What does your employer do for Christmas?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

My company’s party was yesterday.

They have it in the afternoon, and families are invited so all the kids get gifts from Santa (appx $20 or so). There are 60 of so employees where I work.

Santa handed out toys to around 50 or so kids.

Next came door prizes (donated gifts from vendors ranging from hats/knives to tool sets). I got a 50 piece tool set, with a trucking company hat taped to it.

After that, a “lucky roll” pick-an-envelope-off-the-board game for the employees. Each one got at least $50, and the lucky one got $100. (I got a $50 bill)

Then was the musical chairs type game. chairs lined up, and we were “forced” to dance around them, and when the music stopped, we sat down, and won the contents of the envelope that was taped under the chair. I got another $50 bill (usual was $20), and a couple mp3 players-restaurant gift cards were won as well.

After that, the Chinese auction for the spouses - wrapped gifts so they wouldn’t know what the gift was until the end - also from donated gifts (but I know the company added some as well) ranging from rechargable flashlights to surround-sound systems (I got a sweet B&D dual travel mug coffemaker !!)

Awards were then handed out for 5 & 10 year personell (1 weeks pay for each 5 years), and employee of the year (nothing here, but I’m at 12 years now).

At the end, we were handed envelopes with our bonuses (a $500 Visa gift card, AND a check - I won’t divulge the amount, but let’s just say it was VERY VERY nice).

So we left with a tool set, child’s toy, coffemaker, $100 cash, $500 gift card, and VERY VERY nice check.

62

We have a catered lunch at the office and we get a $100 American Express Gift Check.

The two things that made me a little tifted this year was that in previous years they had a raffle for extra prizes. They are nice prizes like a digital camera and an extra $100 gift check etc. Every employee got at least one free ticket. Extra tickets could be bought for $2 each with the money going to Toys for Tots. This year you had to bring a toy to even get a ticket. No toy, no ticket. Now I am not one to be against any charity but I felt the raffle was hijacked.

The second thing was after it was all over and the prize winners were announced via email and there was a a prize for the game winner. What game? They did not state in any of the holiday email annoucements or reminders that there was any game to be played nor did they annouce the start of said game over the intercom. I assume they played this game in the front conference room that had tables set up for people to sit and eat at and they had the game after most were done eating.

Just because some of us would rather return to our desks with our lunch should not exclude us from being a part of all the holiday plans.

Okay I lied there were three things. The third being that once December hits we were allowed in the past to dress in jeans for the rest of the year. This year they offered for $3 you could dress in jeans for the week of Thanksgiving, being a short work week, and for $6 you could dress the weekof the party in jeans for $6 with the money going for “holiday events” that included a reminder that only those who ponied up the cash could go casual. I thought that hijacked the season as well.

I saw several people in jeans that did not have the special cardboard marker they gave the people who did pay to wear in their ID badges.

Maybe I should not be so picky but I hate when things are fair for some and not for others. Just because you don’t want to socialize with your co-workers and don’t have extra money for charites you are left out of any extras that the company is footing the bill for.

63

I get to go home. No special gift, no bonuses, no Christmas luncheon, but two weeks of Leave. I also get a (slight) pay raise next month, which is alright I guess, but, damn, I get to go home. Guess I couldn’t be happier about that.

64

We get a christmas bonus which, for full time employees, amounts to a weeks wages, or if your par-ttime like me, its an average of the last 13 weeks pay. Not bad, I came out with €290.

They also paid for a night out, nice five course meal and free drinks for the night. Granted the drinks were only free becuase about 25 people went out of a possible 100 or so.

Some years they cook a christmas dinner or breakfast in the canteen for those people that didnt go to the night out, that may happen this year considering how few people went, if it doesnt they’ll just fill the place up with sweets, crisps and mince pies.

Its not too shabby!

65

How is that possible?? I know is Canada, it’s mandatory overtime… is it different in the States?

66

Each state is different in regards to employment laws. Unless there’s a federal law for something, the states get to make and enforce their own, employment laws included.In MA, for example, working Sundays means you get time and a half. In NH, this is not the law, so it’s straight time for most businesses.

67

At my work, they threw a big party. I didn’t attend, but it was apparently very good.

They used to give christmas presents employees here, but during the two christmases I have worked here they have instead given money to charity. A much better idea IMO.

68

Cheerful boss right here:

Funny you should ask…I am working on our payroll right now and I’m giving out bonuses that range from $100 for my newbies up to $1000 for the supervisors, dependent on attendance, merits, length of service, etc.

Already did our Christmas party…My wife (co-owner) and I cooked up filet mignon and salmon, with lots of other goodies, let the employees pick in random order from a pile of gifts that we got from Costco, or steal from the employees that picked before them…had a DJ and danced, drank beer and wine and played poker. Now I have the right to pick on each and every one of them for the entire year in 2008.

69

I was quite shocked at how generous my new firm was, considering I just moved there (with my boss) in October. I got a bonus of a week’s pay; the office manager apologized that it wasn’t a full paycheck like everyone else got, but that was because I’ve only been there a couple of months. There will be an office party at a nice place in Greektown, and employees can bring a spouse/significant other, but I’ll be on my long-ago-planned vacation. Last year both the attorneys I worked for got me personal gifts as well (one a $75 Lands End gift card, and the other a very nice cashmere scarf), and I baked and made up tins of various cookies for my team. (No time to do that this year, plus the team is really too darn big - I’d have to spend a whole day baking, and just haven’t had the time.)

But the best part? I wasn’t expecting to be paid for the vacation time after being here for only a couple of months; I’m just happy I still get to go. But they decided to close the office for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in addition to the actual holidays, so the 12-day vacation will only cost me 4 days of unpaid time off. :cool:

70

I’ve decided to bitch about my company less in 2008. It’s my first New Year’s Resolution, as a matter of fact!

My firm hosts a large party catered by a very nice local hotel (the Battery Park-area Ritz this year, for those Dopers in NYC).

All staff members with at least one year of service get two week’s pay. Staff members with at least six months get one week’s pay. In most cases, support staff also get (in addition to the general bonus) an additional bonus from the attorneys they support. I support one attorney - my bonus this year was very healthy (approximately half of my yearly salary).

Therefore, quite cheerful!

71

My company rented a country club and had dinner and an open bar. At this point we have not received bonuses and I am starting to wonder if we will get them at all. If there are no bonuses I will be kind of sad, actually…I didn’t need or want to go to the party but I both need and want extra cash this time of year. Hopefully we get bonuses and if not next year they 86 the party and take the money they would have used on a party and turn it into bonuses for the staff.

72

Employer treated us to a lunch at a Macaroni Grill. Temps and real employees both.

Co-workers have taken it upon themselves to do nice things for each other as well. My supervisor makes soaps and candles and scented lotions, I got a few of each. One of the Admins makes her own jewelry and every woman in the building got a bracelet, a very very pretty one that looks professionally made. That was nicer than the lunch :slight_smile:

When I was a DC socialite, my swank publishing company threw big “holiday” affairs at hoidy toidy locales that I really do miss. Free snackies, free BOOZE, DJs and dancing. And drawings for some not-too-shabby cash prizes. Plus we’d get our yearly bonuses as soon as we’d come back to work in Jan. Now THEY knew how to say thanks for the hard work.

73

Wow. There are a lot of generous places out there!!

I get a $25 Target gift card, and 1/2 day off for X-mas Eve. And I don’t have to come in for X-mas day.

Fortunately, I kept enough vacation to take the rest of the week off… :smiley:

Eli

74

I work in retail, albeit dotcom retail, so we don’t do much at Christmas since we’re busy selling. We have a company “Holiday party” in January (although a few years back it slipped all the way to February), which is a nice event – we’ve had it at The Metropolitan a couple of times, and it’s usually decent food. Cash bar with drink tickets, mostly for liability reasons. We don’t get a Christmas bonus, since our fiscal year ends in March and we get bonuses at that time.

We do give away a LOT of stuff at the holiday party, though – we get a lot of stuff donated by our vendors, so there is a huge table full of prizes given out in a big drawing at the end of the night. The high end of the scale is digital cameras, iPods, speaker systems and the like, and everybody goes home with at least a couple of things.

Count Blucher – where do you live and what are you qualified to do?

75

Employer? We get nice emails from the bigwigs.

My manager, though, that’s another story. We have a great work team, and our boss anchored a Potluck with full trays of ribs and lumpia, and an awesome out-of-some-foodie-magazine salad. She usually gets us $25 gift cards at places that she knows that we normally shop at.

76

Note that doesn’t apply for salaried employees (like me).

77

We get to work 8-5 unless we take one of our scant vacation days. But they don’t guarantee heat in the building over the holidays even if you do come in. I’m thinking of bringing in my own piece of coal to warm my hands by.

78

another govt employee here. This year:
-Xmas Eve off (yay, W! you’ve beaten Ford as my fave president this year), and I’m sure our CG is letting it happen begrudgingly.
-Dept lunch we had to pay to attend if we wanted to go. The dept manager didn’t even show up, and instead scheduled a meeting about 3 hours away (we don’t like her much).
-Building wide Xmas party. Cost more than previous years, didn’t even get the complimentary bottle of wine. Cash bar. Sucked.

In private industry, Xmas was off. Xmas party was paid for (still no wine, but an open bar). Managers got a bonus, but employees got $20 towards the company logo store. Unfortunately, it was only good for 6 months and everything in the catalog was at least $40.

79

I said earlier that it would just another day in the office, but it turns out that the big boss has organised a Christmas dinner for everyone straned out here in Azerbaijan without family. He’s even buying the booze :smiley:

80

Christmas isn’t a holiday here, so we’re working just like any other day. For New Year’s, however, our chairman holds a party at his place for everyone. All the families and friends show up, we have a small bonfire in the backyard, grill lots of food, drink lots of alcohol, and generally have a pretty good time.

We also get bonuses and a company trip (weekend in Guam this year), but those are at the end of November, since that’s when the tax period ends (he’d rather hand all the excess profits to the employees than give it to the government. Fine by me).