XMAS Bonus, how do you view bonuses, as employee/employer?

[PamsPride]

At DH's old company we came to expect the bonuses. They came every three months. We tried not COUNT on it. Some of his other co-workers counted on them and threw a major fit when they did not get them. DH did not work for a small mom and pop company either.
We were always thrilled when it was bigger than expected. They never gave us any indication what the bonus would be.

At DH's new company that he works for they tell him/everyone what the percentage is going to be across the board and then when it will come....twice a year.

Raises are what make my DH feel more/less important.

None of his bonuses fell right at Christmas time....generally the very begining of Dec or the end of Nov.

We are very grateful when we get a bonus!!

 

[FarmerChick]

as an employer I also gave myself a nice bonus and one for my Dad, my partner. oh yes everyone wins..LOL

 

[Wifezilla]

I had a boss that used to give huge bonuses as an excuse to not give people a decent hourly wage. Yeah, the bonus was nice, but I pointed out to him that pizza drivers made more and I didn't have to have a degree and supervise a whole department to get that either.

 

[hikerchick]

My bonus is discretionary to the extent it is based on ebitda. I signed a contract when I was hired and I get X percent (not specifying; I learned my lesson) if the company hits certain numbers. Our year end is 12/31 and it takes two months to get the financials done to determine what ebitda is. The company can deduct the payment in the current year if it is paid out by March 15th of the following year; so we get our bonuses on March 15th.

A bonus is nice but I would rather have that extra x percent in my salary every year so it wouldn't depend on the company reaching targets I have no control over. I work in the tax department- clearly we have no impact on ebitda.

We get luncheons and such at Christmas time.

 

[Big Daddy]

My bonus is discretionary to the extent it is based on ebitda. I signed a contract when I was hired and I get X percent (not specifying; I learned my lesson) if the company hits certain numbers. Our year end is 12/31 and it takes two months to get the financials done to determine what ebitda is. The company can deduct the payment in the current year if it is paid out by March 15th of the following year; so we get our bonuses on March 15th.

A bonus is nice but I would rather have that extra x percent in my salary every year so it wouldn't depend on the company reaching targets I have no control over. I work in the tax department- clearly we have no impact on ebitda.

We get luncheons and such at Christmas time.

So That's the reason it gets paid 3/15. Our company pays for a nice dinner with 2 drinks for X-mas. Usually about 25.00 a plate. Wife is invited. We also do one of those gift exchanges where you draw numbers and switch gifts with other people. Lot of booze hounds at my office. Half the gifts are booze of some kind. My last boss always got tanked. He was a real nice guy but he got fired. So now we have a new boss. Not near as cool but more efficient. She knows not to get tanked at the X-mas party.

 

[hwillm1977]

With my employer we get 6 paid sick days a year, if you don't use those sick days they are paid out two weeks before Christmas... so I have yet to call in sick in the 5 years I've worked here, and that is my Christmas budget

We did also get a bonus this year, it was a $50 gift cert to the local hardware store and I'm exstatic about that... it's found money and I'm going to wander the store to find something frivolous I would never in a million years buy myself.

I'm really happy with that... everyone in the company got the same bonus so it doesn't make me feel less/more important than anyone else.

 

[chipmunk]

Sigh...apparently no bonus for us this year. No, it the amount doesn't make me feel more or less valuable, and no, I don't count on it. It's just icing on the cake since I love my job and am very happy to be employed.

It's never that much anyway. Just something extra.

 

[Big Daddy]

That's the way I feel about it. It has slowed down quite a bit, but for a while that's all you heard every day was layoffs or pay and hour reductions. So keeping hours and getting a bonus plus a raise in February made me happy. I'm so happy that I signed on with a company that is conservative and prepares for the future. I would be happy without the bonus, but it is very nice.

Remember Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation?

 

[2dream]

We normally get a bonus. 1 weeks pay. Handed out Christmas Eve or the last day we work before Christmas. I never expect it. Its never spent - that check goes right to savings. I work for a very small company. If money is tight there won't be a bonus but thats never happened since I have been there for almost 9 years now. He usually finds a way to make it happen. And if push came to shove he and I both would skip our bonus to make sure the other employees got something. I am salary and get paid for a 40 hour week even when I don't work it. So I feel like I get a bonus every week since I seldom if ever work a full 40. I would have no problem passing on a bonus so the hourly employees could have one.

We are a very close knit group of people. There is very little turn over and most of us have been together for a while.

So - yes a bonus is appreciated by me. No its not expected by me. But I know the hourly people expect it and there is at least one in every group that would be like Chevy Chase.

I also at one time owned a construction company and a cabinet shop. Bonuses were a turkey at Thanksgiving and a ham at Christmas. Christmas was also usually some type of monetary bonus for anyone who had been there over 6 months and was based on a percentage of their pay. I found out that first year how ungrateful some people can be. Since then I have made it a point to never, ever, take a bonus for granted. No matter what it might be.

My boss is a very generous man and I can not imagine ever working anywhere else. (And yes, he gets on my last nerve sometimes. And sometimes I would love to beat him about the head and shoulders with a baseball bat. Those are the days I leave early and the reason he pays me to do so.) I think he calls it self preservation.

 

[Ldychef2k]

The last Christmas bonus I received was in 1987, from a Jewish physician I worked for. Once, I was given a pen and a pad of Post Its from a supervisor, out of her own pocket.

I have not had a raise since 2001, and in fact six years ago my piece rate for transcription dropped 40% and has never come back. Many times there isn't enough work and my hourly wage works out to $6 an hour, or so.

This is all a result of the choices I made, so I don't complain. It is just the fact of llife.