Odd one out or just unlucky? The Christmas bonus
Does the boss hate you? Does he think your work is insufficiently good to merit a Christmas bonus? The answer to both of these questions is probably negative, but if you were expecting a Christmas bonus and didn't get one and want to know what this means, you may have to consider the following. Just because you didn't get one doesn't mean that you are under-valued. Some companies simply do not indulge staff in this manner, while others may be feeling the financial sting that many businesses have felt over the past couple of years.
You need to read your contract. If the contract stipulates that the bonus is part of your company's agreement with you on the terms of your service, there will probably be a description of some kind which shows the basis of the bonus payment. For example, it may be that the bonus is calculated upon your productivity and if you didn't meet set goals, this may explain why the bonus was not paid.
However, if a bonus is discretionary, what this means is that the employer chooses the criteria and gives a bonus to those members they feel have performed well during the past year. There is a slight glitch here in the word "discretionary," since if they paid bonuses in the past, these may then be considered as contractual by any tribunal which you may use to question the fairness of your employer's decision.
Moneywisereported that if the bonus is something which was always paid in the past, then an employer could reasonably expect this, unless some change was made that affected the payment of bonuses and employees are told about it. This is what they say about it:
The problem with leaving your employment at a time such as Christmas is that you may not make it into the bonus stakes because of your leaving date. It's wise to check with the personnel department to see if an error was made if you did expect that bonus based on past work.
This may be an indication that your boss didn't feel your work merited the bonus. Work may be measured on a set scale by the employer and perhaps others met the criteria while you did not. You can ask your boss if you feel this is unjustified, but as a bonus is a perk to a job, it may make you unpopular with the boss, which may not be the best way to be if he already feels you don't deserve the bonus.
On the other hand, if you approach it in a discreet manner and give the boss the impression that you want to know so that you can improve your performance, he may help you do that by explaining how he bases his judgement on who gets the bonuses.
Perhaps you are the new boy. The thing with this is that the bonus may be based on the past year's work. If you were expecting a bonus and are fairly new at the job, ask another employee as they may know the score. Based on length of service, this will no doubt show in your contract and could explain why you didn't get a bonus. If you stay with the company, then next year, this should be included.
It was reported byCBC Newsthat Canadian companies expected many Christmas bonuses to shrink this year, though the same trend was not seen to be followed by companies in the United States. What many companies are giving instead of bonuses are perks such as extra training or Christmas events to celebrate, rather than individual handouts.
There may be various reasons why you didn't get a Christmas bonus and perhaps other members of staff in your company were equally disappointed. The reasons that this may be so could be shown in the above explanations, though many employees never receive Christmas bonuses and perhaps your company is one of those companies that consider the Christmas lunch to be that bonus. Read your contract closely and, if Christmas bonuses are not mentioned, perhaps that lunch was your employer's reward for your hard work, rather than cash.
