Slashdot Mirror
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 don't know what I'll get (if anything), but what I *want* is an iPod. Go to the Apple Store and click on iPod....it seems Apple offers discounts on iPods for companies that give them as gifts! C'mon boss!!!!
2 Years ago everyone (elves and management) had a nice banquet. Last year the elves got a $10 allowance to spend on the meal of choice at a local eatery (Red Lobster) while management were given a nicer banquet (ritz carlton) with an open bar. This year the elves got cards (we did get those the last 2 years as well) while management had a summer cruise for their "early xmas party" and a fully paid for meal/open bar at the local macarooni grill. Things get better for management, not so good for the elves.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
We had a potluck lunch and a coat drive, which is the exact opposite of what we had during the .com boom, which was a mega bash (rented a hotel, the whole hotel and boozed it up till the weeee hours) and a nice heafty bonus. So I guess all I recieved this year was my job.
I got free pizza when we worked all weekend. Oh, and we all got our pre-Christmas vacations cancelled.
One year, right after the merger between UBS and SBC, we had to go to the post office to collect an item from the bank. It turned out to be our employee Christmas card... by registered mail... strange... then I opened it up: 30g of gold was in there! Two little bars from the previous two banks, and a 20g bar from the merged bank.
The London employees were pissed off... they got really tacky watches, blue ones for the men, red ones for the ladies...
Oddly right in the middle of the whole Nazi gold thing too... oh well... the Swiss are good folks but political correctness isn't always high on their list... and shown in both cases...
My first year I got a nice christmas bonus. Mu send year I got a mini stocking containing various gift basket sorts of things (this was kind of weird). Each of these two years, we had a big holiday lunch. The next year (2000) I recieved a monogrammed foux-leather business card holder and a gift certificate ($10) to BestBuy. In subsequent years folks got nothing at all (or nothing that I remember - there may have been a few holiday lunches paid for by various departments).
I now work at an academic institution where I've been attending various holiday parties every day last week and there are a few next week as well. I'm not sure if there are holiday bonuses or other things to come.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
I write for a major technology magazine... any oracle employees who would like to vent in print about their cheezy bonus (anonymously, if you'd like) are encouraged to email me at dewalt@cmp.com
hell, if you work in IT at all and want to vent about your bonus, send me an email.
</self-interested plea>
It has been my experience that poor managers do not employ this seemingly useful and effective technique for three reasons:
1) They don't have enough understanding of the business market/human resources/financial situation to know if a given set of goals are reasonable.
2) They don't know the work routine of their employees enough to tell when one person has contributed more than another, and
3) They certianly don't know enough about it to codify a reward system months in advance of the actual competion of the work.
This is particularly common in small companies with rapidly shifting company goals and projects.
In essense, he said, "The worst thing you could ever as a company is to start giving out a Christmas bonus. Once you start giving them out, you can't stop without coming off as a total schmuck."
He added that if a yearly/periodical bonus *must* be given, it should be [phychologically] tied to some other, less-prominent holiday like Thanksgiving (in the US) or some summer holiday, etc.
Once people get used to getting a "gift from Santa" it is very easy to miss it and get all pissed because they are somehow being robbed of something they deserve.
I am on salary where I work and I was told I would get Quarterly bonuses. I have yet to receive one of theese mystical checks, None of my co-workers have recevied them either.. I have been promoted 2 times in the last year, I guess I am doing a good job, Yet no bonus!
One of our managers slipped up one day when a computer was stolen and stated "Damnit! that's going to come out of our bonus again" This leads us to believe only upper managment is receiving a bonus although we were all told we would be getting a bonus quarterly..
We commonly hear " You guys need to get sales up or we will not have a bonus this quater " Then we hear nothing!! Not even hey we didn't make enough to give out a bonus this quarter, nothing..
Yes we should ask about our bonus, but honestly I think we all fear our current economy and don't want to make any waves, But is it not wronge for them to simply dismiss something we were told we would receive? When I took my job I figured in my salary + my vacation + my estimated bonus.. All the sudden I feel robbed when I reflect on it. Especially when I am praised for the great work I am doing, if I want lip service I will go on a date.
Let me close by saying, I like my job. In fact I have turned down higher paying positions simply because I like my working environment. But when times get tight I start to ask myself if I should be looking for employment elsewhere.
Slashdot taught me how to use the preview button!
This past year, I swallowed my pride and joined a local ISP while I waited for my dream employer to come out of a hiring freeze. After about eight months with a really nice group of people but no real challenge or pay to match, the freeze ended and I switched companies, to the disappointment of the ISP.
.com days, but the fact that it was offered at all, to an ex-employee, was probably the nicest thing I've ever seen a company do.
I was very sad to go, and I felt more than a little guilty about the fact. Last week, my wife and I received some very persistant invitations to my former employer's Christmas party; my wife went, since I was out of town, and received a prorated Christmas Bonus and a lot of general good will from the owner of the company and the staff.
Usually when an employee leaves a company for a bigger position elsewhere, an undercurrent of nastiness follows: the company and its people resents the loss of the employee. This company, though, insists on keeping a very friendly relationship with me, including repeated open invitations to stop by and mooch coffee.
The bonus was pretty meager, compared to what I remember from the
Weapons of Mass Analysis
Last year my Christmas bonus was $11,000. I paid off my credit cards and bought a TiBook.
This year, I'm a lowly contractor and if I'm lucky they'll renew my contract in January.
Last year I was working for the spawn of Satan, and had been actively looking for something, anything to get me out of that hell hole for months.
This year, I'm doing interesting work in a less stressful and less fucked-up environment.
You can keep the $11,000.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!