To be annoyed about lack of Christmas bonus?

[Vexed22]

I work in retail, small business with a handful of branches, and last year's Christmas bonus was a £20 voucher, which I was slightly miffed about as previous years had been a lot more.

This year however I have had no bonus at all. I imagine their reasoning is along the lines of belt tightening, recession etc etc BUT I know for the fact that it has been a good year saleswise, especially at the branch I work at - 100% up from the previous year, and also last week saw the boss giving an expensive Christmas gift to one of our suppliers reps.

AIBU to feel upset about this?

YABVVU
My staff didn't receive a bonus last Christmas as sales were down. This Christmas I've only got one left and she asked to go on a zero hours contract. Good job really as I haven't had any work for her it's been so awful this year. So count yourself lucky you've even got a job because retailing has been utter shit this Christmas. Many retailers are barely even hanging on.
If you have not run that business you have no idea what the profit is. You can't say "well we've taken loads of money". Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity. That's how it goes. All retailers have had huge increases in costs this year and most of us have shielded customers from those increases and taken massive hits in profit.
You have no idea where the suppliers gift came from, how much was paid for it, or even how long ago it was purchased.

No bonus. My boss sent me a small bottle of Prosecco with two chocolates. I gave up wine three years ago and don’t eat dairy so totally pointless for me. Got the same last year too, just have to re-gift them.

DP works for a major national motor trade company. They got a £15 tesco voucher.

I've been private sector for 40 years - never had any kind of Xmas bonus.

I work for a food retailer. We get a £50 voucher for where we work. It buys the turkey & a bottle of booze.

I'm moving to private sector where I expect to receive nothing at all, but I'll be getting a bloody amazing pension & I'll try to remember that every December.

Increase in sales doesn’t mean more profit though they may be just covering their outgoings with utility costs so high

£250 which I was amazed at, normally nowhere near that. Maybe it’s a cost of living handout and they feel sorry for us.

To al the teachers on this thread : I work in the private sector and I will happily swap my free works Christmas night out, £50 Amazon voucher & 29 days annual leave (including bank hols) for your 13 weeks annual leave. Any takers?

Thought not… 🙄

I'm NHS, never had a bonus. We used to get a voucher for a coffee in the canteen. Even that hasn't appeared this year.

Of course you can. There is a teacher shortage. You want to swap you current job for teaching, do it. What is stopping you?

Teacher in an international school here- got €75 bonus, €40 gift voucher, €40 Amazon voucher from the Parents Association and a lovely Christmas lunch including wine ! So not too bad at all for a school!

I’d be querying why some staff got a bonus and others didn’t

If it’s not in your contract then any bonus is a gift. This is why we stopped giving a Xmas bonus at our work. We had a good year once and gave a generous bonus. Next year was back to normal (so no bonus) and we got a lot of whinging from staff who had expected the same bonus.

left such a sour taste and we have learned our lesson. No bonus, easier that way. Never expected so none of them whinge. Sad though as we enjoyed being able to reward them that one good year. Just set up expectations tho for some sadly

I have never had a Christmas bonus, bar a handful of Christmas cards and a £10 Costa voucher one year.

@IntentionalError

Yes, another recruit!

Good, we only need a few more- well, several thousand more actually, and we may have enough to train up this year!

Sales/Turnover may be up but profits may not be. Indeed maybe they aren't even breaking even. Discretionary bonuses are entirely that - at their discretion.

Public sector. I got a chocolate reindeer and paid almost two weeks early. Ridiculous.

My favourite mn saying works perfectly for this… Are you on glue?

You got a bonus and you work for the NHS????
I’m also in the nhs and they don’t do bonus’s! Was it your trust?

Definitely. Especially since one is male

In previous company we got a contacted 4% "Christmas bonus", in reality it was just 4% of your salary (and taxed) held back for you until your December pay. It is not extra/free money.

Our two trainees didnt make it to the end of the first term 🙄

@TabithaTittlemouse yep, my trust gave £150 to everyone who had been working for us since October 1st 2022, same situation last year

@achildisborn which trusts are you at? I’m guessing this is some kind of well-being initiative but considering we battle to fund colleagues with a coffee and muffin or fruit each every year, i can only assume your trust isn’t in deficit. No nhs bonus in my county.

We have a 6mil well-being budget for the year

If you want the benefits of being a teacher, go be a teacher. 🤷‍♀️

There is not enough money or vacation days in the world to make me do that job.