http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061127/ts_csm/cbonus_1
Interesting article on Yahoo news about the vanishing holiday bonus, I for one have seen my holiday bonus vanish and it sucks…anyone have big plans for their year end bonus to buy tri goodies, or are you not getting one as well??
I used to work for a Fortune 100 financial institution and bonuses were the norm as was the completely unfair manner in which they were dispensed. Anyone in a marketing function could rely on at least a 10% bonus come the end of the year while folks in corporate scrapped over 2-3% bonuses. One year a high profile marketing dept missed their annual targets by a whopping 60% despite sucking up a huge portion of the company’s resources and they still sucked up the lion’s share of the firm’s bonus $$$. They stopped bonuses altogether when the realised that they generated more ill will and anger than anything else.
I now work at a small company and our bonuses are directly related to the amount of business we generate. All transparent and equitable.
My advice to anyone going to work for a large firm and is in salary negotiations, is if they don’t have clear metrics for year end bonuses and guarantees that they will be met if certain goals are met, assume that you will receive nothing and don’t allow them to dangle “possibilities” in front of you in lieu of salary.
Yes, Christmas bonuses are quickly becoming a thing of the past – just like pension plans, and increasingly 401K matching. Meanwhile, it is interesting to see executive pay, in all forms, consistently reaching record levels year after year. These same executives are looting the very companies they have a fiduciary duty to improve. I plan on sinking my hard earned Christmas bonus into the stock market where it will quickly become fodder for the corrupt.
Our company bonus is not paid out until February, as it is tied to the company performance as measured at year end, which falls on December 31. It ends up being a good thing/bad thing.
Good thing - can defer all monies to the RRSP (Canada’s 401k equivalent)
Bad thing - no extra money to rely on at Christmas
But…I am thinking it will go away in a few years. I’ll enjoy it while I can.
Ours is also paid in February, based on year end.
here in corporate whore techlandia, things were good for once. our former CEO, a nasty wench used to give us a yearly BONE-US. but the new CEO, King Mark the 1st, revised the evil queen’s edict and we are back to “profit-sharing”, which is paid out next month on the 15th (fiscal year end was 10/31). the new King gave his serfs here in printerland a very, very, nice 9.47% of annual salary 10 days ago. and all was good in the realm of Happy People…
I worked at an emerging marketing company in KC, and they did away with bonuses, except for the top level execs. I was always amazed at how people expected holiday bonuses, and was never really thankful for them … until they disappeared that is.
I agree with what another said, it always seemed to be about who got more or who didn’t get enough, rather than “Hey, that was nice that we all got bonuses for simply doing the job we’re already paid to do”.
Reminds me of people wanting a raise because they endured another year of mediocre performance.
It is like Christmas work parties – employees bitch if they have to go and they bitch if the company doesn’t have one. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. The safest policy is to have the party and don’t expect anybody to appreciate it.
Only got a bonus once, and that was when I was working retail in high school – got a nice canned ham.
Have since turned vegetarian, and bonus free for almost 20 years now. Sigh.
My wife and I run a company with 15 employees, and they all get bonuses depending on how much income we’ve generated, their years of service, and contribution to the business. It is completely discretionary but we know that they would be demoralized if they didn’t get bonuses, so we’ve always paid out bonuses. They’ve done a great job for us, and we are pleased to be able to give them bigger bonuses this year, as we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.
yeah… you know, it’s funny how many companies use that as hiring bait and then don’t deliver. happened at my last job, but they were in a big financial hole… i’ve had a few good bonuses and 2 that were so memorably bad that they ought not have given anything, and it would have gotten a better reaction. i think the bonus consisted of a set of $5 IKEA tealights (which I still have for some reason) and a gift cert for a restaurant that was a client of ours and was located 1.5 hours away.
Samok, where should I send my resume???
We still pay them for our small company of six. We also have a nice dinner and hand out some small personal gifts.
The company I work for (well I have two jobs but I am speaking of the primary one) pays a christmas bonus. it works like this. Because it is 100% commission sales, they take 1% of your commission monthly and around december 15th, they match it and give you a check. Its usually not alot (around a couple thousand or so) but is enough to get the Christmas gifts and a few canned hams. 
Ohhhhhhhhh…hearing you call a couple of thousand “not a lot” hurts my peeps… 
Same here. Our year end is Dec. 31 and when financials are finalized we get our bonuses. On the plus side, we also have an estimation in July where you get about 25% of your anticipated year-end bonus.
And what happens to Fatmouse when he doesn’t hit his mid-year projection? Do you have to repay the 25%?
Well, at mid-year, you should have hit 50% of your annual target (target being results beyond the minimum standard performance). So, getting 25% of the expected bonus is pretty safe. Unless someone figures out a way to go negative. We haven’t yet had anyone do that, and I would imagine they would be long gone before it could happen.
But I work with a bunch of do-gooders, so while most of the bonus is based on finances, you also have peer evaluations (helping others hit their targets), customer feedback surveys and other areas. As an example, we try to have the experienced (old) provide guidance and mentoring to the younger people. There is no financial benefit to doing so, so we include that in the bonus structure.