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No X-Mas bonus, 1/2 overtime allowance for IT Staff

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by rapell

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This is not a case that may concern you guys out there but am so sad. At the end of every year, the company I work for gives some 'bonus' on top of earnings that is a fixed amount for everyone and slightly less for techies but varies from year to year depending on how the company performed. IT staff usually get less because they work through the season and get extra overtime allowances. However this year IT has been cut off the bonus payroll, and overtime allowance cut in half, and yet the company has performed best since it was opened 32 years ago. Is this fair, given our contribution to supporting the production workers? I feel so left out, like 'maybe I haven't performed'

8 replies

by bfilmfan

If you organization doesn't value you and you have the ability to accept an offer somewhere else that meets your needs, vote with your feet.

I have to tell you that any organization that pays a bonus to their employees is a rare thing these days.

Did upper management enjoy a nice fat bonus? that would be the other major determing factor in a decision in my view. If they did, they don't value you.

by rapell

yes they got more than their fair share..though they are paid to build business, this looks to me like pure old fashioned greed!! right now everything is back to normal as we are back from the x-mas holidays but my bosses all remind me of the book, animal farm.

by montgomery gator

Would you compare your bosses to Napoleon the Pig? I guess they hope you are like the horse that worked itself to death out of blind devotion.

by jkaras

I have never had a job where I got a Christmas bonus. Having friends or family receiving one every year used to steam me. Actually my old room mate's old IT staff all got one except for two people, and they would rotate it each year so not everyone gets the shaft, and it brought bitter sentiments to those who got it. I hate to admit it but I think the Christmas bonuses of yesterday are just that, in the past. With the economy going down, getting cheaper labor, and more corporate scandals like Fannie Mae and other corporations cooking their books I dont think it is cost effective for a company. To tell you the truth, they will always cut corners to maximize profits, but I would pass on a bonus if it guaranteed stable employment, maybe a better 401 or better benefits, not just a standard 80/20 HMO. I dont blame you for being pissed, but I doubt that the decision had anything to do your performance, just economics.

by rapell

I know about this and I would not butt an eyelid if we were not discriminated against, say if mgnt decided they would be the only ones getting a bonus...but to cut off an arm of the company from bonuses while the rest are getting? surely that s not a good sign, we must be on our way out. It is like your mother saying, this xmas, only the girls go out, not the boys? why....I would rather she said, 'anybody below 21 shall not have a beer this xmas, boy or girl....' But thanks for the reply..it is encouraging; make's me look at the problem in a whole new perspective.

by montgomery gator

I got my usual bonus based on 10% of pay. Since I work as a programmer for an insurance company in Alabama, there was some concern that the claims paid for Hurricane Ivan might result in cancelling the bonus, but the reinsurers came through, and we were safe.

However, if I had it my way, instead of an annual bonus which (in theory at least) may or may not be paid, I would rather be given a raise that would be equivalent of spreading the bonus over the entire year. That would lock it in, and would make paying the bills and accumulating savings easier. I think the bonus is my company's way of making up for salaries that are slightly below average compared with salary surveys.

by jdclyde

When I first took my position, the bonuses for Christmas had been cut in half compared to the years before.

That was the last time they gave out Christmas bonuses at all.

They DO spend a close to $10,000 a year for my continued education as well as treat me well.

I have a job, I am happy with the way they treat me.

If it doesn't equal the way someone else is treated, it doesn't lower how I am treated.

If the rest of the year it is a good place to be, just write it off as a part of the changing world. If not, then it is time to find a place that will value what you have to offer.

by rapell

it is interesting that you bring this up. At today's staff meeting while discussing our end of year report, some execs are talking about outsourcing, but they want to use us instead, not hire from an already established firm. So what do they want us to do? This is their plan: to keep us on a retainer(very low I must add) and pay us per job done. Do these pple expect us to sit home and wait for machines to break down? I think so. Problem is that some of us are yet too new to the field and we cannot, say start a consulting farm with the Bank as our first client, and yet earn from the retainer as well. Speak of Boxer and his replacement, Benjamin.

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