The size of the year-end bonus varies but is often based on an employee's position, salary, and performance metrics.
Depending on the nature of the work and the type of company, it can also come in different forms, including lump-sum payments in cash, stock options, retirement plans, and health benefits.
And while 34% of U.S. businesses say they would not be giving out extra compensation to employees this year, the ones that do get it aren't always happy about the package, either.
I worked for a company that gave us $5 per year of service, and a free turkey or ham from the local grocery store. The ham was canned, and the turkey was the size of a chicken.
My third year there, they discontinued the turkey/ham. After tax, I got a check for $11.
I started a new job later that year. At Christmas time, my boss pulled me aside and told me that bonuses would be coming, and warned me not to be discouraged because my bonus would be prorated as I had started midyear.
On bonus day, he pulled me into an office apologized for the size of the bonus, and handed me a check for $8,000.
I laughed my a*s off.
He asked me why I was laughing. Fortunately, I still had my uncashed "bonus" from the previous year in my wallet. I handed him the check for $11 bucks, and told him what it was.
"I guess you're OK with the prorated bonus, then?" was his reply.I got a letter from corporate letting me know that they had made a donation in my name to a charity. Specifically, to themselves (I work for a non-profit)I worked at a company and the owner walked around during the Christmas party and gave people their paychecks in a fancy envelope.
That way clients would be thinking that the employees were getting bonuses.We got told we were getting nothing. And the management excuse was "Well, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so it wouldn't be fair"
My colleague hit the nail on the head "I've never heard diversity weaponised until I heard that"I used to work at the Cheesecake factory and one year they gave everyone a cheesecake. From Costco.Not a bad bonus itself, but management's reaction to how we used our bonuses was despicable. Years ago I worked as a paramedic in the ER. The first few years, we'd get a pretty good bonus, $200-$500 depending on position. Then the hospital was sold. New owners cut bonuses and gave each employee a gift certificate for a free turkey from a local grocery chain. At the time, the value was about $15. Most of the staff, myself included, felt a bit dismayed, but we were polite about it. Since not many of us cooked turkey for Christmas dinner, we donated our gift certificates to a couple of homeless shelters in town. Management caught wind of it and sent an email to all employees stating that since we "didn't appreciate the thoughtful gift provided by the hospital" there would be no Christmas bonuses going forward. We tried to pay it forward to someone less fortunate, and got slapped in the face for it.Got a $100 "bonus" taxed so came out to $67
Then hr sends out an email next day asking everyone who received a bonus if EQCH PERSON would "pitch in" 25-50$ each towards a bass pro shop gift card for the boss because of "all he does for us"
They asked every one of the 55 employees this.
The same boss whom the year prior gave the server at the Xmas dinner $1200 In tips because she sat on his lap like he was Santa and then proceeded to tell 12 people there they were f*****g fired. And wondered why they didn't show up to work the 27th.
F**k you ryan. Your a real piece of s**tWhat Christmas bonus?
10k employees. Company made 5.5 BILLION in profit.
CEO makes $40m and has TWO $12m houses.
Not even a Christmas party this year. "Budget problems, blah, blah, blah".After busting our [butts] to achieve the goal for the year, the boss got a FAT check. Mid 5 figures We got a $5 Starbucks card .....one....cup....of....coffee.We all received a book that the CEO wroteWhat’s a Christmas bonus? Never gotten one.Work in sales (top performing team). Entire team got the same book on how to be a better at sales. We are supposed to read this book on our downtime (whenever that is) and then management wants to go over the book chapter by chapter in our weekly team meetings.
This “gift” was not well received on the team. There’s been talk about sending management a book on effective leadership or “management for dummies.”Last year our school gave teachers a plastic bag with: a mini candy, a mini hand sanitizer and a single tea bag.We got a digital cake. As in a clip inserted into an email as a thank you. There's a grocery store across the street.We get a mandatory work party which will cost each of us 25 dollarsNot me, but my wife - she's a home carer. During Covid lockdowns the head office asked them all to come in to pick up their Christmas bonus treat - it was a single f*****g tea bag with a bow around it and a mini pack of biscuits - you get more at a cheap hotel complimentary.
That was it, all they got for risking their lives and their families lives on a daily basis while everyone else was marooned at home.I got a $30 Door Dash voucher! Bought almost all of my lunch for 1 day. We only pulled in like $500 million in revenue last year, times are really tough.An email telling us that because we are IT we wont be getting a holiday bonus anymore.
"As IT is a cost center, and doesnt generate revenue, IT departments will no longer be eligible for a holiday bonus"
Never mind that this company did BILLIONS of dollars a year in business... without any physical locations. Their entire operational surface was ONLINE...
yeah.
2 weeks later my IT Manager comes in all excited about the new Tesla he just bought.
oh, right, hes not an IT Manager. Hes a Manager of IT. So hes a manager, not IT...
the collective moral of all the IT teams dropped to near zero. 5 years later when I left that company, IT still wasnt eligable for holiday bonuses, AND had been uninvited from the Holiday party. Not that they cared, they just kept hiring offshore IT replacements with zero skill. yeah F**K that company. They are a mortgage company.A case of expired beer. I work for a beer distributor."A donation has been made in your name to the New York City ballet"Not me but in the late 90s my mom was a nurses aide for a very large hospital (approx 5k employees at the time) that would give everyone monetary “end of year” bonuses as well as vouchers in your pay check envelope for a free turkey and a free ham at the local grocery store chain.
One year though, without an announcement ahead of time, the hospital had no bonuses and no turkey or ham vouchers.
There was a voucher however, to pick up your free copy of a hard cover, gold leafed, all pages printed in color book of the entire history of the hospital itself. Thousands of these had been printed and, by spring of the next year, waiting rooms and lobbies all throughout the hospital and clinics were overflowing with the books. Pages were ripped out and kids had colored in them.
Several physicians, surgeons and RNs quit over the lack of bonuses because that was part of their employment contract with the hospital. It was a mess.A water bottle and padded notebook each with a photo of the owner’s dog on it.My boss got me a book. When I opened it, a card fell out addressed to him telling him to enjoy the book. The guy who sat next to me had a different boss and he got $1,000 cash.A pen with the company’s name on it. The name was spelled wrong.A butterball turkey branded check for a $10 turkey at the grocery store. Not a gift certificate a check with routing numbers and everything.
I still don't know how it worked or why. I worked at a hotel and everyone was handed a legit check from butterball for $10 with their paycheck.
I took it to the grocery store and they got so confused they just gave me a frozen turkey.
One of the bellmen said he cashed it for $10 and it worked.
I'm still confused by the butterball turkey check.Boss sent out a $10 Starbucks gift card the day he laid off 10% of our staff. “It’s not a layoff, it’s a coffee break” is now a banned phrase on teams/slack.Gift certificates at the restaurant I cooked in.Mandatory company dinner with coworkers. I spend 9 hours a day with them, why ruin my evening?Here's mine:
I was working for a company and was a few months in. In this company, there were full time and contracted workers (they would have people on contract for 3 months before converting them to full time. I was projected to move to full time in the new year). Before the holiday, they gathered ALL of us together on a meeting, gave the updates, and told us they had a special announcement. The CEO then said that everybody on the call was getting a $1,200 bonus.
Once we got off, they messaged us and said that non full-time employees weren't included. They forgot to take us off of the meeting.
So, my worst bonus was a bonus that I had and then didn't have.Large logistics warehouse handler job. All of us got a bag of swiss miss inside a company christmas hat from our group manager. Told us to make ourselves a hot chocolate in the breakroom during lunch.A couple years ago, my old employer gifted every single department one tube of chapstick with the company’s logo on it. I mean, I used it but then lost it like a week later so…My wife got a flyer with a QR code so she can pick her own gift from a list of five company-branded items (sweatshirt, speaker, water bottle, etc.).
Only the checkout link is broken, so she can't actually order anything.Company sent one box of candy/snacks for our 14 person team.I got a house plant. Correction I got seeds and planter so I can grow my own plantA donut.
Yes, a pink glazed donut with sprinkles on the top. Individually boxed and left on our desks late at night by the internal marketing team.
I got in early to discover mine and enjoy the comments from my co-workers. The most common one was "oh get f****d" as they yeeted it into the trash.My old work started by giving Christmas cards stuffed with cash. Within ten years, the bonus was reduced to nothing. We ended up with a boring holiday party, two drink tickets, and a mashed potato bar.
Many vital employees who helped build the place quit.
The mgmt continues to chip away. It went from a great place to work to s**t.200+ employees where i work. We each got a generic, unsigned, non-personalized boxed Christmas card on a blank envelope with a $10 fast food gift card.
Except some of the gift cards were the reloadable type and had no money put on them. So basically some us were given a small handful of garbage.I was handed a stack of holiday cards and told to sign all of them. Once I was done I was told I was the last one to sign so I could choose mine.. really felt the thoughtfulness of 20 people rapidly signing cards.We are getting a piñata at the holiday party. So we can crawl around on the ground for candy while the boss watches. Fun.I got 220 corporate "points" which I can exchange for a $50 amazon gift card or a variety of sh*tty products.A box full of candy and beef jerky. It also contained a book written by the CEO of the company about how to be better at your job.I don’t get bonuses. BUT. this year we had to pay $80pp to attend our Christmas party lolDon't get an official bonus, but might get a tangerine from the bossOne year work bought everyone a ham. Didn't matter if you couldn't eat ham. They were delivered to your desk mid-day. There was not enough room in our fridge to store them all. It was weird. Every year prior to that we got cashA large custom hershey chocolate bar of the company logo.A 50.0 gift card, that they charged me income tax on.A ball point pen and cheap day planner with our corporate logo on it.A letter saying there wasn’t going to be one.2023: No Appreciation 2022: No appreciation 2021: mandatory “drive in a circle around the parking lot and management will toss your gift in your open car window.” Gift was three pieces of candy whose wrappers were entirely in Spanish (we’re close to Canada), two company-branded pens, and our holiday calendar for 2022. 2020: No Appreciation 2019 and before: full catered lunch buffet with an entire course of desserts.A frozen Marie Calender pie. Every freaking year.
I work in food service in a kitchen.My boss gave me a $10 Starbucks gift card. I don’t like Starbucks, and it was completely empty.Back in the 90's working for the UK civil service. Everyone was offered five whole English pounds.
You could accept it & it would be contributed to the Xmas party fund or not accept it and don't go. We also had to bring our own booze to the Xmas party.Company's own merchandise we got all year for free. Now we can order them in our internal shop. Very nice by them to let us do advertisement for the company and call it Christmas gifts. Oh, and there are also a lot of layoffs shortly before Christmas. I feel blessed to work here in case my boss reads that.Subscription to the Jelly of the Month.
