Employee Bonuses: Bet It'll Pay The Company Back And Then Some, In Goodwill
Jim Romenesko posts about a decision by the owner of The Chronicle in Centralia, Washington, Jenifer Lafromboise Falcon, to give each of the employees a profit-sharing check for $1,386.01:
On Wednesday, Chronicle publisher Christine Fossett walked around the newsroom and distributed red envelopes to staffers. They contained a letter from the owner, Jenifer Lafromboise Falcon, and a profit-sharing check for $1,386.01...."Every full-time employee in the company [Lafromboise Communication] -- which includes one three-day a week newspaper, three weeklies, a printing enterprisecheck and a sign business (about 80 employees) -- received the same amount," says my tipster. "We'd been told earlier in the year that [Falcon] intended to deliver checks as part of a profit-sharing plan. Of course the cynics in the newsroom and elsewhere didn't give the announcement much credence. ...[But] there was an incredible amount of joy in the newsroom and, I imagine, across the company" when the checks were delivered Wednesday.
As Wharton's Dr. Adam Grant pointed out on my radio show, it's by giving (not going Scrooge-y) that people become successful.
Right out of college, I worked producing TV commercials at Ogilvy & Mather, before it was bought by WPP Group. It was an amazing place that hired amazing people. We had a bar at work (Club 12, on the 12th floor, open at 5pm), a strong corporate culture started by David Ogilvy, a nurse on staff (that nobody ever saw), and you could go to a therapist and they'd pay for it. I don't think many people took advantage of that, but it felt like the company cared about us and a lot of us worked long hours and, I think, felt good about it. We felt like family more than employees.
Then, WPP bought the company and cut a lot of the benefits. The company felt like it became merely a business -- hard and cold -- and I think employees responded in turn.
The original post doesn't mention if taxes were withheld.
I hope not. Let them watch that nice fat bonus check get cut in half right before their eyes. A valuable lesson, knowing what government actually costs.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 21, 2013 7:12 AM
My wife loves her company for reasons you cite -- when we adopted children the company set up a special adoption benefit (paid "maternity leave"). The company also gives out good bonuses.
Peter M at December 21, 2013 7:19 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/12/21/employee_bonuse.html#comment-4138943">comment from Peter MThis year, I am sending both my previous assistant and my new assistant $25 Trader Joe's gift cards. I appreciated her and I appreciated him and I think it's important to show that, though I wish I could spend more.
Amy Alkon
at December 21, 2013 7:35 AM
The company I'm working for now provides free lunch three days a week, decent salaries, decent time off that is separate from sick time, beer Friday's that allow you to drink at work.
The atmosphere is not oppressive, but they expect you to work and get your job done.
They have a roll-over rate that is fairly high. But the employees that leave make the decision. There is rarely a termination.
Jim P. at December 22, 2013 11:04 AM
The affect is going to have a lot to do with the situation and the presentation.
One year at my first job out of college the company suggested in July that they would be doing some matching of 401K contributions (this and bonus was something they could do but were not obligated to do per our contracts). No one took them too seriously but in all the years before (I was told) they had flat out said it was not going to happen. First week of December we all get notices we are getting bonus! No match - which of course was not announced...but at least it was something. Then when they finally came...well after with-holdings mine was about $65.00. If it had been presented like "here is a little extra as a show of gratitude for all your hard work" that would have been a lot better - instead it came across "we don't have to give you nothing. You need to be thankful anything was done!"
Or at my currently employer were we have great bonuses. They bring that pony out every year,"our competitors don't give bonuses like this!" and the response is "No, they just pay a lot higher base salary!"
The Former Banker at December 22, 2013 11:24 AM
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