A question about bonuses for those of you who have employees.
 

I gave pretty generous Christmas bonusus to my employees this year. I would not feel good if I didn't reward the fantastic job done. When I worked for others I really looked forward to my Christmas bonus so I am sticking to that kind of a mentality.

A friend started a job about 6 months ago at this software shop that's a part of 100M+ per year company. The guy put in insane hours and turned out a project almost a month ahead of schedule that already helped the company secure 2 new clients roughly worth a $1M over the next year or so. About a month ago I told him he should be expecting a hefty Christmas bonus. Guess what? No bonus. He has asked around and apparently since the existence of the company nobody ever got a bonus. I feel terrible for the guy and told him that if I were him I'd look for another job and until he finds that new job not to put an hour extra at his current job. What's your take?

Our bonus every year is a free burger at a local pub and grub.

Only about 1/3 of US companies give a holiday bonus.

A bonus for performance is something that should be in a contract. otherwise I wouldn't expect anything and if you get something great.

what he said

My boss is an asshole and doesn't give me any bonuses..

Damn I'm an asshole

Strange, at every job I had I would get a bonus that was at least one month's pay.

thx for sharing this. might give good ideas to some people ! :)

Only one time, i worked somewhere that gave bonuses and they were more based on office politics than merit.To me they cause more bad will than good will.When I was a headhunter the best time to go looking for hot talent was after bonus season because most felt screwed and not appreciated. When I was a employee I would rather get raises when I did good,then something that could be a hit or miss.

Funny a lot of the guys on this board say mine is an asshole, and he gave me a laptop for xmas.

Not to shabby!

i've always given year-end bonuses and calculate in a minimum of 10% of overall salary as the base bonus + a subjective part based on perf and non-tangible factors that can go up to 20%.

i've never had a real issue with someone being pissed at the end of year re: their bonus, if they are shocked at the value then i didn't do my job during the year.

and if they were and left, they were not the right employee anyhoo.

We have always given our employees bonuses.

Bonuses are usually listed listed in the contract or employee handbook.

Shit that must be nice since I was doing most of the work and didnt get shit ;)

wonder if my boss is readin this thread :D :D
its been a GREAT year hehehe

I think if you're happy with your salary when working for someone then bonuses should be appreciated rather than expected.

I guess this might have to do with the field of work. Like I mentioned, every IT shop I worked at gave bonuses. Same goes for everyone I know that works IT. IT guys are usually on salary with an expectation that they will put in a lot more than their 9-5 hours, which most of them do. In return, they expect a hefty bonus at the end of the year. If you're working a job where you have have to punch the clock you probably shouldn't expect a bonus.

Yeah, but now he's going to expect you to work harder and make more efficient use of your time because you have a fancy new laptop.

Your boss is no dummy. :winkwink:

that sucks, but i never expect people to hand over money if they are not in a contract to do so. however for my biz i handed them some extra cash this year as a "thanks for making it a great year" rather than a holiday bonus. they all work hard and work on commission, so I wanted to make sure they are happy.

meanwhile, 2 years ago i was working for this slim ball who in a contract said that he would pay me this nice bonus at the end of the year if i accomplished certain tasks. i did them all wihtin the first 2 months and when the end of the year comes around he said to me "instead of paying you the bonus, i thought you would like if i invested the money into the company and i can pay you a % of profit share" THEIF! to bad he was never making any profit because he would spend every dime and more he had

If my employer doesn't give me bonus for my performance .. I'd stick to "not my job" mentality.

I have gotten a bonus at every job I have ever worked at. Not a months pay like some said but usually 1 week to 2 weeks pay. Tis the season to spread the love.

Excellent statement.

Bonus as defined by Webster's

1. something given or paid over and above what is due.

You get paid a salary for your job. It means get the job done whether it takes you 2 hours or 53 hours.

You get hourly for your job. Cool. Keep track of your hours, but do your job.

Expecting a bonus is bullshit. Getting pissed off because you didn't get one is bullshit. Why didn't you ask for a higher pay rate when you signed on?

I like what another poster said anyways; I would prefer a raise over a bonus.

all my designers got xmas bonuses from me

the amount depended on the length of time they have been with me performance attendance ect ect

bonuses should be written in a contract and if not then it shouldn't be expected...

it's not like in the banking industry where they sign on knowing their salary is shit but the bonus is twice the salary!

NYC / London traders get nice bonuses. :)

Yes, your friend needs a new job, but not because of a lack of Christmas bonus. He needs a new job simply because the current one doesn't value going 110%.

Slaves don't get bonuses:2 cents:

my boss last year told me they had a great year and made a pile of cash... at the christmas party I was given a card with $100... I no longer work there. I would have been happier with nothing at all

When a business reaches a certain size there are to many factors involved in that type of bonus it suddenly turns into a negative as some feel they were more deserving than others.

Your friend is an example he is new to the job, performed well on his first projects and you feel he deserves a huge bonus. What about long time employees that work as hard what do they get?

Pay raises and performance bonuses are different.

True, but so wrong..:helpme

I got a huge bonus from my previous employer, last year..

Companies who do not value employee's contributions - in some way recognizing their contributions, and that is NOT all about money, soon find themselves re-hiring and re-training.

And they ONLY lose the good people, not the deadwood.

2c

Bottom line - a bonus is something extra. From an employer it says, "We really appreciate you, thanks for working hard all year."

In my mind no bonus says the opposite. Period.

exactly! tks!

Not a cash bonus here in my mainstream IT gig ..but, I got the following in 2007:

1. Sporting event tix. ( few eagles games, Phillies games)
2. Ski Trip weekend to Lake Placid superbowl weekend ( all expenses paid )
3. Stock in company.
4. Nice dinners / events after big closes that I worked on. ( 5-6 events )
5. GPS unit.
6. Trips to Atlantic City ( all exp paid on a inland cruise in the summer)
7. 4 weeks paid vacation

Not a bad take and a well into 6 fig take home.

Cant complain at all :)

I only have two employees...my boat Captain and a deckhand...and I have already given both a nice Xmas bonus.

i got 5% of salary

I do not know that we know that. Is he paid decently? has his pay been rising? Do he have stock options or other incentives? Seems odd to base the whole thing on a one shot deal. I give bonuses but i hate doing it but i also do nto share equity. The employee has no tie to the strenght of the business without a bonus and accompanying statement that things are good/better/worst type of thing.

So that's about an extra paycheck. I consider that the minimum. It's a decent thank you, and large enough not to be insulting.

I'd rather negotiate a 3 - 3.5% increase in salary than have a 5% holiday bonus.

Taxes hit the bonus at around 50%.

:2 cents:

I got sweet fuck all and the companies profits grew 30% from last year.I'm looking for another job

There is nothing like sharing some of the profits with your team that made it possible. I have done this in every company that I have owned in various fields. The vast majority have been very appreciative, increased loyalty and production in the following year - which was mutually rewarding again at the end of the next year. I have also had a few who would always think that no matter how much they received that they should have received more. I would always rather err on the side of generosity and give as I would like to receive if we traded places within the company. :2 cents:

He is working for someone else, why should he expect to get paid extra for working harder than the other cattle? Sure some bosses do, but in the end he is mostly likely as replaceable as the next guy.

Now if he had negotiated some profit sharing up front, that would have been the way to go.

All I got was a blowjob under my desk from my boss.
Too bad he's sporting a mustache - it totally killed the experience.

I'll be getting about 12%. This is in addition to the 5% I got in July.

I totally agree with you ... you shouldn't expect a bonus.

However ... let's flip that round for a moment ...

90% of employers EXPECT, and often PUSH an employee to work MANY hours overtime ... putting lots of time in ... especially in the ... ahem ... 'creative' industries, such as design, videogames etc ....

I'm sorry, but they shouldn't even come close to asking an employee to put one single hour a year in that is not contracted, if they don't have the balls to put up a bonus to reward that person.

:)

I'll play Devil's Advocate ... don't they pay overtime wages as well? Seems fair... but I agree with bonuses, would be cool and keep me motivated as hell..

I have worked for small and large business'. I only received bonuses from the large company's and it was very simple.
Hit the sales target for the year and everybody gets a bonus.
They had this several times a year.

It was a very large corporation with 1,000's of employees.
For us that worked in sales it was a couple grand a few times a year and it was awesome!

Sometimes the bonus came in June and sometimes in December. Who cares the month.
A business is to make money, if they can't motivate their employees with money then the guy should go flip burgers.

That is true, I always thought like that.
Bonuses are bullshit, I mean, it's really cool when you get it because you're doing a nice job, but expecting and demanding is lame.
I think the same way with tips, you tip someone because they are doing a good job, but the waiter coming to you and saying that you NEED to pay for it is stupid. I couldn't care less for those $10 bucks tips; but what pisses me off is when you receive an awful service and is 'demanded' to pay.
I had a guy once come to me and tell me that it was lacking $1 because I didn't have any bills with me, I just asked him, oh it's not ok? grabbed everything I gave him and walked to the manager.
I am not "american" and where I come from (Brazil), that's the way it works. I think it's fair.