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?

Giving expensive gifts to the supplier's rep creates a conflict of interest. In my job, it would be considered gross misconduct to accept the gift and any offering of hospitality/gifts is closely managed in conjunction with the legal team.

Nhs so 0. But I expect that.

Was looking forward to husband's usual bonus of a sack of tates though not relying on it. It didn't happen but he got a payrise.

Public sector you get a no redundancy policy, paid higher than voluntary, and a fantastic pension.

I work in HR for one of the Big Four- I got nothing...

And, as stated above, no redundancy policy and great salary so protected for life

So become a teacher then if it's so wonderful.

FGS those working in public sector (me included) generally have comparatively good pensions/ rights compared to retail.
To say you work in public sector and have never received a bonus is comparing apples vs oranges and shows a lacks self awareness especially to those not employed under similar conditions.
Op, if this has been a good year sales wise I would definitely ask the question.

You’ve had a pay rise, no need to expect a bonus.

I’ve bucked the trend I think. Gave my employees £800 bonus each and paid for a lavish Xmas meal. We’ve had a cracking year and they know how well we’ve done so would be wrong not to share our good fortunes. We try to do a summer bonus too where we can.

I’m so surprised at people saying they’ve never had a bonus! I’ve been working for 20 years as a PA/EA in 7 or so different companies across different sectors and have never not been given a bonus of at least a grand or 2… I’m in London if that matters?

I don't expect a bonus as a teacher.

I just think the teacher bashing is unnecessary.

Really ? I'm NHS we've had nothing

I've been a civil servant all my working days therefore I don't expect a bonus but if like the OP I was used to getting one then it all of a sudden stopped I'd be pretty miffed too!

@Sherrystrull absolutely. Makes me wonder why there is a recruitment and retention crisis in teaching with so many on here saying what a wonderful job it is.... (Although they're not actually teaching themselves.)

YANBU OP, particularly when people on benefits got a bonus last year. Self-employed person here who gets f all. I actually gave my students gifts, and their present to me was…cancellation of 2 x lessons last week & nearly a £90 reduction in income that week. After I’d done the planning as well!! Merry Xmas 🎅!

I see the 'just be grateful you HAVE a job' brigade are out in force 🤔

Same.

It’s the only place I’ve ever got a Christmas bonus - it was £200 one year. It was completely unexpected and out of the blue.

The following year, we didn’t get anything (maybe a company branded selfie stick or some shite) and I was managing a small team by that point and I remember one of my direct reports in floods of tears as she had earmarked that £200 for her Christmas shopping and now couldn’t afford to buy her family’s gifts.

I'm still angry about a bonus scheme that was cancelled mid-scheme 'because nobody is earning anything on this scheme so we're re- launching in a different format to make it easier to hit targets' - at the time I and my lovely telesales had slogged away and got great results and were way over the quarterly target, heading for a MASSIVE bonus and we weren't even half way through the scheme. Thank you TNT - this was about 35 years ago and it still angers me. Scrapped, nothing paid on results to date. I argued the case as we'd hit the quarterly target, but no we weren't allowed it. I could just about survive on basic salary, but commission bonus was my extras! And the new scheme didn't net us anywhere near the same level of commission. So unfair.

I work in the public sector.

We most certainly do not have a no redundancies policy (they're not lawful anyway), we pay statutory redundancy pay too. We don't get a fantastic pension, we get a fairly ordinary money purchase style pension. No ill health retirement protection attached to it.

We probably do get paid higher than the voluntary sector, but not as much as private, we purposely pay lower quartile of the benchmark.

However, we did get a £50 voucher as a Christmas bonus, and we got a one off cost of living payment.

I know it might seem odd, but not all public sector has the same terms.

@IntentionalError

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… 🙄

Well there is a big shortage of teachers so you could retrain? It's never boring which is a huge perk in my eyes.

I don't think OP should be compared to teachers as it's a completely different scenario.

OP that is awful your colleague got something. Maybe you will too but weren't there when it was handed out?

@BuffaloCauliflower

Hbh17 i work for a charity and we get a £500 Christmas bonus

I'm surprised by this. I don't resent you getting a bonus but that's a lot of funds to divert from a presumably needy cause? When I donate to a charity I assume it goes to the people who need it.

@converseandjeans

I've known a few people that work for charities in London. It seems to be a very cushie lifestyle.

The charities don't pay 'amazing' wages, but tend to have great benefits, job for life culture and low stress roles - very similar to local councils.

I know a woman that wrote a charity's maternity policy before getting pregnant with her first child. Her boss signed it off without reading it properly and subsequently complained when she disappeared for a year on full pay.

@IntentionalError - what's stopping you? There's a huge shortage of teachers. See how much holiday you actually have when you start. And how much any free time is eroded. Also holidays aren't paid.

The nhs trust I used to work for do a Xmas bonus….but you have to 12 extra shifts in December on top of your normal hours to get it! 🙈😂

Looks like the military are getting a christmas bonus fir working in the nhs…

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64079476?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab