Christmas parties and bonuses

Similar, my father worked 30 years at a university* and 17 years before that at a factory and never got a bonus from either. Mother still works as an LPN, going on 30 years at the same nursing home, and she hasn't gotten bonuses there since the 90's. (She also hasn't had a raise in a decade, though she still makes well more than me and many other journalists).

I've never gotten one and don't ever expect to. In this climate, I'm just happy there's no talk of imminent cutbacks... though I await the day they'll inevitability come.

*He got all the other benefits of a state/university job, from a rock solid public retirement system to 80% tuition remission for dependents, which allowed me to graduate debt free.

 

Interesting topic. The point is ... the occupations that don't get bonuses, which includes newspaper person, basically totally devalue their employees. They are saying basically, "Fuck you all. If you don't want this job we'll find somebody who does want it." My point is there are actually a lot of good people working for newspapers (the ones who haven't been laid off yet; it's coming for everybody over 45 sooner rather than later) and for these big newspaper chains to give NOTHING, except for the annual email indicating "ABSOLUTELY NO RAISES THIS YEAR, BUT WE EXPECT THEM TO RETURN NEXT YEAR" is a total lack of class. It's raising a middle finger to the employees, many who work 60 and get paid for 40. I know. I know. ... Quit whining or get out of the business!! There are plenty of people who would take your job.
All I'm saying is failing to give employees a bonus is a slap in the face when all that money is going to the CEO's raise. I'd just like people to admit that working for a newspaper is indeed one of the sorriest things you can do in the working world.
(And that's fine some other professions give no bonuses and have no Christmas feasts either, as stated here; they are classless too).

 

Are you really saying that employers who don't give Christmas bonuses devalue employees and are classless? And you assume all money goes to CEOs' raises?

 

Here's the frustrating thing...my first ME basically told me that word for word, when I asked him about raising pay in order to help fill a job opening.

 

Even if people are happy at their jobs? What does this "admission" gain you?

 

Businesses don't hand out bonuses as a "thank you." They hand them out as an incentive to people to bring money into the business. They also use them as a recruiting tool.

 

Would it make you feel better if your salary during the year was a thousand bucks lower and you got a check at Christmas time?

Really, salary relative to what the company can afford to pay should be a zero sum game unless you work somewhere that's making outrageous profits. It's a journalism board, so most of us don't......so why should I get worked up about if I get my pay parsed out during the year or if I get some lump sum as from "Santa" as a "bonus"?

 

He didn't want to think that far. He just sort of wanted to call out newspapers again from his newsroom desk.

 

Whatever your "bonus" is is already figured as part of your compensation from Day 1. You pretty much know on Jan. 1 that "I'm going to make X" this year or "I'm going to make Y plus my Z bonus." Don't think there are too many "Wow! Where did this come from!" surprises.

 

I dunno. Having watched bonuses disappear in the newspaper business, I always wonder in my new place if this is the year they're going to end. So it's not so much "Where did this come from?" as, "Oh, good, it didn't go away." But I never quite count on it until I see the annual announcement.

 

Amen. People think I'm full of hot air. I am not. Newspaper bean counters are evil.

 

We're sitting here offering part-timers minimum wage (In MN it's $9.50 as of Aug. 1, but at the time of the above discussion with the ME it was $8) while companies like WalMart and McDonalds in town are offering considerably more. In a college town, where do you think these students are going to apply? If they don't want to get into this career after college, what incentive is there to get a part-time job with us? And the college's journalism department is mediocre at best, so even if we get someone from there they need serious training. One guy didn't know he needed to talk to the coach after covering a game. Another didn't know to get the local team's stats after the game.

We struggle to get much good help as a result....pretty much all the part-timers in my three years are doing it as a second job to get a little more money. There's no incentive for them to stick around or advance because they already have their main career. Eventually they quit. And we shuffle through the two full-time positions at a rate of about one departure a year, meaning little to no consistency in the daily product.

I'm getting worn out with the constant turnaround. But at the same time, I actually enjoy the work itself. It's frustrating, but I guess it's the nature of the business.