If anyone wonders why "employees" aren't loyal anymore!

[JCJRSmith]

When I first started with this company, we got bonuses twice a year - like clockwork. For the last three years there have been no bonuses. Business has started to pick up again and things look good for the future. So what happened during the lean times. Oh, how about the company president telling the management team at the end of a meeting where it was announced that there would be no bonueses this year, "I want to thank you all for helping me realize my dream of building a cabin in the woods for our vacation home."

 

[jenks0718]

Since when do companies "owe" employees year-end/holiday/Christmas bonuses? I always looked at these as "gifts"; not something I expected or felt the company was obligated to give me. When I started my job, I negotiated a salary that was equitable for the work I did and annually I renegotiate it. Beyond being paid for the work I do, I don't believe the company owes me anything else. If they choose to give me something extra, it's great, but not expected.

I am not looking to start anything here, but are you in management?

 

[barkley]

i am always facinated by the concept of an employer giving a holiday gift or year end bonus. i'm retired from/dh is a current government employee. so neither of us has ever experienced anything like this (nor have we ever had employer paid holiday luncheons or the like). we understood this when we entered "public service".

i truly feel for those who rely on these in their regular budgeting and do not find out until the 11th hour that they are not receiving them. i also feel for many of my former co-workers who have been told for months in contract negotiations that the only means of preventing lay-offs is to take pay cuts, pay increased insurance premiums (for lesser coverage), look to reduced retirement benefits...only to hear that their managers received a 5% muti year raise.

loyalty goes both ways.

 

[Bob Slydell]

If business was so bad, how would he still get a bonus? Aren't bonuses usually tied to performance? If he gets the bonus regardless of performance, I don't understand why he wouldn't just just have a higher salary to begin with. Maybe the bonus is more "special" or something.

It's possible that the bonus is a lot smaller than it would have been had business been better?

 

[Free4Life11]

Hmm true but if that is a small bonus I want to know what a BIG bonus is!

 

[Bob Slydell]

It's all relative, but it would mostly depend on the size of the company. The CFO of our company's bonus is well into the millions (we're a Fortune 500 company).

 

[Planogirl]

Managers are supposed to lead by example IMO. This bonus may have been tied into the Manager's contract but it was stupid to leave it lying around. It shows a lack of concern for employees' feelings.

Bonuses are a regular part of compensation at my former place of employment. They are biannual and tied to performance. They are also a part of my DH's compensation but unfortunately tied to performance of the facility as a whole. And that includes the Managers!

 

[MUFFYCAT]

At my company the bonus is part of your salary. They pay less knowing the bonus is there. Unfortunetly, the last 5 years have been cut each year.
With raises at 1% or frozen morale isn't very high at our office either.
Especially when all the big shots have had huge increases over the years.

They had a Christmas party last week and only 30% attended!

 

[Missy1961]

Around here, we never expect the end of year bonus. And yet, they've never missed paying one! Some years are better than others but we get them every year. In fact, we just got them today!

Reading this thread makes me wonder: I thought the economy was getting better? At least, that's what some in Washington DC would like us to believe.

 

[Chicago526]

Around here, we never expect the end of year bonus. And yet, they've never missed paying one! Some years are better than others but we get them every year. In fact, we just got them today!

Reading this thread makes me wonder: I thought the economy was getting better? At least, that's what some in Washington DC would like us to believe.

From what I've been reading, it is getter a little bit better, but the gains aren't huge. I personally get the feeling that it's more like treading water. It isn't getting worse OR better, but that's just my gut feeling and nothing that's based on hard numbers.

 

[Planogirl]

The economy APPEARS to be getting better but the numbers are misleading. Unemployment isn't as bad but supposedly, at least in Texas, it's because a lot of people are falling off the unemployment lists and aren't being counted and also many are underemployed. Jobs are being created but not so many "good" jobs. So if people have less money or are nervous about stability, they tend to spend less. Which means companies make less money or at least cut in all the wrong places to make their profits.

At least this is the perception of someone who supposedly understands how all of this works.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Sometimes the one skill management never learns is tact.

Why bother practicing tact when you have power.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I don't think that the OP *expected* a bonus. More like the CFO said "No bonuses", and yet he gives one to himself. No bonuses should be no bonuses to ANYONE. If he'd told them no bonuses and didn't have a check cut for himself, that wouldn't be a problem The problem was that he was a hypocrite.

Nice speculation based on a complete lack of knowledge of the situation. We have no idea what the CFO's compensation package/contract with the company is, therefore, it is completely unjustified to accuse him of being a hypocrite. His compensation agreement may include and even require a bonus for meeting certain goals, something that is usually not afforded to the "rank and file" employees.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Why bother practicing tact when you have power.

Unfortunately, that is all too true these days.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I am not looking to start anything here, but are you in management?

As of my last promotion in April 2004, yes, I am. Before that I spent many years (more than I care to admit to) as a regular "rank and file" peon. I am not that far removed or that high up on the corporate ladder as to have forgotten what it's like to be the average Joe 6-Pack (and sadly, that doesn't have anything to do with my abs).

 

[LeCras]

Nowadays it is a fairly common thing for CEOs to give up their bonus when company performance is poor. I think that's a wonderful gesture, that certainly strenghtens morale and promotes a sense of solidarity and team spirit. I'm sure that's the effect the gesture would have had in this instance too...

Charlotte

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Getting back to the OP's question: How valuable is loyalty if it can be purchased by a year-end bonus? I would expect that companies that give out bonuses that are not part of a contracted salary arrangement do so as a way of expressing gratitude to employees, not as a way to buy their loyalty for another year.

If a company desires employee loyalty (and I don't know of many that care about, much less desire loyalty), they would do well to do so through more than a year-end bonus.

However, if one's loyalty can be so easily purchased, one would do well to research and target the highest bidder. Companies may look to buy low, but those whose loyalty is for sale should look to sell high.

 

[Disney Doll]

Getting back to the OP's question: How valuable is loyalty if it can be purchased by a year-end bonus? I would expect that companies that give out bonuses that are not part of a contracted salary arrangement do so as a way of expressing gratitude to employees, not as a way to buy their loyalty for another year.

If a company desires employee loyalty (and I don't know of many that care about, much less desire loyalty), they would do well to do so through more than a year-end bonus.

However, if one's loyalty can be so easily purchased, one would do well to research and target the highest bidder. Companies may look to buy low, but those whose loyalty is for sale should look to sell high.

Having been a "rank & file" peon for lo these many years now, I can tell you that it doesn't take too much to get some loyalty out of an employee. A year end bonus is not the only thing that is going to "buy" loyalty, because true loyalty cannot be bought...it must be earned.

I will tell you that giving yourself a bonus as a CFO (even if it is tied into your compensation package), when you have just told me that I am not getting a bonus, is not a way to buy, foster, earn, or in any way get loyalty from your employees. Now, maybe as CFO you don't care about loyalty because if I leave I am easily replaced and that's true. I just hope the CFO remembers his actions when "karma" comes back to bite him in the butt! And it will...because it always does.

 

[KAMLEM]

I don't think it was smart for the boss to leave his paycheck for others to see and I may be wrong since I don't know him but I doubt that he did that on purpose. You have no idea what his compensation package may be. In my company, salary was the smallest part of the comp package for some people and therefore they were dependent on bonuses. You can't make assumptions in regards to compensation because not all packages are similar.

 

[crazelion]

I have no loyalty to any company no more. I worked for the comapny that believes in cutting hours like crazy so the managers can get there bounes. I spoke up in the comapny meeting when the employee as why they asking why company cut payroll and was not getting anyone any hours. The manager told the employees I can only work so manys a week. I basicly told the employees the truth because the manager won't get bounus if don't give anyone hours.