sold off the machinery. Yea, they were awesome to work for :dubious:
Do you not understand the definition of bonus? :rolleyes:
Osram? Is that how you ended up in CF?
Back in the day, we would say that our Christmas bonus was being allowed to keep our jobs. And, we thought that was a great bonus.
When I was a kid, working in the factory 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, we had to give our bosses Christmas bonuses. And we loved it!
nm
You win a cookie sir!
… trudging uphill every minute …
Did you wear an onion on your belt back then?
First, a $30 bonus is more than I ever received as a Christmas bonus, and I started working when Gerald Ford was president, so we’re talking about at least 35 bonus “opportunities”. There were a few occasions when I was unemployed, and I really didn’t expect “Nobody” to give me a bonus for Christmas.
Second, the most common “bonus” I received at Christmas was a Turkey or Ham. I found out from the purchasing manager from one employer, about 10 years ago, that the hams cost between $5 and $5.50 each. The hams were nearly always eaten, turkeys never were; I was single and cooking a turkey for one isn’t attractive.
The best story I have on the bonus was one year, my employer decided to give everyone a $25 gift certificate. However, they did not have enough to give out to everyone (it seems HR didn’t realize how many employees there were?), so they gave them to the hourly employees first and then salary employees, if there were any left. The salary employees were to get theirs later. Later never came. After February, I got tired of asking.
excavating (for a mind)