Accepting generous money/gifts from employers?

[RaiKai]

One way to make a tedious Monday (where I would rather be in the sun!) shine:

A surprise summer bonus cheque - yeah!

And just the other day I was trying to count how many days it was until my Christmas bonus.....sadly, it will all be going toward paying off bills and other less than fun stuff. Still, better than nothing!

When it comes to work, I would say no amount is too much to accept (well, as long as they are not asking me to sleep with anybody - ha ha!).

ETA: I would be very happy with such generous money/gifts on a far more regular basis though....even if disguised in my paycheck!

 

[megumic]

FI just got nailed with a last minute business trip to Barcelona. It was over a weekend so they offered to pick up the tab for me to tag along!

Of course it has been a pleasure taking advantage of this type of bonus.

 

[Haven]

I totally thought Kenny started this thread until I opened it up and saw your avatar, RaiKai!

 

[Upgradable]

The only bonus I ever got was a ham one Christmas! I doesn''t really pay to work at a hospital or college.

 

[Haven]

ETA: I'll use my double post to say that I'd happily accept generous money from employers.

I'm a teacher so we don't get bonuses, but we get SUMMERS OFF!
And I got a free trip to Greece. I just had to take 42 students along for the ride.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/28/2010 5:52:18 PM
Author: megumic
FI just got nailed with a last minute business trip to Barcelona. It was over a weekend so they offered to pick up the tab for me to tag along!

Of course it has been a pleasure taking advantage of this type of bonus.

Lucky duck! Enjoy!

 

[elrohwen]

I didn''t get much from my last employer - no bonus unless you were at manager level, so the most I ever got was free food around the holidays. But then, I was able to get free food every day if I wanted, so that wasn''t really special. And I got really sick of my food choices pretty quickly!

I want to work for one of those companies that pays for everyone to go on a fabulous vacation. Work paid for trips to Germany and England, but they expected me to work while I was there

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/28/2010 6:11:34 PM
Author: elrohwen
I didn''t get much from my last employer - no bonus unless you were at manager level, so the most I ever got was free food around the holidays. But then, I was able to get free food every day if I wanted, so that wasn''t really special. And I got really sick of my food choices pretty quickly!



I want to work for one of those companies that pays for everyone to go on a fabulous vacation. Work paid for trips to Germany and England, but they expected me to work while I was there

The lawyers and spouses/SOs get taken on annual trips for 4-5 days - no working required (and discouraged in fact!).

Last two times we went to Las Vegas which was fun - they take us to shows and dinner or out kayaking but still lots of time for just you and spouse and such, but I am pushing for Hawaii next year!

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/28/2010 6:05:50 PM
Author: Haven
I totally thought Kenny started this thread until I opened it up and saw your avatar, RaiKai!

Hee hee!

I would totally love to get summers off - but not if I had to teach the rest of the year. Total props to you as I could not do it!

My grandparents were both teachers, and I knew from an early age I would not be well suited! I still envy the holiday time though....

 

[Haven]

Date: 6/28/2010 6:40:17 PM
Author: RaiKai

Date: 6/28/2010 6:05:50 PM
Author: Haven
I totally thought Kenny started this thread until I opened it up and saw your avatar, RaiKai!

Hee hee!
I would totally love to get summers off - but not if I had to teach the rest of the year. Total props to you as I could not do it!

My grandparents were both teachers, and I knew from an early age I would not be well suited! I still envy the holiday time though....

I believe that teaching is a calling. I cannot imagine doing anything else professionally.

Annual company trips sound fun! (Assuming that you enjoy your colleagues'' company, that is.)

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/28/2010 7:16:57 PM
Author: Haven

Date: 6/28/2010 6:40:17 PM

Author: RaiKai

Date: 6/28/2010 6:05:50 PM

Author: Haven

I totally thought Kenny started this thread until I opened it up and saw your avatar, RaiKai!

Hee hee!

I would totally love to get summers off - but not if I had to teach the rest of the year. Total props to you as I could not do it!



My grandparents were both teachers, and I knew from an early age I would not be well suited! I still envy the holiday time though....

I believe that teaching is a calling. I cannot imagine doing anything else professionally.



Annual company trips sound fun! (Assuming that you enjoy your colleagues'' company, that is.)

I work with some great characters! It is a lot of fun. And we do not have to hang out that much together!

I agree that there is a calling...or at least I have met and known enough teachers to know some obviously had a calling for it...and some did not. DH had a long time calling...but has chosen not to answer it following some practicum time, lol. Loves the kids and is gifted with them, and was highly recommended, but is not fond of the bureaucracy, politics, organization or budget choices and so on. He says he already had his "stressful career" (military career) and that was enough! He would enjoy doing the one on one special education but budgets are slashed for that here. Exploring other options while working in a low-stress environment.

So again, I have total respect for what you do!

 

[Haven]

Thank you, RaiKai. I think we lose a lot of fantastic educators because of the things you mentioned. It has taken me a while to find the right place for me in education, but I''m young and it''s been worth the wait.

Enjoy your summer bonus! Are you going to do something special with it? Maybe a piece of jewelry, perhaps . . .

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I wouldn't really consider a random bonus a gift, it's an extension of your benefits package. They're taxed, just like any other paycheck (which sucks). Obviously it's great when you get them though. DH has worked his arse off this year for his company. He's now doing the work of 4 people, not just work load, but entirely different positions with no additional compensation. His compensation was keeping his job when the three other people were laid off. He's a project manager, an estimator, a consultant and a business development person. A few months ago his boss decided to give him a gift, a new laptop for him to use at home. Great! Fantastic! It's gorgeous! But.....there are definitely strings attached. The laptop came loaded with new advanced 3D design software that they expected him to learn within a month, on his personal time. Similarly, company trips are great, especially if they allow spouses/SOs to go. But usually they come with team building and other business related obligations.

Is it still a gift if there are strings attached?

 

[ts44]

Maybe this doesn''t count because it was a relatively small amount. On Fridays one of our bosses usually opens a few bottles of wine and mixes some drinks and we have a little cocktail party in the office to unwind at about 4PM. The Friday before Memorial Day weekend, we were doing our usual cocktail thing and we were just chatting and laughing together, and all of a sudden he gave everybody in the office a $100 bill and said use it to enjoy the weekend. It was kind of awkward for me, but I couldn''t figure out why. It wasn''t a bonus, it was just a "here have some money." My boss is very affluent so he wasn''t distressing himself, but it was strange to just get handed $100 dollars out of his wallet. Other than that, none of us have ever gotten a bonus.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/29/2010 9:01:41 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
I wouldn''t really consider a random bonus a gift, it''s an extension of your benefits package. They''re taxed, just like any other paycheck (which sucks). Obviously it''s great when you get them though. DH has worked his arse off this year for his company. He''s now doing the work of 4 people, not just work load, but entirely different positions with no additional compensation. His compensation was keeping his job when the three other people were laid off. He''s a project manager, an estimator, a consultant and a business development person. A few months ago his boss decided to give him a gift, a new laptop for him to use at home. Great! Fantastic! It''s gorgeous! But.....there are definitely strings attached. The laptop came loaded with new advanced 3D design software that they expected him to learn within a month, on his personal time. Similarly, company trips are great, especially if they allow spouses/SOs to go. But usually they come with team building and other business related obligations.


Is it still a gift if there are strings attached?

Yes but they pay us an after-tax amount (we are taxed at source, so they work it out so the bonus is reasonable after tax deductions, if that makes sense!). Anyway, I got a rounded off number for my bonus, as they did the source deductions required (and since it does not put me above my tax bracket, I am all good). Bonus is I still get most of my taxes back as I still have tuition amounts to carry forward over next few years.

Sucks about the strings with the laptop and that your husband is doing the work of four without any real incentives to go with that (other than the keeping his job kind!).

Our annual trips with our spouses, that I mentioned before, don''t include any work or team building. Work usually treats us to shows, dinner and the like but we are not obligated to go (we do as it is fun!)

If DH tails along with me on other actual work trips, he knows I have work to do so it is not a big deal. We just hang out once the work obligations are done. My mum often travels a lot for work (all over Canada and US) and my stepfather usually goes with her. He loves it. She goes to conferences all day while he tours around and the like, and they go for dinner and such at night.

I think there are less strings attached to gifts from my work than there are to gifts from some family members, ha!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

RaiKai, I understand what you''re saying, and like I said, any extra money is a good thing. I was just stating that for a lot of people a bonus isn''t really a gift. It''s part of our compensation/benefits package. My employment contract specifically states that if the association I work for has an at or above goal year, we get a bonus equal to 4% of our salary. Obviously we don''t plan our personal budgets for the year with this money "in the bank" so to speak, but it''s pretty much a given and it''s ALWAYS taxed. You do get 4% of your salary, but that''s not the take home amount, that''s the pretax amount. And for some people, the added bonus money on their annual income does put people in a higher tax bracket. But it''s great that yours didn''t affect you that way.

 

[Callisto]

Date: 6/29/2010 9:56:44 AM
Author: ts44
My boss is very affluent so he wasn''t distressing himself, but it was strange to just get handed $100 dollars out of his wallet.

I know!!! My boss handed me a $1 bill out of his wallet the other day to get a soda and I felt so awkward! He asked if I wanted a soda and I assumed he was just gonna go grab some but he just gave a dollar to run to the vending machine. It was really nice and obviously not a financial stress but I felt so weird taking money from him. Then I remembered he makes my annual salary in two months and I didn''t feel quite as bad.

 

[lilyfoot]

We get an annual Christmas (un-taxed) bonus/"money gift", and sometimes bonuses/"money gifts" when big cases settle or when we win a big case.

The firm pays for a cake, greeting card signed by everybody, and a $50 giftcard for every employee's birthday.

We used to do a monthly lunch that one employee (picked at random), would "host". The firm would supply a $250 budget for it. We haven't done that in probably 6 months though ..

They usually send us out for a nice lunch during Administrative Professional's week, but this year we got a card and cash instead (which I much prefer!)

Oh, also they threw me a "wedding shower", and everybody gave me cash/gift cards, which was very nice.

ETA: As a retail store supervisor, my husband gets bonuses throughout the year, but they are based on the store's performance/"numbers".

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Generous gifts from employers? Yes, please!

I''ve never gotten a generous gift from my employer, though I''m thankful for the free beer on tap and the popcorn machine!

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 6/29/2010 4:20:20 PM
Author: lilyfoot
We get an annual Christmas (un-taxed) bonus/'money gift', and sometimes bonuses/'money gifts' when big cases settle or when we win a big case.


The firm pays for a cake, greeting card signed by everybody, and a $50 giftcard for every employee's birthday.



We used to do a monthly lunch that one employee (picked at random), would 'host'. The firm would supply a $250 budget for it. We haven't done that in probably 6 months though ..


They usually send us out for a nice lunch during Administrative Professional's week, but this year we got a card and cash instead (which I much prefer!)


Oh, also they threw me a 'wedding shower', and everybody gave me cash/gift cards, which was very nice.


ETA: As a retail store supervisor, my husband gets bonuses throughout the year, but they are based on the store's performance/'numbers'.

That sounds lovely lily! We don't really do the "big case" sort of thing in my firm, but I sure would adore a big Erin Brokovich-style bonus! Ha ha!

We do frequent social deals here too. Birthday parties and the like, lunches, or after work drinks, or for other celebrations (i.e. calls to the bar). The administrative assistants threw me a little surprise bridal shower too one day over lunch with a potluck and some gift cards. It was the only pre-wedding party I had (I do not live near family AND I am not big on those sorts of things but it was still a lovely gesture!).