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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to expect employee to say thank you for Christmas Bonus?

154 replies

Booper42 · 30/01/2017 17:21

I am self employed and at Christmas gave all my employees a generous Christmas Bonus - out of the 7 employees only 3 thanked me for their Bonus. I have waited for the others to at least say thankyou or acknowledge that they have recieved the money (sent via online banking). One of the employees has now asked for more money - if she didn't appreciate the £500 I gave her, why should I give her anymore especially when she doesn't appear to be putting in a great deal of effort into her work at the moment!

Is it me, or is this how employees are these days?

OP posts:
Sara107 · 30/01/2017 18:38

I would say it depends on the size of the organisation. In this case, and if it was an unscheduled Christmas gift I would say thank you. In my case, a multi national, the annual bonus comes as a way of keeping down the company's salary costs. A payrise, even a small one like 1%, is pensionable salary which they have to keep on paying year after year so actually worth more than a 7% bonus which looks on the surface like a better deal.

Nemosnemsis · 30/01/2017 18:40

The 'thankyou' is in continuing to work hard over the following year. Obviously a personal thankyou would be appreciated, but not expected.

Chippednailvarnishing · 30/01/2017 18:44

It's all relative. If you pay salaries and your staff work long hours in not particularly good conditions, if you refuse them flexibility in emergencies, if you’re the sort of boss who regularly shouts and screams, if people actually hate working for you then £500 isn’t a bonus, it’s just something to make them take more shit from you.
If you’re a fair employer who values their staff and are sharing the profits you have made through their hardwork, then they should thank you, but you should realise they don’t have to.

sirfredfredgeorge · 30/01/2017 18:44

A bonus is part of a compensation scheme, they're good for the employer in that they are discretionary, so if the work the individual has contributed is more than expected. Or simply that profit margins have been good the year for a different reason they can reward the staff equal to the value they've returned. So it's lower risk for the employer and the employee still ends up with a fair wage, they transfer risk to the employee.

They are a risk for the employee, as they are not guaranteed, so they're generally accepting a lower wage than the role would normally demand. They also mean that it's difficult to leave, another plus for the employer as come november, you've done 11 months work but part of the pay only arrives if you give them another couple of month's in the job since you can't give notice until after the bonus has been paid.

For me, I'd never work anywhere that paid bonuses, unless against a specific targetted reward system that I can directly influence. The risk in the general bonus system is simply not worth it, my skills could be rewarded more directly for what I produce in the salary.

If you hand someone a christmas card with a cheque in (or even just notification of the bonus) then you can be thanked for the card. But being thanked for part of renumeration package would be like being thanked for the chair your sitting on while doing the job.

Violetcharlotte · 30/01/2017 18:46

In a small company where everyone knows the owner I would expect people to say thank you. Different in a large corporate.

AddToBasket · 30/01/2017 18:50

Weren't you thanking them?

It's pretty unlikely that they think you pay them right at the top of what they are worth. So they don't see it as any reason for rejoicing. They think it's fair and you seem to as well. No need for thank yous.

ShatnersBassoon · 30/01/2017 18:52

Was it clear that the payment was a bonus? Did you send a letter explaining what they were getting, and why?

The employee may not have noticed the extra payment. You don't know if an unannounced £500 would register.

Strongmummy · 30/01/2017 18:54

It might be nice for employees in a small company to say thank you, but for the owner to expect it, intimate that she might stop future bonuses due to a lack of thanks and be surprised that her employees might ask for more money, I find very strange indeed. I employ a nanny. I tell her at the start of the year what I expect of her. If she exceeds that expectation she gets a discretionary bonus. It's me trying to ensure she stays with me. I don't expect a thank you!!

honeylulu · 30/01/2017 18:54

I would always say thank you for a gift but I don't consider my bonus a gift. I've never said thank you for a bonus. i feel like I've earned it!

ShatnersBassoon · 30/01/2017 18:56

I agree that a bonus is a reward, not a gift. They worked hard, you showed your gratitude by giving them money.

jcne · 30/01/2017 18:57

you aren't dear grandpapa giving them a gift, surely a bonus is performance related.. ok it's nice to say thank you and a polite considerate person may well do so, but don't dish it out to someone who you feel is not deserving in the first place.

ClarkL · 30/01/2017 19:01

Trollspoopglitter not Lord of business, but someone who pays a fair wage and provides a good work environment. Only a couple of staff are skilled so if they don't like it they can go elsewhere but I know for a fact none of our competitors are paying more than we do and do not provide H&S equipment to the level we do.

ClarkL · 30/01/2017 19:04

Nemosnemsis As I said above, we already provide the best working environment for our staff, any bonus given on top of that is a gesture of goodwill from us and only when deserved. If you turn up and do your job, you get your salary. If you go the extra mile you get a bonus. Simples

Atenco · 30/01/2017 19:09

I think, as their boss, you should more concerned about the quality of your employees' work than how grateful they are to you.

GimmeeMoore · 30/01/2017 19:09

I think given you employ 7 folk in total an acknowledgment would be nice,yanbu
I wouldn't draw any generalisations from the 4 who didn't acknowledge the bonus

bibbitybobbityyhat · 30/01/2017 19:11

Of course they should thank you for the bonus! It is simple common courtesy.

Strongmummy · 30/01/2017 19:13

Clark I don't think nemesis was concerned about your allocation of bonus, more your expectation of grovelling thank yous and people "not fitting in with your culture". It made me cringe too

WineIsMyMainVice · 30/01/2017 19:19

I think £500 is very generous, especially for a small business owner. I think that if I worked for you I would certainly have said thank you! Yanbu to expect (or at least hope for) a little gratitude. You didn't have to do it.

60sname · 30/01/2017 19:26

I said thank you to my manager for the £15 Christmas gift she gave me from her own pocket. I didn't email the business unit director to say thanks for the £xk bonus I got Grin

BoomBoomsCousin · 30/01/2017 19:29

Generally, I would see a thank you as a form of communication about how pleased or not someone was with the situation, I would not be particularly concerned about it as a form of manners really. Though I would not be pleased about having employees who were generally ill mannered at work, that just makes the work environment miserable.

I think I've always said thank you to my managers for bonuses I've received. But I've also always been happy with them. If I thought I'd been shorted on a bonus I'd probably use the words "thank you" but at the same time state I was disappointed which isn't a real thank you is it?

As a manager, if someone didn't seem happy with their bonus and they were a worker I wanted to retain, I would want to know if they were dissatisfied.

zeeboo · 30/01/2017 19:34

Now that we seem to have come to a stalemate over the reasonableness or not of the employees saying thank you, can we get down to the real business.

HOW DID THE ONE EMPLOYEE ASK FOR MORE MONEY?????? We need details OP.

2017BetterKickAss · 30/01/2017 20:05

Zeeboo yes to that.

I would never imagine asking for more money in a bonus. I did, however, once politely say no thank you and hand the check back to the (long distance, newly involved) management team. Who were utterly flummoxed. It was an insult.

Took several long conversations including bringing in my direct team who thankfully stood up with/for me.

End result was a bonus of 7 x original check :)

Usernamegone · 30/01/2017 20:07

If the bonus wasn't expected it's possible that they thought it was a payroll error and don't want to mention it to you just in case it is and you ask for it back.

I work in a sector where bonuses are very rare/unheard of. However, when I got a 5% pay increase last year (instead of the standard 2%) I did ring my manager to thank her for thinking of me at salary review time and getting me a bit extra.

ClarkL · 30/01/2017 20:36

Strongmummy in a small business culture and fitting is more important than ever. It costs us more than we have to by law to create a good work place environment and i'm shocked by the attitudes of people on here who think they are owed a bonus and wouldn't say thank you.
A job is far more than simply the pay check at the end and if that's the only motivation for staff then we aren't the employer for them. Not saying thank you is rude

Clandestino · 30/01/2017 20:42

YABU. They worked really well, they contributed to your business success so they got the bonus. I imagine you didn't lose on it, instead you encouraged them to keep working for you and perform well.
If that's the case, while a thank you would be ok, I certainly don't see it as necessary. Maybe they even wanted to thank you byt missed the chance and felt embarrassed about requesting a meeting only to say thanks.
We don't live in feudal times anymore so a gratitude can be epxressed in other ways rather than thanking for getting money for their hard work.