Lately I’ve heard various background rumblings about employers becoming ever cheaper when it comes to doling out the Christmas dosh. I can’t say as I am experiencing that myself, but even I’ve heard of a couple of acquaintances whose yuletide cheer has, of late, become decidedly drab coming from their workplace.
Now, I’ve personally experienced varying degrees of generosity on the part of my employers – a bottle of scotch, a $50 gift card (redeemable only at the store I worked at), a bit of cash – but invariably, just about every place that I have worked at over the holidays have given something.
I am fortunate in that I am currently working for an employer that is probably the most generous. This year, I’ll get a $300 bonus, plus we’ll all be going out for a Christmas luncheon (though this year instead of the fancy Baton Rouge we’re evidently stepping down a notch or two and invading Applebee’s) and during said luncheon, there’s a drawing to see who gets one of 6 to 8 gift baskets our dear executive assistant makes up. All in all it’s usually quite an enjoyable shindig. (Yeah, the boss pays for the beer/wine, too. :D)
On the other side of the coin there was the above $50 gift certificate I got for the store I worked at. Then there was the employer who gave me a bottle of whiskey. (I was 16. He knew it. I didn’t complain though. :D)
What’s your place of employment like over the holidays? Cheap or cheerful?
I’ve been working consistently for 30 years in over 100 part- and full-time jobs. I have never received a holiday gift or bonus. Often there’s been a lunch party, though not with a religious or cultural religious theme.
I’ve been working in high-tech for 23 years and never once have I received anything from my employer at Christmas. An extra day or two off, apart from the usual Christmas day, Boxing day, and New Year’s day maybe, but not always (and not where I am currently).
Although the “Holiday Party” at this new place was free of charge (dinner only, not booze): I had to buy my own tickets at other places.
We have an annual Christmas party at which we are treated to a catered dinner and drinks. We get a small gift at the party. Then with our paychecks we usually get a $100 gift card to the local grocery store. It’s not a lot, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
ETA: The Christmas party is for our spouses/SOs, too, not just the employees.
My company does yearly bonuses, but not at Christmas. I was hired just about a week too late to get one this year. They did pass out nice fleece logo jackets yesterday, which is more than I’ve gotten from previous employers. We’re also going to do a potluck and Secret Santa thing next week, but that’s all arranged by the employees.
The “big” holiday party is actually more of a fundraiser, due to the nature of the place and it sold out early.
I work at a small satellite office about 75 miles from the main office. They are having a lasagna lunch for the people at the main office, but absolutely nothing for the people here at this office.
$100 gift card for Safeway (grocery store.) It came along with a card listing some of the various charities the owners have donated to throughout the year. It’s quite extensive.
6 bottles of wine (ranging in price from $10 a bottle to $120 a bottle retail. We also get this for Thanksgiving and Easter/Spring.)
Christmas party - Food/drinks/door prizes/dancing/etc.
Bonus. Mine was equivalent to 2 weeks pay.
Christmas Eve and Day are paid holidays.
Logo wear. Past couple of years have been suede jackets and fleece vests.
My manager took us to lunch last week, and we’ll probably go at least a couple more times either on him or one of the other VPs. We’ve got a good group of fun people that usually go out for lunch a couple times a month.
The place is decorated, we’ve got a ‘Giving/Angel tree’ in the lobbies of all of the buildings, and everyone is generally in good spirits and cheerful. Lots of people take vacation the week between Christmas and NYE, our lines are down, most of our vendors shut down for a couple of weeks, so the place is a pretty much a ghost town. It’s a great time for me to catch up on filing and other stuff if I don’t take vacation myself.
Wow now I feel guilty. But for everyone that gets nothing there are others that receive an embarrassment of riches. I work for a subsidiary of largish insurance company. The parent company has a massive Christmas party. By massive I mean they rent out Music Hall here in Cincinnati for 6:00 and 9:00pm shows each followed by a cocktail party with open bar in the ball room. This year’s entertainment was Harry Conick jr. On the way out we were each handed $100 gift certificate to the Palace Restaurant as well as gift certificates for some free UDF ice cream.
We had dinner catered by the in-house caterers (aka the cafeteria), served up in the oh-so-practically-named Overflow Room in the basement of our main building. No gifts, though there were a few prizes up for grabs in $5 popcorn bags, with proceeds going to the local food bank. I made off with a bandit with the popcorn bags - $50 to the Keg, $25 at HMV, a 2MB USB key and a basket of high-end salon products.
My home department also hosted a small party with a buffet dinner. Thankfully they did get a venue outside the office. I received a logoed stainless steel thermos as my gift.
No cash bonuses from either, sadly.
On a side note - I missed out on Best Christmas Bonus Ever last year, when the entire team received iPod nanos from a vendor. Sniff. Mind you, at that time the team was about a quarter the size it is now and the project wasn’t disastrously over budget. Oh, the difference a year makes.
Last year my manager gave me a ten dollar gift card to the store where I work. She also bought pizza for the people who worked on Christmas Eve day. That’s it. From the company, nothing. Of course, the manager only gave the gift cards to the supervisors and assistant manager, so the sales consultants didn’t even get that. I gave her a gift card for Best Buy, so it came out about even, actually.
The last place I worked my manager gave us each a candy bar. As it happened it was the candy the store was giving out to customers as a thank you gift for the holidays, so I thought it was a bit cheap of her to use those, but oh, well. It was still decent chocolate. The store did a dinner party for employees, but the second year I worked there it was in January so it would be after the Christmas rush. The first year it was scheduled for a Sunday night at about 7:30, when the store closed at 7. At the last minute I decided not to go.
My employer is wonderful in this respect. I got my $600 bonus, just today in fact, they usually come around a couple days before christmas and hand out a crisp $100 bill in a money envelope to all the full time employees, $50 for the part-timers. We’re having our department christmas dinner tonight at a very upscale restaurant, drinks included. The coolest thing is the holiday party though. We have it in January, because they realize how hectic December can be, it’s usually a theme party, (hawaiian, 60’s, western) this year is a mexican fiesta. Huge buffet dinner, open bar, live music, fabulous door prizes, (electronics, art, weekend trips), casino games with monopoly money, and free rides home. I work for an awesome company, and they treat their employees like gold.
I work for a small environmental consulting company with several offices. Two of the owners work in my office.
We get a gift card from one of the owners every year, usually about $25…last year I think it was for Borders.
The other owner rents out a pub here in town for an entire Sunday for employees, families, and friends. Football, food, and lots and lots of great beer. It’s simply…awesome.
<snort> Whole lotta nothin’. My department gets together and brings food, that’s about it. Some of us make cookies. Bonus? What’s that? We’re lucky to get two days off.
A few years ago I worked for a Japanese Company that had just come to America . When Thanksgiving came they asked me if it were a big holiday and what should they do about it. Half way through the explanation about the Puritans and Indians I realized it was not going well. It does sound dumb. They reluctantly granted Americans the day of. The Japanese employees worked.
Then came Christmas. They did realize we were not coming to work. They learned to live with it but never quite figured Thanksgiving out.
