My company gives a sizeable bonus every year to almost every employee. Last year one driver didnt get one and that was it. He rolled a truck and hit a car in our lot. I take that back.He got a bonus. He didn't get fired. We have a big party for it. The owners call every person up one by one and hand them their check and say something nice about each employee in front of the crowd. Lots of clapping, cheering, laughing, etc. It is a pretty fun evening. Most people go out afterward too, except for the people that got less than the year before. They always pout and disappear very quickly. Every year there are 2-3 employees that ask for a meeting to get an explanation of why their bonus went down. I actually had an employee that made a $54,000 mistake demand an explanation as to why he got 700 dollars less than the year before. When informed why, he was angry that he was penalized for an "accident".
Every year we stress that this is a 100% discretionary bonus based on three factors. 1. The company's performance. 2. The employee's performance. 3. Any future major expenses.
We are about to have our 4th record year in a row. We have actually discussed in past bonus allocation meetings not upping the bonuses to match this record growth we have had, since we knew it wasn't going to last forever and we were genuinely worried people would always expect it. In the end though we did increase them. This year bonuses will likely be a lot less than last year. Everybody will ##### and moan and be miserable to deal with for a while. We are trying to acquire multiple companies. We need cash.
We can explain it to them every which way, but it won't matter. Everybody will simply believe they got a paycut. They of course will refuse to acknowledge that their bonus had more than doubled,even quadrupled for some, in the last three years. I have warehouse employees that got 1000 in 2010 that got 4000 last year and will get 2000 this year and they will be complete jerks after they get their checks. Not all of course, but probably half of them.
When bonuses get viewed as salary, it is a big problem. It causes lots of friction between ownership/mgmt and employees.
I would not be shocked if the owners realized that your company had this culture and decided to cut them for a year just to send the message that it is a bonus, not wages.
