Does anyone else remember getting fabulous christmas bonuses from employers?

[NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1]

I remember 30 odd years ago regularly getting bonuses of £800 at Christmas which was about a months wages.

Always got taken out to fabulous restaurants for no expense spared dinners too.

It doesn't happen anymore does it?

Does anyone know why it stopped? Or does anyone still get one?

It's not a moan, I just wondered why it had stopped when we are supposed to be better off now than we were 30 years ago.

I'll be getting a gift of about £10 from my employer plus a buffett lunch.

What will you be getting?

I get nothing. No party and not even a card.
In previous jobs I got hampers, vouchers and brown envelopes of cash. Working life has changed so much. I haven't even met most of the people I work 'for'.

Last employers took us abroad for two nights & paid for a meal whilst there. My current employer, it's a Christmas party & free flu jab 😂

School worker so like other public sector workers get nada. One of the heads years ago used to give a bottle of wine and laid on a free buffet for staff on the last day. Nothing recently. If we wanted to go to the buffet on the last day last year then you had to pay for it yourself. A lot of people just swerved it and left early and it wasn’t really commented on if you did that.

This year it seems we are all expected to stay there regardless but I have no idea whether that is with food or without food and whether we are expected to pay towards it or not.

In contrast I once worked in a law firm in London. First non-public sector job i’d Worked in. What an eye opener. Free meal and party in a hotel and as much champagne as you wanted.

Still waiting for confirmation of the full amount, but should be between £14,900 and £16,600 gross. Husband’s will be between c. £13,500 and £15,000 gross.

. Only a couple of years ago that was my annual wage! I’m going to assume this isn’t public sector.

I just wondered why it had stopped when we are supposed to be better off now than we were 30 years ago.

Where are you living that there is a message we are better off than 30 years ago ?
Did the last 9 years of shocking cuts pass you by ?

No bonus here - ever - not even over 30 years ago in my first teaching job. (Though, I remember in my first year, the HT took it in turns to cover each of our classes to give us 1/2 a day off - either for staff to go and see their own dc in the Nativity, or to do Christmas shopping or whatever you wanted. It was very much appreciated). Public purse means you pay for your own Christmas do if anyone has the time to arrange something too.

30 years ago my Dad used to work for a Japanese company and he’d get pantomime tickets for the whole family, presents for me and my sibling, works party and drinks all paid for and a Christmas bonus plus nice things throughout the year like Easter eggs for the whole family and family fun days, and the bosses would always bring gifts for us back from Japan if they went.

Compared to where I work now (a national company, multimillion £ turnover) we have to pay for our own Christmas party as it’s “not fair to pass that cost on to our customers” 😒 and there’s the carrot of a bonus but it never gets paid because our target is set at an unachievable level.

It does indeed feel like the rich really do get richer and the poor get poorer.

NHS here too, so bugger all. And (might be outing) I get to be on call Christmas Day for no extra ££. Merry Christmas everyone!

Public sector, no ££ but I do get an extra day of leave at Christmas. And an hour extra for a Christmas lunch.

When I worked in private sector I got 4 figure bonuses and fancy hampers, but I wouldnt trade my family friendly career for that lifestyle.

I work in education. I get to pay for my fairly obligatory staff Christmas lunch... I'm 36 and have never had a Christmas bonus in my life!

I'm an estate agent not on commission but a really crap wage. I live for the bonus which I am really hoping is at least 3 weeks of a months pay of said really crap wage. I work my ass off flat out and don't take breaks and wonder if it's all worth it!

My first job in industry in the UK, back in the mid-1980s, we had about 300 quid one year, then a case of booze the next

I now live in Germany, where we have between 1/2 to 2 month's pay extra at Christmas, amount varies according to industry and firm

So that's for every worker, not a special bonus for individuals

Always a nice Christmas present

I've recently changed jobs and was told there's either a salary increase or a bonus each year. I've not long been here so wouldn't expect anything but a colleague told me this year they've had neither

I used to work for a city firm - I miss those bonuses! A friend of mine who is an EA at at a US bank in London still gets bonuses in the thousands.

We get nowt but then I work in local government so there is nowt to give anyway.

I’m going to assume this isn’t public sector

You’ve assumed correctly!

Annual bonus, annual salary increase (typically 2.5-4% depending on a few factors), 35 hour weeks, and lots of flexibility to work from home/use flexible hours.

I genuinely think I have the best job and work/life balance of anyone I know.

The company I work for is one in a few, in the fact it genuinely looks after us. We get around 3 expenses paid trips/parties for Christmas and a bonus of £400 this year. Which is a is slightly better then last year due to business going great.

Until a few years ago I worked for a privately owned company without any bank borrowings. Owners were on the Sunday Times Rich List. Every Easter they would give us a creme egg. At Christmas we got two bottles of wine. They would then bill the company for them....

I worked for a massive US company in the eighties. Big Christmas bonus and they'd take us and our partners away for a night in a hotel with "dinner dance" as well as giving us M and S vouchers.

Teacher so never had a bonus and we pay for ourselves if we go to the staff Christmas party.

Months salary.

I'm a solicitor, until last Christmas I worked in the legal aid sector, my bonus would be no-one phoning up with a crisis on Christmas Eve.
Now I work for a wonderful small firm for HNW individuals, we get a small cash bonus (last year £300), a party, a personal gift from the boss, and we can use the company credit card for drinks at Christmas networking events. It's wonderful and I feel so lucky!

City law firms pre- credit crunch were usually pretty generous. We would have an all expenses paid black tie Christmas party at a London hotel, plus a bonus of around 5%. Immediately post credit crunch it tended to be a more modest meal with the people paying for their own meal and some of the partners clubbing together for the booze. We are not quite so abstemious now but I can't see it going back to how it was.

40 years in teaching. Nothing ever. Paid for Christmas lunch and sat with the kids. If we wanedt a Christmas staff do, we organised and paid for it ourselves.

Public sector. My department does a Christmas quiz and a buffet in the office and we get an hour to do it. We pay for it and as a manager I have to chip in for the prizes. I will also buy my team leaders a gift.
Best Christmas was when I worked in sales for an electronics firm and we got so many hampers and bottles of booze etc sent to us. I practically filled the boot of the car with my share. No need to buy any wines for Xmas dinner

NHS. Nothing.

We usually have a bottle of wine as a present and a pretty good Christmas party with food provided and drinks within reason.

Bonuses come in April (banking sector).