Regarding Christmas Bonuses

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JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Do you thank your boss for your Christmas bonus?
I'm specifically referring to those of you that work directly for the owner in a small business.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but when I give someone an extra week's pay at Christmas, plus an extra $50 cash to buy a gift in a gift exchange at our rather lavish Christmas party (at my house), I would think at least one out of ten would day thank you. They voted to have the party at my house because it is more personal and informal than a restaurant, and I hire good caterers.
 
I did once.
I worked at a startup and boss put an extra $250 in my check at Christmas.

I thanked him with a letter of appreciation in spite of the fact that I couldn't stand to be in the sight of him. Biggest prick for which I ever worked. But he didn't have to do that so yes I explained to him that I was grateful.

Most of the people that worked for me there bitched that it was not much money and if he was only giving that, he shouldn't of given anything. That was a little off putting. I sat them doen and explained "Look he is a jack ass but think about how much extra blow you can get this year" We all nodded silently in agreement.
 
Do your employees get that bonus added into their paycheck or are they handed a bonus check?

How insulated are you from your employees? They might see it as a "company bonus" rather than a "gift from the owner".
 
Yes, every year. Not just a thank you by email, but usually I send him a bottle of hooch.
 
Matthew said:
Do your employees get that bonus added into their paycheck or are they handed a bonus check?

How insulated are you from your employees? They might see it as a "company bonus" rather than a "gift from the owner".
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I did add it to their regular check as a line item that said "Christmas Bonus". on that same check I also paid them for any unused vacation time. Some of them got paid for another 50 hours for vacation they didn't use. I guess maybe I was thinking they thought it wasn't enough, even though I pay at least 20% more than other local similar businesses and I provide excellent benefits.

My wife and I are the owners and we are both very engaged with everyone on a daily basis. When everyone is not working hard, we all joke around and have fun. They are all young women and they come to me when they need help or advice with buying or fixing a car, finding an apartment, buying a house, or a host of other issues like computer problems.
 
JOhnH said:
I did add it to their regular check as a line item that said "Christmas Bonus". on that same check I also paid them for any unused vacation time. Some of them got paid for another 50 hours for vacation they didn't use. I guess maybe I was thinking they thought it wasn't enough, even though I pay at least 20% more than other local similar businesses and I provide excellent benefits.

My wife and I are the owners and we are both very engaged with everyone on a daily basis. When everyone is not working hard, we all joke around and have fun. They are all young women and they come to me when they need help or advice with buying or fixing a car, finding an apartment, buying a house, or a host of other issues like computer problems.
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You and your wife sound like decent people, and the employees SHOULD thank you. I don't know about expecting it, though. Sometimes business is just business, but a word of thanks really does work both ways - you thanking your employees with a bonus, and your employees recognizing that. It's common courtesy.
 
If I get a bonus or special favor from my boss I thank her, but then, I'm 62 and so was raised in a different era than today's kids.

I'm a wage slave, but my wife is an Enrolled Agent and owns a tax representation business with ~10 employees. She hosts at least one party a year at the end of tax season at a nice restaurant for all her staff and also for some of the other professionals and vendors she works with.

Employees each bring a guest (except for the one lady who has two husbands, she gets to bring both of them ).


It's a pretty fun thing, but I don't recall much in the way of thanks from the employees, but really, the purpose of the party is more for her to thank the employees and friends.
 
As long as it isn't a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club, I would thank him/her for a Christmas bonus.
 
JOhnH said:
Do you thank your boss for your Christmas bonus?
I'm specifically referring to those of you that work directly for the owner in a small business.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but when I give someone an extra week's pay at Christmas, plus an extra $50 cash to buy a gift in a gift exchange at our rather lavish Christmas party (at my house), I would think at least one out of ten would day thank you. They voted to have the party at my house because it is more personal and informal than a restaurant, and I hire good caterers.
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Absolutely I thank them.
 
Given the chance ,I would most definitely say thanks. You go.
 
During our Christmas party last week I thanked everyone from my immediate manager to the chairman for their generosity. Note that the generosity was a group meal at a decent restaurant and a gift for everyone but no cash. Either way, the gesture is appreciated and worthy of a "thank you".

Our business Christmas party will be just me and my wife but I'll be sure to show her my appreciation for a good year :D:hairraise:
 
I have done exactly that in the past without any gratitude. I think it comes across as if the business is giving the bonus rather than one person. I have found going out of my way to make it more personable will get the response you are looking for. Next year, try handing everyone a card with your well wishes and a smile.
 
JimNtexas said:
If I get a bonus or special favor from my boss I thank her, but then, I'm 62 and so was raised in a different era than today's kids.
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I've employed about ten or fifteen 20-somethings for the last 18 years. 90 percent of them have said thank you for any non-required compensation, free lunch, etc that I've given them. Sometimes they lack focus and initiative, but they all seem to understand gratitude.
 
I'm the guy giving the bonus. I figure the whole thing is my way of saying thank you to my employees for what they've already done. I don't expect anything more in return.
 
My bonuses are pre-negotiated, to avoid this exact expectation of "thank you massa, i surely do enjoy this here xmas bonus and generosity"
 
My bonus is part of my pay package and varies from year to year. However, it is a sizable chunk and I thank my boss profusely. I also drop about 400-500 on a gift for him.
 
I must have had unusually grateful employees because I always got thanked.

I never had a lot of employees, but most of the ones I did have got bonuses of 2.5 percent of their wages for the past year (with a minimum of $250.00) in cash, plus a $50.00 gift card for Waldbaum's (a supermarket chain). The employees who were especially reliable and productive got bigger bonuses. I don't remember ever not being thanked.

Most of these employees were per-diem, usually college kids, making a percentage of their total wages for the previous year the most reasonable basis for calculating bonuses. "Weekly" wages were meaningless. Also, only the employees I used regularly got bonuses. Those who only worked once and weren't asked again didn't get bonuses, for obvious reasons.

I also paid for my employees' meals while they were working. I knew that most of them were broke college kids who might not have the coin to buy lunch, so it seemed like the right thing to do. They always thanked me for that, too.

Rich
 
I was always thanked by most of my employees when I gave bonuses and I always thanked my bosses for bonuses when I worked for others.
 
Fearless Tower said:
As long as it isn't a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club, I would thank him/her for a Christmas bonus.
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I was hoping someone would say it! :rofl:

My Christmas bonus is getting to deploy over Thanksgiving and Christmas
 
Pretty sure I've never received a Christmas bonus in my life.
 
Gucci Pilot said:
I was hoping someone would say it! :rofl:

My Christmas bonus is getting to deploy over Thanksgiving and Christmas
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One year while offshore, Christmas bonus was to pull off bottom and circulate all day. Still had to work the mud...
 
Stewartb said:
I'm the guy giving the bonus. I figure the whole thing is my way of saying thank you to my employees for what they've already done. I don't expect anything more in return.
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I am the same way. Regular paychecks are direct deposit, bonuses are in check form and my way of saying thank you to my employees. I like to give out the Christmas bonus at the end of the first week in December.
 
I have a few employees that will thank me for a Christmas Bonus but most do not. I always make a Bonus check separate from the payroll check other wise it just gets deposited and used for monthly expenses.
Most of my employees work out of town so Christmas Parties never work, cant get everyone together. I tried it a few years but the ones that were out of town felt they should be compensated for missing the party?:rolleyes2:
As I'm typing this my office manager walks in and hands me a receipt from a Car rental where one of my guys rented a Audi at $99.00 per day? Guess what his Christmas Bonus is going to be?:no:
People never cease to amaze me.:confused:
 
I always have thanked my boss for the bonuses he has given. I always get him something, rather that is a firearm or a bottle of scotch. I am in upper management and know where the money came from. Our bonuses are a check in a christmas card.
 
I always thanked the boss for a bonus even though one of them made Scrooge seem like a spendthrift. My last employer's bonus checks put me in the next tax bracket. He's still being thanked.
 
Personally when I hand out bonuses I thank my employees for all the hard work
 
If you want to be thanked for handing out bonuses, present it as a gift, not a line item or something from the employee handbook.

Make it a separate paper check, maybe in a card, and sign it personally. Then give them out with a sincere word of thanks and move on.

Don't make it a selling point for new hires, or withhold it for negative performance. Otherwise, it's just part of the normal pay package.
 
warthog1984 said:
If you want to be thanked for handing out bonuses, present it as a gift, not a line item or something from the employee handbook.

Make it a separate paper check, maybe in a card, and sign it personally. Then give them out with a sincere word of thanks and move on.

Don't make it a selling point for new hires, or withhold it for negative performance. Otherwise, it's just part of the normal pay package.
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That seems to be the issue.

For the past few years, the company wasn't doing well enough to pay bonuses, so my wife wrote them a personal check from her own account and put it in a hand written card. That drew a couple of verbal thank-you's. This has been the first year since the recession started that I was able to justify the company paying the bonuses, or me taking a regular salary.

Also, since we have been having a good year, I frequently pass out cash at the end of a particularly busy day with a "thanks for the hard work" comment. That usually returns a smile and a thank you.

I know I shouldn't "expect" a thank you for a bonus, but it still bothers me that not one of them so much as mentioned it to me. And I know then noticed it because if any of their paychecks are every short they notice immediately. And they all know that I pay Christmas Bonuses and unpaid vacation on the last payday before Christmas so they have extra money for Christmas. Next year, I may wait until after Christmas and see if they notice. But even as I type that, I feel like I am being childish. But it is disappointing. Especially to my wife.
 
JOhnH said:
Do you thank your boss for your Christmas bonus?
I'm specifically referring to those of you that work directly for the owner in a small business.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but when I give someone an extra week's pay at Christmas, plus an extra $50 cash to buy a gift in a gift exchange at our rather lavish Christmas party (at my house), I would think at least one out of ten would day thank you. They voted to have the party at my house because it is more personal and informal than a restaurant, and I hire good caterers.
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With all due respect, I would not say thanks for such a paltry bonus. One extra week = 1/52 or less than 2% of the annual salary.

Just my 2 percent cents...
 
Flying Viking said:
With all due respect, I would not say thanks for such a paltry bonus. One extra week = 1/52 or less than 2% of the annual salary.

Just my 2 percent cents...
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I understand your points because I used to work for a company where I could pull down around 30% performance bonus. But I suspect that both of us had jobs with a lot more influence on the bottom than these hourly people have. They are well paid even though only one of them has more than a high school education. Plus, this is just a Christmas bonus. They also get other performance bonuses. This is a gift from me and my wife that they get even when the company is losing money.
 
Flying Viking said:
With all due respect, I would not say thanks for such a paltry bonus. One extra week = 1/52 or less than 2% of the annual salary.

Just my 2 percent cents...
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If I offered to buy you a cup of coffee one day, would you have the same nonchalant attitude? Unless you're a complete ******* who thinks the world owes you something, I'm willing to bet you'd say thank you. I think this equates to the same thing. Who cares if its .0005% or 20%. The fact that you're getting more than you're expecting is the major fact here.

JOhnH said:
I understand your points because I used to work for a company where I could pull down around 30% performance bonus. But I suspect that both of us had jobs with a lot more influence on the bottom than these hourly people have. They are well paid even though only one of them has more than a high school education. Plus, this is just a Christmas bonus. They also get other performance bonuses. This is a gift from me and my wife that they get even when the company is losing money.
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If you're handing out cash for the specific purpose of people saying thank you to you, then send a couple shekels my was as well. I'd be very grateful :lol:. I've learned a while ago, if you're going to do something for the praise, it may not be the right reasons. I do, however, understand your point (and gather that you're not doing this specifically for the warm-n-fuzzies). It is a genuinely nice thing to do, and people SHOULD be more thankful for getting more than they thought they would. I'm with you 100% brotha!.....now send me a PM to get the address of where to send that check :rofl:
 
This is why I don't do Christmas bonuses. :nonod: As a small company with 70 employees, that are pretty well paid, I can't justify a $40K expense at the end of the year, just to pi$$ some people off. They are just as happy with 0 and you would be with $1000.00. :D
I think we are confusing year end bonuses that are part of one's pay and a Christmas bonus. If I expect to pay $XX amount at the end of the year to employees, I will adjust their pay plans for the entire year and accrue the money for year end. But, I don't, I pay my people above the industry average all year and they are generally on their own for Christmas. ;)
I do pay my office staff a yearly bonus that is part of their pay plan, my dad started it 20+ years ago and every September we pay out $500 to $2500 to them. It started because they were all on salary and often worked late one or two days per month to close the books. Now they are all hourly, with overtime and they still get the bonuses. :dunno: Once you start a bonus it is VERY hard to stop it, so as an employer, be careful what you start. ;)

Flying Viking said:
With all due respect, I would not say thanks for such a paltry bonus. One extra week = 1/52 or less than 2% of the annual salary.

Just my 2 percent cents...
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