Company Christmas Gifts / Bonuses?

A wisely anonymous reader writes "Following my company's Christmas party on Friday, I found myself the proud recipient of... a bobble head doll of the company CEO! Needless to say I was PISSED. They didn't even comp. parking at the site of the party, let alone a bonus. yeah, yeah, times are tough. I should be happy just to have a job. but getting a damn doll of the guy who made 65 million last year just makes me angry. So... What did you get from your Company for Christmas?"

I think I made out fairly well..

[Planetes]

My company is a small company (20+ employees) but we all got $500 christmas bonuses and our individual performance bonus for the year (mine was $500). Made for a nice addition. It helped me buy my books for the spring semester. (Engineering books can be very expensive)

Daniel
Aerospace Engineering major
University of Central Florida - Orlando

That BITES

[nbvb]

You know, it would've been better if they had given you nothing at all.

Really. Suctitiude.

What did we get for Christmas? Nothing. The company decided to host the annual "Holiday Party" (It's not a Christmas party, let's not be offensive!) in the company cafeteria.

Feels like I'm back in high school .... I wouldn't go to that if they paid me for it.

Instead, one of my vendors (a Sun reseller) is taking us out on a cruise around Manhattan island. Now *THAT'S* nice!

And bonuses? We don't get holiday bonuses; instead we get "merit-based" bonuses at the end of the 1st quarter, based on our performance last year. My target is 10% of my salary, but my bonus typically ranges in the 5-6% range -- nobody ever gets their full target percentage. That wouldn't be fair to the bell curve!

So I can't really complain. Sure, they went cheap on the holiday party, but my Sun sales rep & friends are the folks I want to have a few drinks with anyway! At least I'm still employed, and hopefully our 1Q bonuses will be good this year -- we had the best 3rd quarter on record, ever. Added 1.1 million customers ... not shabby :)

--NBVB

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[ColdGrits]

" You sound like a business major to me."

LOL!!!

Nope, 'fraid you are way off there.
Just an average guy working 50 hours per week salaried (with no christmas bonus this year 'cos times is hard) who is glad to still have a job.

Still, you carry on trolling if it helps you get through the day.

what I got for x-mas

[t0rnt0pieces]

We all got $25 gift certificates to the supermarket. Now that is what I call cheap. I won't mention the name of the company where I work, but here at the Red Cross (damn, it slipped) they are the tightest company I ever worked for. Yeah yeah, I know they are a charity, but keep in mind that no one wants to work for free, and I work for the blood services division as a lab tech. They pay us around $14 an hour to test blood. They test thousands of units each day and each one gets sold, not donated, for around $120. Our division is non-profit in name only, they make money hand over fist. I don't think we're even having a Christmas party. Just last week our lab made a certain goal, and the Director of Testing told us he was going to have a party when we hit the goal. Well we hit the goal and he's not giving us the promised party because he couldn't get permission to expense it! Bastards.

Measurement matters as much as the bonus itself

[gregwbrooks]

I work for a small (non-I.T.) consulting firm, and as one of the senior folks I *might* get a bonus this year. Maybe. If the boss feels like it and if doing so will reduce the amoung of corporate income taxes she pays.

My point: You can bonus me $1.98 for the year if you feel like it, but nail it to some objective performance measurement.

Memo to management: You want better results? Give people something to aim for and then clearly explain what the reward is for exceeding goals.

(Now, having said all that, I have to add: The bobblehead thing would have had me sending out resumes in a heartbeat. It's one thing for management to lack clues; it's another thing entirely for them to be mean-spirited.

Re:voodoo

[macdaddy357]

A bobblehead of the boss! Has anyone submitted this to [e-mail]? The poster should, and should name the company and CEO. I am surprised nobody has gone postal over such an insult. I wonder if that bobblehead would still look cute shoved sideways up the boss's ass? Does anyone know the name of the company who did this?

Re:As a Hall Kinnion Contractor I Got ...

[mindstrm]

Cashing in options on insider info is totally illegal. That's insider trading, bud.

Secondly, optoions are worth a lot, if the strike price is lower than market..
Thirdly, if you have some issue with exercising them right away, GET A BETTER BROKER.

If your broker has proof you have the options, he should have NO PROBLEM shorteslling the stock the second you call him to do it, and then you replace the short with your options. THAT is how you get current market price on options, without risk.

Exercising options on the open market and then holding the stock is a BAD idea.... there is a taxable benefit on the difference between what you paid and fair market value of the stock. It's not considered capital gains.. which means if the stock goes down, you get a capital loss, but you can't offset your tax obligation.

Go with the short.

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[GargoyleTS]

Well, its not something people are "entitled to." Businesses in the US (especially Mid- to Large private corporations) use the Christmas Bonus as a way to reduce profits before the end of the year so they do not have to pay as much in tax. With the shift to ending your fiscal year any month you choose (thank you IRS >:() alot of companies have simply decided to suck it and pay taxes on higher profits (or found new ways to "reduce profits") instead of paying out onuses in the middle of a fiscal year. And yes, some still do it for the simple reason of "Well paid employees work better", but with EVERYONE running scared of the SEC auditing them this year, I think some companies may decide its time for a Christmas in July to reduce profits this year. I hope so cause alot of people could use both the extra money, and the knowledge their efforts are appreciated. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So what? Christmas has sweet FA to do with Christ.

[Moderation abuser]

It's a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. The start of a new year.

Go check your dates, people.

laid off

[Evil Willow]

I work for a consulting firm and 89 of us got laid off.

The rest of those left are getting a 2-day all hands meeting which usually entails a great meal and open bar somewhere. Oh, and all flown in from all over the country.

Personally, I would rather have seen them skip the all hands meeting and let a few people keep their jobs for the holidays!

Hmmmm

[SupahVee]

I see many people complaining that they didnt get a bonus, or some that did, but it wasnt near what the C-people got, and yet a whole other group of wankers who think nobody deserves a bonus. The cimple soultion seems to be that if your company gives bonuses, that it be fair, if you busted your ass all year long, and your coworker didnt, you should rightly get a bigger bonus. This of course relies on someone making MORE than you to be honest. Fat chance, pal. The simpler solution seems to be the one that Whole Foods (the healthy food store) employs. Everyone in the company, from the CEO, down to the stokers, knows how much everyone else makes, tends to keep everyone honest and working hard. Not overworking, mind you, just working hard for the money they are earning. Certainly puts a creative form of peer pressure into play, doesnt it?

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a child, my father worked for IBM. Every December, there was a family Christmas party at the plant, and there were huge tables of gifts, arranged by age, so that EVERYBODY got a little goody (as well as cookies, punch, etc). Later, they even added entertainment (magicians, clowns, etc.).
I grew up thinking how great it would be to work for this company. I ended up working there summers during college, but that was in the early nineties. Things had changed...no more "family company" attitude. I realize parties and presents cost the company a lot, but the return on that investment is satisfied employees and satisfied families.
I would be willing to bet that most employees discuss decisions with families before making a job change.
My point should be obvious. Yes, companies exist to make profit. However, a profit is easier to make if you can keep skilled workers; you keep people by making them happy.

Happy Holidays.

Re:Go work for a Swiss bank...

[Vellmont]

Wow. 30 grams of gold is almost one troy ounce (about 31 grams per troy ounce). A troy ounce of gold is about $330 US. That's quite an expensive, if not odd gift to give employees. I'm curious, did most people sell the gold, or keep it?

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[gwernol]

How much would your respect for your boss change if your boss took a paycut and you didn't have to. That is real leadership.

The small/medium sized company I work for had a hard start to 2002. Our CEO took a 20% pay cut and the rest of the senior management team (the VP level people) took a 10% pay cut. All other salaries were frozen. This does happen in the real world. For every idiot boss who thinks his folks want a bobblehead of him, there are many good bosses who know how to survive rough times.

My company is now doing better and 2003 should be a great improvement.

Re:Whining about Christmas bonuses is pretty sorry

[gl4ss]

if they hadn't got anything, that would have been better than using money on dolls of the ceo.

a doll of ceo is just a stupid joke, and if the ceo couldnt figure that out the company should really be fuckedupcompany. you can't really even give the doll of the ceo as toy for your kids/relatives/anybody.

also, xmas bonuses are 'excepted' in some branches of industry, so they are actually sometimes even part of excepted salary, as much as BEING part of salary , sure they're named 'bonuses' is stupid then, but that's just a tradition and generally makes people feel good about them as they are 'extra free money', which it of course in reality isn't.

At divine.com last year...

[Wakko Warner]

...the day after the Christmas party, half the office was laid off.

So, mister whining bobblehead-doll recipient, kindly "eat a bag of dicks".

I know plenty of people who'd have accepted a bobblehead doll and a job instead of what they got last year.

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I'm an employee of a firm which in the past has been nice enough to pass out $20-$50 worth of gift certificates to a mall. Frankly, although I enjoyed buying a video game with the money, it really wasn't terribly useful to me. I more than likely would not have shopped in that mall otherwise.

I come from a non-christian family and frankly even though we give gifts during this season, I never expect them. Often I'll give them to people I like. I'm married into a Christian family now and there's a bunch of gift giving. I find it a bit excessive. I personally enjoy the holiday just because I get to spend time with my nieces and nephews. Also I get to show off my little boy to the rest of the family.

As for a Christmas bonus, I have never been fond of this tradition since really I could find myself more in need of the money at alternative seasons, specifically tax season, I always owe. It really isn't that I don't have the money to pay the taxes, it's just that I hate separating with it once I have it. Well actually I prefer to seperate with it at a store, not a post office :) Last year due to bad planning, I was hit up with about $18,000 of delinquent taxes, I would have been really happy at that point to receive a "Christmas bonus" at that point just because any relief from the crisis would have been welcome. But truth be told, unlike the previous year, I had been spending more time with my family (thanks to +1 new born son) and less time working so there was no reason to get a bonus.

Really, I would have to say that for the others, I feel no sympathy, I don't believe I'm getting a bonus this year either (thanks to market). I have to admit that I would be upset if there were bonuses going out to management or to the sales department and we got screwed, that's just plain silly. But my company is a fair company most of the time. Other than the occassions where the sales and management staff are "networking" (salesman speak for lining up new contracts or at least their next job on company money) we are all treated very fairly.

Of course I have to admit, if the sales people spent about $1.5 million a year less "Networking", there would be plenty of bonus money going around. After all, networking locally is just plain useless, they might as well try to sell software to cows. Networking here simply can not be considered work.

so....

[tidge]

you're on call 24/7 and you can never have more than two beers except when you are on vacation?
AND, you have to take odd jobs to make ends meet?
What happens when you are working another job and you get called in?

dude, you seriously should rethink your position. I work for the government too and am getting by fine. I'm on call 24/7 too, but so are two other people. So if I happen to suck down a keg one night, it's now problem.

You need to complain to somebody. Especially in the government, you can make a big noise.

christmas boneheads

[Anonymous Coward]

i have to admit to some level of astonishment at some of the responses i am seeing here, even by regular /. standards. it is particularly a drag to see all the messages along the lines of "why do you think you deserve any kind of bonus for christmas at all?", coupled with some real pinheaded defenses of "ceo's over the rank-and-file" uber capitalist type junk

for all you suck-up i-read-ayn-rand-once-and-whoo-boy-do-i-know-how-th ings-really-are wonks...

america, justice, freedom and yes, your precious precious enormocorps were, are , and likely always will be built on the efforts of working people. executives, ceo's, politicos, upper management and the like all contribute to that effort, too, but the brass balls bread and butter heart and soul of american worklife is the people who punch clocks, tap code, answer the phones, sort the mail, execute the schematics, maintain the servers, teach the kids, drive the bus, file the duplicates, bag your groceries and run the machines that make america and the whole damn world go.

corporate officers and board members do some high-level steering, no doubt or question, but i'll be damned if it makes any lick of cosmic sense that with "hard times" and "necessary cutbacks" those mooks deserve 6 figure bonuses while the standard joe and jane punchcards have to carry home a freaking bobblehead to put under the christmas tree or chanukah bush.

considering the amount of setbacks the labor movement has incurred in the last 30 or so years i guess it isn't a surprise that so many people have been encouraged (brainwashed?) to think that merely having a job is a sign of incredible corporate generosity, but when they're squeezing 50+ hours out of you, raising your co-pay on the insurance you're "lucky" to have, demanding you do ever more on an ever smaller paycheck... well, i think you deserve a christmas/holiday/end-of-year bonus. and yes, i do mean automatically, for anyone there 90 days or longer, in an amount the company can afford; if they have the green to pay 8 million in bonuses to 20 executives they could just as easily and much more humanely give ten thousand employees $800 each instead. *that* would be a real joy and victory for decency and the american way

and for those who think that workers don't deserve a bonus... well merry christmas to you too, scrooge, and have fun down at ken lay's house while the canapes last. santa has some coal for you.

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Japan, CEO's also get paid about an average of 1/4 what CEO's do in the states. They also have to deal in the same global market and similar outputs, and still they have comparable performance levels to US corporations. Maybe stock holders should buck the status quo and force CEO's to take a paycut?

Re:At divine.com last year... - MOD PARENT UP.

[AyeRoxor!]

Fucking "I have it worse than all of you" whiners. A bobble head of the guy who made money off of YOUR work while YOU had to scrape by is certainly worth bitching about. It's like leaving a small tip. It's worse than no tip at all.

Re:Christmas bonus - why?

[mjolnir_]

Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Vermont used to subscribe to a version of the same idea: the highest-paid employee could make no more than 7x the salary of the lowest-paid.

Sadly they discontinued this practice a few years ago.