Christmas Bonus?

[Rochambeau]

Just curious what Christmas bonus other firms typically give out. We are a small Personal Lines firm and I am starting to think we are being unnecessarily generous. My father, when he had an agency from early 70's to mid 90's gave $100 per year that employee was at firm, capping out at $500. My formula with my employees has been $200/year, capped at $1,000.

What do other small businesses give? I just read something (written a couple years ago) saying that only like 25% of businesses even give a Christmas bonus. I was kind of shocked at that figure.

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas.

[d's insurance store]

I'm of the opinion that a X-mas bonus should be a sincere effort on the part of the business owner to express gratitude for a job well done by an employee for the past year, especially if the employee efforts have resulted in a profitable year for the agency. I view it as a seasonal token that is different from other employee compensation.

So, in that context, whether the amount, in your case, is $500 max or $1000 max, and you've got loyal employees who generally put the well being of the business over their own potentially selfish wants, then it's monies well spent, despite what you might read in trade journals about what others might be doing.

An employee usually has some idea about compensation fairness, and if they see the agency principal playing golf four days a week and driving to the country club in a new Mercedes each year and the boss constantly moaning and groaning about income and sales, then they will likely feel mistreated and look for ways to even the score. But, if an agency runs with an attitude of 'we all succeed', then loyalty and satisfaction allow for the business to run smoothly with loyal employees.

[Smalltownagent]

I completely agree with D on this one. We are very generous with our Christmas bonuses, perhaps too much with some. Although its something I inherited from my father, I do agree that is a good practice when possible. I have absolutely excellent staff, and so I make sure that they reap the benefits of their good work throughout the year if the agency has a good year. Some of the staff I inherited when I purchased another agency. They were already fanastic staff, but when they saw their Christmas bonus that year...they were floored. One of them came to my office and said, "I can't thank you enough. When you do this it really makes me feel like we're a team, and all in this together."

So that made it all worth it. They are all strictly salary, but sell like they are commissioned. I make a handsome living, so its a no-brainer for me to show the extra gratitude to the staff that help make my business run smoothly.

[1BlessedMom]

I am on the receiving end of the Christmas bonus. Not only do we receive an EXTREMELY generous bonus but my boss shares contingency income. You reap what you sow. He sows VERY generously and he reaps VERY generously. It takes the entire office to make this thing work and he feels it's well worth his investment. Thank you all for being so generous with your employees. It means more than you can imagine.

[Jarustech]

I worked for a very, very large multi-national corporation where I took an office of 20 producers and helped them grow to 250 in a little under 4 years. We never once heard the words "christmas bonus". We actually were lucky to even have a half day on Christmas Eve and that was like pulling teeth to even get that done. Now I understand that Christmas Eve isn't a holiday or anything but still, some of us have to go to church!

Any type of Christmas bonus or employee appreciation incentive would have been welcomed and you would think that a fortune 200 company would be able to do this. But nope, those didn't exist.

My thoughts are that it is a great idea. If I owned my own company, I would like to think that I would have the financial stability to supply Christmas bonuses. I say this as my perspective is that if the employees are happy and less stressed, they're going to be more loyal and work harder for you as they know their hard work will pay off at some point.

Just my 2 cents!