Christmas Bonus
Christmas Bonus
(OP)
I haven't seen a Christmas bonus since maybe 2007, until this year. My boss left this on my desk.

Just curious if anyone is seeing Christmas bonuses. Don't say how much, especially if it was a good one. Just an informal survey...

Just curious if anyone is seeing Christmas bonuses. Don't say how much, especially if it was a good one. Just an informal survey...
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump





RE: Christmas Bonus
(We also get profit sharing but that's quarterly 6-8 weeks in arrears so we got our last one for Q3 at the very end of November.)
Given the shenanigans with your employer I'm surprised it wasn't a Christmas pink slip as used to be tradition around here under previous ownership/management.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
Considering the arseholes you work for, cass, I'm surprised it's not a box of laxatives.
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Christmas Bonus
The best we get is our picture next to Santa's lap.
RE: Christmas Bonus
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
How does profit sharing work when you make a loss? Pay your employer back some wages?
Designer of machine tools - user of modified screws
RE: Christmas Bonus
whammy [hwam-ee, wam-ee]
noun, plural -mies.
1. the evil eye; jinx.
2. bad luck or misfortune.
3. a devastating blow, setback, or catastrophe
4. put the whammy on,
a. to give the evil eye to; jinx.
b. to destroy, end, or eradicate
Origin:
1935–40; whammy, one of the methods of putting a whammy on someone being to strike the fist into the palm
often double whammy, "hex, evil eye," 1932, of unknown origin, popularized 1941 in Al Capp's comic strip "Li'l Abner."
RE: Christmas Bonus
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Christmas Bonus
Usually we get a small gift card ($25) to local store.
RE: Christmas Bonus
However, when things were really bad, (asides from the 50% reduction in staff over several years) they actually cancelled profit sharing and implemented a pay cut for a few months - though they did pay back some of the loss retroactively.
I thought a better idea would have been to increase theoretical profit sharing during the cut so that in the unlikely event we made profit we would have got some money to make up for lost wages. I would have thought this would at least provide a little motivation to make up for the pay cut. However greater minds than min disagreed.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Christmas Bonus
We get the pay cut every month in the form of a below-median salary- or at least that's how it's supposed to work in theory. The bonus tops us up to above median if we meet the company's expectations for profit. There's a stick as well as a carrot that way- our fixed costs are kept low and we only pay ourselves better if we deserve and can afford it by making more money for the company. If we exceed that target, which is based on an industry norm, an increasing fraction of the unanticipated profit ends up in the bonus pool. Beyond a certain level, the employees get ALL of it.
For all but one of the years I've been with my company, we've done somewhere between well and ridiculously well. During that slow year, when the tumbleweeds were blowing through our producton floor, there was no bonus and only cheese and crackers in the lunchroom instead of a Christmas party- but we kept everybody. Given that the year AFTER that one was one of our best years on record, hindsight shows that it was a brilliant business decision to keep people through the loss- but at the time, most of us expected that the layoffs would come any day. The loyalty shown by the business doesn't go unnoticed by the employees, and shows up in staff retention.
The employee's share of the bonus is based on how the business does, not how your project does. Sometimes your job is to make vinegar from the sour grapes you're handed, and you don't get punished for that. There's discretion in there for management to recognize good or bad performance, but they can't choose to take it all themselves. Employees here have ownership and get the financials, so we're a little harder to rip off than might be true in a larger business.
As MacGyver says, it only works if the employees can see how their efforts affect the bottom line. It works brilliantly in our business- on average. It motivates the high performers to a large extent. It doesn't work with everyone. Some quickly see it as an entitlement. Others value their own time and effort too highly, choosing to take the easy route in their work rather than innovating or putting in the extra effort to improve our bottom line. Unfortunately the proportion of people with those defects grows as the business does, which dilutes the effect for everyone.
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
Obviously, there were no bonuses of any kind from mid 2009 to last year.
We received a modest Christmas bonus last year, and I'm expecting something similar this year.
RE: Christmas Bonus
I have a friend that was working at Motorola paging when things were really good in the previous century. Her quarterly bonus was 25% of her salary! Letter on Motorola decided it was better to give bonuses in stock instead of cash.
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
Designer of machine tools - user of modified screws
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Christmas Bonus
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Christmas Bonus
Keep your chin up, blow steam off here whenever you need to, and consider how much better your life will be in a few months when you're sitting behind the desk of a company that truly values you.
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
One of my 2 worst bosses ever (mom and pop shop that somehow managed to get 3rd tier defense projects) handed out a package of $5 Walmart flashlights to everyone, after our machining department came in at nearly $30K under bid hours for the year's run of shipboard ordnance handling machinery. Yes, $30,000 EXTRA profit for the company, and $20 in flashlights for the guys who made it happen. I walked 7 months later.
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
I also got a mystery 'bonus' on my Dec 23rd direct deposit, neither my direct boss or his boss know what for! We have an incentive scheme and the value corresponds to one of the typical awards but I have no idea what specifically it's for.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
We had our worst year in decades and have already lost over 20% of our staff(about 50/50 between voluntary departures and RIFs).
We're still having our annual company party for about 60 staffers and their significant others with the company picking up the lion's share of the tab.
All in all, I'm very grateful.
RE: Christmas Bonus
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
I shall now be keeping my head down hoping they don't ask for it back!
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
Possibly maxed out your 401(k), and the rest goes to your pocket...
______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.
RE: Christmas Bonus
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Christmas Bonus
I think you can only max out your 401k if you live where the cost of living is much higher than what it is here.
RE: Christmas Bonus
It is raised in 2012 to $17,000.
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: Christmas Bonus
RE: Christmas Bonus
Some of us don't expect a bonus, we work for a non-profit.
However the 457 is nice.
RE: Christmas Bonus
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Christmas Bonus