Tone-Deaf Boss Complains About His Holiday Bonus To An Employee Who Got 50 Times Less
Holiday bonuses can be a great way for an employer to show workers that they’re an important part of the company.
However, when Reddit user AdMysterious7891 got hers, she felt the complete opposite.
Recently, the woman submitted a story to the platform’s ‘Anti Work‘ community, describing the moment when her boss, who receives a six-figure salary, complained to her about how his year-end incentive was “just” $10,000 while handing her a check that’s 50 times smaller.
His tone-deaf actions underscored the glaring disparity between management and staff at that particular office.
This manager tried to relate to his employee and complained about the size of his holiday bonus
Image credits: wasant1 / Envato Elements
Which is kinda ridiculous when you realize that he did this as he was presenting her with one 50 times smaller
Image credits: Sora Shimazaki / Pexels
Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels
Image credits: AdMysterious7891
Image credits: Alex Kotliarskyi / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
While bonuses aren’t the most important thing in the world, poor management can significantly impact employee morale and overall organizational success
“Holiday bonuses certainly have the potential to increase employee morale, but they aren’t guaranteed to do so,” Keith Spencer, Career Expert at FlexJobs, a platform that helps people find remote, hybrid, and flexible job opportunities, told Bored Panda.
“Holiday bonuses can make employees feel more appreciated, but if they are not distributed fairly, they could end up leading to resentment and dissatisfaction. They can also help make employees more enthusiastic about their work, but the positive effects can wear off quickly if there aren’t other systems or structures in place to make them feel valued on a regular basis,” Spencer explained.
In fact, according to a 2022 FlexJobs survey, just a little over one-third of people (34%) see bonuses among the compensation/benefits that matter the most to them. For comparison, the number one response, salary, resonates with 83% of respondents. Other options rank as follows:
- Flexible scheduling (63%);
- Health insurance (63%);
- Vacation time (62%);
- Retirement plans (50%);
- Training and education (44%);
- Special company perks (35%);
- four-day workweek (29%);
- Equity (21%);
- Paid parental leave (18%).
“At the end of the day, bonuses are not a substitute for good management and a healthy workplace culture,” Keith Spencer of FlexJobs added.
While there may be as many styles of management as there are managers, the one quality that sets the truly great ones apart from the rest is that they discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it.
These folks know and value their team members’ unique abilities, including their eccentricities, and know how to integrate them into the bigger picture.
During a time when only 23% of employees worldwide (and 32% in the U.S.) are engaged at work, treating them with indifference can seriously backfire.
As the post went viral, many people used it as an opportunity to talk about their own holiday bonuses
Many had strong reactions to the story
OP is being sexually harassed by her boss. Today, he's complaining about his "meager" bonus. Later, he'll be complaining that his marriage is on the rocks, and that no one understands him (connecting the dots yet?) I hope OP is documenting every interaction with this creep and will be meeting with HR soon. She might want to retain a lawyer, just in HR (surprise, surprise!) takes her boss's side.
Yeah, I thought that too. It's actually an attempted brag about how much money he is making rather than a complaint. "I make so much money that $10k is nothing to me".
Load More Replies... Here's a little story about bonuses and corporate culture. About 10 years ago, I worked for a company that had run into some difficulties (they had posted losses for 2 consecutive years after many years of making fat profits). The company decided to offer all the employees a 5% 'turnaround' bonus if we could make a profit the following year. We subsequently made a profit and I received the bonus of 5% of my annual wage. Great. The kicker to this story is the CEO's bonus. The CEO's annual salary was 4 million pounds. 5% would have been 200k. This, it seems, was deemed insufficient. The CEO's bonus was 3 million quid. A couple of years after that, they closed our entire department and laid off 200 or so folks. I had already left by then.
OP is being sexually harassed by her boss. Today, he's complaining about his "meager" bonus. Later, he'll be complaining that his marriage is on the rocks, and that no one understands him (connecting the dots yet?) I hope OP is documenting every interaction with this creep and will be meeting with HR soon. She might want to retain a lawyer, just in HR (surprise, surprise!) takes her boss's side.
Yeah, I thought that too. It's actually an attempted brag about how much money he is making rather than a complaint. "I make so much money that $10k is nothing to me".
Load More Replies... Here's a little story about bonuses and corporate culture. About 10 years ago, I worked for a company that had run into some difficulties (they had posted losses for 2 consecutive years after many years of making fat profits). The company decided to offer all the employees a 5% 'turnaround' bonus if we could make a profit the following year. We subsequently made a profit and I received the bonus of 5% of my annual wage. Great. The kicker to this story is the CEO's bonus. The CEO's annual salary was 4 million pounds. 5% would have been 200k. This, it seems, was deemed insufficient. The CEO's bonus was 3 million quid. A couple of years after that, they closed our entire department and laid off 200 or so folks. I had already left by then.
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