Are you the person planning your Christmas office party this year? Don’t know where to begin? If you’re lost when it comes to figuring out how to plan a great holiday office party, the Christmas Office Party blog has a great article on party-planning basics and the decisions that must be made.
Did Bernie “make off” with your retirement fund last year? Are you glad to no longer be watching your mutual funds spiral downward, out of control? You’ll probably get a laugh out of this creative song posted on YouTube last Christmas.
The poor, beleaguered Christmas bonus has been the topic of jokes and humor for years, as employees wonder whether or not they’ll get one or what it will be. There have even been several comics drawn on the subject, playing off of the fact that bonuses often don’t like to pay out all of those bonuses (and sometimes they’re gifts that we don’t really want). These Christmas bonus cartoons will bring a smile to your face, even if the prospect of your own bonus is looking a little bleak.
For employees of a rural electric cooperative in Oklahoma, Christmas came in July this year, in the form of an early Christmas bonus. In doing so, however, the CEO of the company had other plans, and he asked his employees to use their bonuses to help others instead of themselves.
According to an article in the Stillwater News Press, many employees were reluctant at first, but changed their mind when they saw what a difference their donation could make in the lives of others.
The CEO first came up with the idea because he wanted to help the non-profit organizations that are really suffering in this economy, because they are offering services to more people who need it, but also have less donations coming in.
One employee donated her bonus to the Special Olympics so all of the athletes could have uniforms, while another donated to the Adult Life Center, an organization that provides health, social, and support services to adults with special needs. Money is tight at these two organizations, and the Christmas bonus donations were truly needed and appreciated.
If you do receive a Christmas bonus this year, would you consider donating it to an organization that truly needs the money so it can continue to provide help and support for others?
This chuckle-worthy ad from HP shows us what happens when a young employee uses the wrong printer to print proposals on Christmas Bonus day.
If your Christmas bonus is slim (or nonexistant) this year, you might be looking for ways to trim your Christmas budget accordingly. Unique Gifts Online is featuring a “how-to” this week on creating jarred Christmas gifts that will let you give a thoughtful gift without spending much money at all.
Here’s another from the “funny files”…Aha! Jokes has an amusing list of the Top 10 Signs You’ll Be Without a Christmas Bonus. Here they are:
10. Co-workers refer to you as “the ghost of unemployment future”
9. The last time you saw your boss was when he testified against you at the embezzlement trial
8. On your door, you find a lovely wreath of pink slips
7. What you call “my new office,” everybody else calls “the supply closet”
6. Boss’s Christmas card says, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out”
5. You keep getting memos reminding you that employees are required to wear pants
4. When your boss came over for Thanksgiving, he was crushed under an avalanche of stolen office supplies
3. Whenever you ask for a raise, a guy shows up at your house and breaks your jaw
2. In your most recent performance evaluation, the word “terrible” appeared 78 times
1. You’re the starting quarterback for the New York Jets
If you’re a business owner struggling to decide what type of Christmas bonus to give, if any, this article from Business Knowledge Source could be an excellent resource. They offer several suggestions for types of bonuses you could give to your employees as well as ways to save money in giving Christmas bonuses.
Now, it’s time for a little lighthearted humor amid all of the depressing news about shrinking and disappearing Christmas bonuses and performance bonuses in the face of a struggling economy. The ever-popular 1980s Christmas film, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, lets us have a little laugh at Clark Griswold’s misfortune. (Or, his fortune, depending on how much he likes jelly.)
After the Christmas tree burns down, a day-late delivery boy shows up at the door with Clark’s Christmas bonus, which, to say the least, isn’t quite what he was expecting. The funniest part comes later in the clip, when Clark’s cousin Eddie helps him try to get a little sweet revenge.
Over the years, millions of employees across the country have probably become accustomed to receiving a Christmas bonus. But with many companies struggling this year just to keep the bottom line in the black, is the Christmas bonus becoming an endangered species?
My Shop Guide Online has an informative list of five signs that your Christmas bonus may be in danger of going out.
Many employees will be understandably upset if this money that they have come to expect and have gotten used to receiving in December suddenly doesn’t come-especially if they have depended on that money in the past to pay for Christmas gifts for their children. But what if it comes down to everyone receiving a Christmas bonus or a few people losing their jobs entirely? Employers are facing these types of difficult decisions this year.
There’s no doubt that Christmas bonuses raise employee morale, but at what point does the cost outweigh the benefit?