# How much for a Christmas bonus?



## sinead (14 Dec 2005)

Help..... Second Christmas in business but first as an employer and I am not sure what the "norm" for a Christmas bonus is....

I've two excellent staff members one started 5th Sept and works part time and the other started 10th Oct and works full time

Any suggestions as I don't want to be too stingy but don't want to set the standard to high


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## ClubMan (14 Dec 2005)

The norm in any job I've had over the past 20 years or so has been precisely €0. Thankfully, in most cases, the normal remuneration/benefits package has more than made up for the lack of such bonuses.


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## sandrabing (14 Dec 2005)

With the company I am with, the Christmas bonus is your contracted hours. So I get 12 hrs Christmas bonus. To qualify for Christmas bonus you need to be 6 months with the company in permanent employment but thats just my employers............have plenty of mates that dont get a cent extra so anything would be a bonus to them !


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## MPH (15 Dec 2005)

My experience is bonus for permanent full time staff with the co longer than 6 months equal to one weeks salary subject to owners/mgmt being satisfied with that employees performance during the year.  Goes down very well.  Excellent for morale!  Hope this helps.


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## ajapale (15 Dec 2005)

Like Clubman, my christmas bonus is €0. The updide is that there is no comparing of bonuses or recrimination regarding relative bounuses.

aj


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## CCOVICH (15 Dec 2005)

The only time I have got an Xmas bonus was when I stacked shelves in Dunnes Stores.

Is there a precedent for such a bonus in your line of work/business?  Would an Xmas lunch/dinner not be just as appropriate to say 'thanks'?


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## jem (15 Dec 2005)

I always give my staff a bonus 1 weeks pay


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## Ann-Marie (15 Dec 2005)

got my bonus yesterday €600 plus christmas party will be one night away all paid for


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## extopia (15 Dec 2005)

You could just buy them a gift.

There seems to be no standard practice for Christmas bonuses. I would say they are more appropriate to people on very low wages. I know several people on very high salaries whose bonuses are less than €100, if anything.


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## Capaill (15 Dec 2005)

You could give them gift vouchers up to a value of €250 euro each.  This is a revenue approved way of paying bonuses to staff and as such is tax free, i.e. if you pay them €250 they will be taxed on that whereas €250 vouchers is tax free.

C


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## Sherman (15 Dec 2005)

They're with you a very short time to be getting Christmas bonuses aren't they? How about getting them a voucher for a restaurant or something, small amount but a nice gesture.


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## Winnie (15 Dec 2005)

Hi,

we get a really nice xmas hamper - prob only worth about €100/200 but I appreciate it more than getting the cash.


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## jhegarty (15 Dec 2005)

never had more than €0 myself... oh wait , we got a cheap hamper a few years back...


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## ClubMan (15 Dec 2005)

Don't forget that an employer can give bonuses of up to €250 in value (cash or in kind) free of _BIK _income tax/_PRSI _liabilities.See section 2.3 of [broken link removed] and note that the €100 amount mentioned has been superceded by the higher €250 amount since the guide was published.


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## sinead (16 Dec 2005)

Thank you for all your replies.  Isn’t amazing how much it differs from company to company.   

I agree they are not working for me that long but they have put in a huge amount of work since starting working here and as a result have increases sales around 70% so I wanted to thank them both.  

Over the years I have worked in some companies where I got a bonus (of some sort) and then I worked in companies where I got nothing and regardless of what I got it was always nicer to get something rather than nothing!!

I am out this afternoon to look at hampers or failing that I’m going to get a one for all gift voucher which is nearly as good as cash.

Thanks again and happy Christmas to you all


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## ClubMan (16 Dec 2005)

Personally, I'd prefer a decent guaranteed remuneration package all year round than non guaranteed/discretionary bonuses at Christmas and maybe other times of the year.


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## zag (16 Dec 2005)

"Personally, I'd prefer a decent guaranteed remuneration package all year round than non guaranteed/discretionary bonuses at Christmas" - but would you not prefer a decent guaranteed remuneration package all year round *and* a non guaranteed/discretionary bonuses at Christmas to either of the above ?

z


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## ClubMan (16 Dec 2005)

I'd be happier if the company made a charitable donation to be honest.


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## frasr (16 Dec 2005)

got 2 bottles of wine (very poor) one year. Everyone in the entire company got the same


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## DrMoriarty (16 Dec 2005)

I don't know if it's still prevalent, but when I worked in France a lot of employers (not mine, though  ) used to operate a system called the '13th month' — i.e. they would pay employees 1/13th of their annual salary each month and then a double payment in December.

OK, it's not really a 'bonus', depending on which way you look at it — and obviously it doesn't really help the original poster, here — but it did seem to generate a certain amount of goodwill, and I'd imagine a lot of people found it very practical from the point of view of coping with the dreaded January credit card bill...

Sinéad, I think Clubman has a point — if you can put a reasonably accurate figure on the extra money your company is making directly as a result of these two employees, maybe you could consider giving them a small raise, or some kind of commission, or a quarterly performance-related bonus? I'd imagine a lot of new employees would expect to have some kind of salary review within a year of taking up employment, and all the more so if your two are (presumably) aware of the extra money that they're making for you?


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## sinead (19 Dec 2005)

Thanks Dr. Moriarty, I have already put a quartley commision structure in place for both people we they are very happy with.

And I have decided to give them a €100 hamper each


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## DrMoriarty (19 Dec 2005)

Sounds good... better than the feckin' 'corporate' Christmas card I got this morning!


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## onekeano (19 Dec 2005)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> The norm in any job I've had over the past 20 years or so has been precisely €0.



Maybe the companies were providing performance related bonus's Clubman?

Roy


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## Fintan (20 Dec 2005)

My staff got two cases of mixed beer from www.realbeers.ie or a hamper from Sheridans depending on which they prefered.


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