My work does not give bonuses to anyone except me (CIO) and the CEO. Would it be weird to give half of it to my team as a "personal gift"?

NinjaHighfive · 4 months

My boss did this and it worked perfectly:

Step 1) Took us to Buffalo Wild Wings.

Step 2) Free Dinner

Step 3) Open Bar

Step 4) Transportation for anyone that needs it.

Step 5) Profit!!!!

LegionVsNinja · 4 months

Take that $12,000 you were going to give them and put it into a separate account. Take out $1000 a month and use it for "team outings" for "team building".

Go to dinner.
Go rafting.
Take a dinner cruise.
Go to a theme park.
Go to a baseball/football/hockey game.
Take their families to the zoo.
Go play paintball.
Sponsor a company softball team or a couple of company bowling teams.
Go to a concert.

Just a few ways you can take that money and spend it on your team to say thank you for their hard work without directly giving them money or gifts. Also, it should appear to your bosses that you are creating a positive work environment and building meaningful incentives for your team to work hard and stay with the company rather than showing them up.

Thinks_Like_A_Man · 4 months

I am not sure you will see this, but I worked for a company that paid the top executives outrageous bonuses (six figures, luxury cars, boats, etc.) I worked my ass off for my boss, and did a lot of his work when he was out "sick" (read: hungover), kept his staff happy, and even took the blame for some of his mistakes. The last bonus check I deposited for him was the equivalent of $615,000 today. Yeah, big money.

My loyalty was often rewarded with very thoughtful gifts that I could not afford for myself, like electronics, top of the line running shoes, airline tickets, etc. Probably about $300 in today's terms.

These did not come only at bonus time, but throughout the year. Sometimes I would be given his credit card and an afternoon off to go shopping for new clothes for work ("Because I know it's expensive to buy a new suit every season.") He was aware of my situation and he cared.

Employees want to be appreciated. They want this more than money.

There came a time when other executives wanted to hire me away from my boss which was usually accompanied by a raise. I refused because this man had earned my loyalty and respect.

When I was promoted to management, I used this approach with my own employees. I fought for employee bonuses (and eventually won). When I didn't have cash to give them, I wrote them notes of appreciation for something they accomplished. I NOTICED when they addressed items I asked them to improve on -- like showing up to the office on time. A few of my staff came to me in tears and said that no one had ever said, "Good job" to them. Ever.

I think your idea is a good one, but I urge you to stand up at this dinner and speak a few words of praise about each and every one of them. They won't remember the money as long as they will remember that you acknowledged them.

Be the boss you want for yourself.

UnDire · 4 months

Be careful. You've been told that they will not be paying bonuses (even if you take a smaller one). You will be doing what your employer has informed you not to do. Also what will you do next year if you do not get a bonus. Will this be a taxable benefit for the staff? Best just buy them a nice meal and say thanks.

slumlord · 4 months

I like the idea, but in practice:

You stand a good chance of making YOUR superiors look bad to your employees (which is not good)
You're setting financial expectations that you might not be able to accommodate on an annual basis

Again, this is great that you want to do it, but don't... the political/corporate fallout will swing mostly negative. Take everyone out for a nice dinner and leave it at that.

DarthContinent · 4 months

You'd likely gain some fast fans among the employees, but your peers might worry that you're trying to curry favor among them. Worst case, it could backlash and get some of the employees or even yourself marginalized.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic gesture, I just don't know if all the consequences will be positive.

stewyman · 4 months

a person named beefpancake gets a $10-50k bonus a year? what am I doing wrong.

dopafiend · 4 months

That might piss off your boss. And I would find that somewhat uncomfortable as an employee if my boss gave me $1000 dollars from his/her own pocket.

gurry · 4 months

I was in a similar situation. My boss said I would be fired if I gave any of my bonus to my staff. That, obviously, would not hold water in court. I split my bonus with the staff and told my boss. He told me I had balls but he was going to have to tell the regional boss. Nothing ever happened. Quit that job/career as soon as I could.

T0mServo · 4 months

[deleted]

SpagNMeatball · 4 months

I am not very savvy politically, and you have gotten some good advice here, but I would say that if you do take them out to a nice dinner, be sure to include the spouses, and be careful that it doesn't look like you are showing off how much money you made. Make the event about being together as a team and maybe even say a few words about each person and the contribution they made, that can go a long way.

omplatt · 4 months

just wanted you to know that

somehipster · 4 months

If you straight up give your team $1k each, you run the risk of pissing off your bosses, or at the very least making them look shitty.

If you take that $1k a person a year and invest it in their work/home lives, you still get to give them that $1k but it doesn't make your bosses look shitty and it will make your employees happier and more productive.

Some examples: 1) Cover the cost of gym memberships 2) A nice coffee machine and a year's worth of coffee for the office 3) Get appliances for the office if you don't have them 4) If you have a refrigerator, keep it well stocked with a variety of beverages that are free (many grocery stores have delivery options that make this easy) 5) Start a snack room, keep it well stocked (many grocery stores have delivery options that make this easy) 6) Free company lunch every Friday 7) New, super comfortable chairs for EVERYONE 8) Hire a masseuse to come to the office the first Friday of every month 9) Get a contract with a local, nearby dry cleaner/do-it-for-you laundry place. I'd love to drop off all my laundry before work and bring it home after work. 10) Office dog. So awesome.

These are just some of the things I have enjoyed as a serial non-management worker at various work places. And try as I might to avoid it, I end up being a better worker because of them. The best part about this is your bosses will notice how productivity has increased and you can say it was your initiative that caused it, which means a bigger bonus next year.

At which point you can send me a check for $1k (or buy me lunch every Friday).

EDIT: Always make the company events on Friday. This way people have an incentive not to blow off Friday.

JonAudette · 4 months

I think you kick ass, personally.

(The company hiring?!?!?)

flargenhargen · 4 months

damn, a 50,000 bonus and nothing to the workers?

that's pretty fucked up.

agree with the gifts instead of cash tho, that way it's from you and people will think you're great. if you just give cash it will be weird.

pilsner407 · 4 months

my feeling is that, since you've already brought up the idea of handing out bonuses to your team and the idea has been shot down, probably you shouldn't hand out anything. Take them out to dinner or something, but gift baskets/visa cards/etc. should be considered off-limits. Word of that will undoubtedly spread around the company, in a manner thus: "Beefpancake's team got a $1000 bonus and we didn't get shit....the fuck." Everyone who didn't do the same thing for their people will look like an asshole and be pissed at you for it, plus the owners will be pissed that you did something they already told you not to do.

Be smart. Do dinner at the most. If you really want to do bonuses, hold back the amount of money you would have given to each employee in a savings account, and then give it to them if/when they leave the company. Over a few years this could amount to a few thousand bucks per employee, right? They'll appreciate that a LOT, especially if they are moving or whatever.

chrisma08 · 4 months

You sir, are not yet thinking like an elite.

bamtime · 4 months

And the Best Boss Award goes toooo......Mr. Beefpancake

goblueM · 4 months

That is a great idea, I think it is wonderful. Sad that the company decided to only give bonuses to the 2 top guys, even though one of them asked for a smaller bonus so the workers could get some. Good on ya!

2emeRep · 4 months

A great idea but you should consider the following.....

Do you want to repeat this every year?

Will it cause problems with other departments?

Do you want to reveal that you get a bonus and show how much?

Do you think this will cause a problem between you and your bosses? People talk and may not have your interests at heart.

So long as you personally are satisfied with the answers to the above questions I'd say go ahead.... If you are not satisfied with the answers then stick to the dinner, perhaps make it more lavish than you were planning. A charitable donation to a charity selected by your team would be another nice gesture, one is bound to be affected or know someone affected by illness or adverse problems.

Think carefully. I admire your thoughtfulness. You could give it to me of course!

flecko · 4 months

If you can't figure out a way to give it to your team, send it to me, I don't mind at all and I won't tell anyone

WhenSnowDies · 4 months

Definitely not. Go ahead and send it to WhenSnowDies@gmail.com and I will anonymously gift it to your team so it doesn't cause divisions in the company.

By the way I'm a Nigerian Prince.

maxthndr · 4 months

48 Laws of Power, Law 1

Although you have your employees' best interests in mind, it will make your superiors look bad, which in turn may make you unemployed.

the_berg · 4 months

Have you given any thought as to how your company would react when they find out? If they are adamant on not sharing the wealth the staff is bringing in, there's a reason. First, it's because they're assholes. But second, they don't want to do it because they don't want the staff to become too demanding. It's probably both a power trip and a way of making more profits by not increasing salaries. If you go ahead and share your cut, they might not appreciate the management style that goes against their own strategy.

But if I were you, I'd do it anyway.

Akkuma · 4 months

I work in tech, much like yourself, at a startup. Hell, we even have a similar structure (CEO runs sales, CTO/COO runs tech). If you give the money to your team they will love you and feel better about their job, because if they are anything like my company most people believe they are underpaid. However, the cynics like me will realize that the company is bs and that you had to go out of your way to pay it out of your own pocket pissing them off cause the company overall cares little about them.

Ultimately, my recommendation is to give the money to those people, who are probably already taken advantage of by the company being underpaid. If they are already disgruntled about the work environment can't make things any worse.

belanda_goreng · 4 months

I am not sure this is a very smart thing to do. It's not your company, they are not your employees, so you are not the one giving out bonuses. If you do, it would indeed be a personal gift and that shifts the balance. Like you are buying goodwill or whatever. I don't think any company would ever allow this.

No buddy, you tried, and they said no, so leave it at that. You could consider giving half of your bonus to charity.

google_harder · 4 months

This is probably going to be buried and many have already pointed it out, but: DO NOT HAND OUT ANY KIND OF CASH.

There will be no end to the company owner's wrath if you did.

I did it once, to a much smaller company. To me it was a gesture of solidarity. To the owner it was a gesture towards "My plans of starting my own company". I had no such plans but I was let go anyway. It's a separate story that I actually did start my own company after being given a year's salary.

mingo83 · 4 months

I have a friend who got fired for doing something like this. Same size company. The CEO took it as an affront.

killgrinch · 4 months

Strange? Quite possibly.

Steeped heavily with awesome? Most assuredly.

Nothing engenders loyalty from people more than direct recognition of their efforts from their peers and superiors. You are a paragon of humanity with your actions.

Hammerhov · 4 months

Don't do it you fucking idiot, you will lose your job.

Celebrate some other way, a nice dinner seems good.

Or you could buy some holiday themed gifts.

But don't give them money.

MadManuel · 4 months

I am the Director of IT at my work place. My team isn't as big as yours, but I had a similar situation last year, and part of this year.. Ultimately it ended in a couple of terminations.

I was given a substantial bonus and wanted to carve off a significant chunk and hand it out to the more deserving members of my team..

What I found was, that like others have said, that the team will expect the bonus check the next year, and then be resentful if they don't get it. What's worse, is if they realize where the money comes from, and they they'll start pestering HR, as why don't they get a bonus.

And rather than feeling like you went out of your way to help them out, they'll instead feel like in all the previous years they've been fucked over..

Or they blab about how they got a form of bonus (even if it is from you) and employees in other departments start raising hell that IT got bonuses, but finance didn't.. or marketing.. or sales.. or whatever..

When the next year rolls around, and you want to budget those funds for a down payment on a house or something.. your team will be looking at you like a piggy bank.. and wondering where their money is..

If you really want to give them that warm and fuzzy "I'm your boss, but I care" feeling, take em all out to dinner some place swanky. Give a speech about what a great team they are, include the booze, and a fat steak for each of them, but that's as far as I'd go.

You want to show your appreciation, but you don't want to destroy future morale and productivity... It's a hard line. Avoid the shit storm.. buy them dinner.

helpingfriendlybook · 4 months

Bad idea jeans. You are an employee of the company just like them. It's neither your obligation nor your place to financially incent or reward other employees, however deserving they may be.

_TheHipGamer_ · 4 months

Take them out to dinner, but don't give them the gift cards. The latter is taxable, and it sets an expectation that is neither sustainable nor professionally acceptable.

foreveratom · 4 months

Money, you can't really because of taxes issues. I don't like the IPad idea in many comments, it sounds too "impersonal", and whatever gift, some people might not be so thrilled by the gift you chose (I don't like pre-paid cards, I lose them before using them, and what if I am an hard-core Android fan?).

As some other redditors suggested, I would go for throwing a party at them. Have an evening out for beer/dinner/pool/go carts/whatever your team is interested in, including transportation back home.

You don't appear like the dude throwing gifts around because he had a bonus, and it's an immediate level-up in team building.

Whatever you choose to do, your idea is awesome. And it's a surefire way to piss off your CEO with overloaded passive-aggressiveness. I love it.

afnj · 4 months

Weird? This should be the norm.

JLNelson · 4 months

I agree with those who say that the owners of the company and the CEO will not feel very happy about it. You can take your team out to dinner, but the huge gift cards are something that those working under the CEO will see and envy. It will make the CEO look like a greedy bastard (I ain't sayin' he or she ain't, but it's best not to point this out).

Additionally, if you really want to keep your team in mind, I propose this: Put your bonus in a separate bank or investment account. Earmark it specifically to help your workers when they need it. If someone has an accident and cannot work, you got them. If someone runs into big medical bills, you got them. If the owners or the CEO fires one of your guys and you don't think it was right, you got them.

With $10k, you'll only be able to help once. With $50k you'll be able to help more, but the important thing is that it's in reserve for the people who helped you get it. Who knows? Maybe after several years you'll have enough money to start a company of your own—where everyone will get holiday bonuses.

minglow · 4 months

Just remember that it is harder to take something away from someone than to have not given them it at all. Unfortunately there may come a time next year where there isn't a bonus or its just not as much and you aren't able to do the same thing. I am not saying its right but they may wonder why that year they didn't get as much or anything at all, they may feel like you don't "respect or appreciate" them the same way.

I would definitely recommend taking them all to a restaurant that they like and maybe provide taxi service and free drinks. The 1000 dollar prepaid card is risky because that is a large chunk of money and you may not be able to pay that out next year, and trust me they may not outright expect 1000 each, but subconsciously they could be disappointed in later years.

YGOnewguy · 4 months

take the $12,000 and just spend $1000 a month on the team, 2-3 nights every month take the team out for drinks/dinner or some next fun shit

CountNoAccount · 4 months

the owners are not into giving bonuses. However, every year they provide rather generous bonuses to myself and the CEO (on the order of $10-50k depending on the year).

I've gotta be honest with you, It sounds like your owners run a shitty business. If I worked there for an average salary, didn't get or expect a Christmas bonus, and then found out the CEO and CIO were getting a year end bonus equal to or greater than my yearly salary, I'd be pissed. That just sucks.

tendeuchen · 4 months

The owners of your company are fucking assholes.

DeSanti · 4 months

Well first of all that is an incredibly kind and good thing to do. Though secondly, only as a minor concern - but isn't there rules about payment and taxation? I'm not sure, and this varies from place to place, but doesn't "gifts" after a certain amount stop being "gift" and becomes something I can't quite remember and instead is something they have to tax?

I'm just voicing some concern that I'm not too knowledgeable about, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

4 months

[deleted]

grandmah · 4 months

Take everyone out to dinner. Give them $1,000 prepaid cards, then tell them you are starting your own company and you'd like them all to come with you. Give bonuses to everyone who contributes to the success of your new business. Fuck corporations that don't take care of their employees. It's a shame that the job positions are in higher demand than that employees to fill them. This is wrong.

This obviously isn't the correct course of action, but I bet this resonates strongly with you. Thanks for caring about and appreciating other people.

brock_lee · 4 months

Give each an iPad. It'll cost you less and most people appreciate getting iPads more than cash, for some reason. Of course, that depends on the amount of the cash, but still.

And if you do go with "cash", DO NOT go with a Visa card. Give them cash, or at worst, a check. Visa cards are ... impersonal. Ten Benjamins speaks a lot louder than a Visa card.

Stang_Man · 4 months

I'd take your employees and their S/O's out for a VERY nice dinner- maybe put together some sort of "gift" baskets for them.

Cash is always nice, but these other small gestures will fly under the radar if you're worried about your CEO and/or Owners opinions.

Or just talk to them, let them know you'll be splitting up part of your bonus for cash for your employees.

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