Should I Expect A Christmas Bonus?

As the holiday season rolls around once again, employees everywhere are wondering if they will receive a Christmas bonus this year. If the company you work for has never given a Christmas bonus before, it is unlikely that you should expect to receive one this year. However, if it has been an unofficial custom in your workplace over the years, it is a legitimate and relevant concern.

Those employees working for companies that have traditionally given out Christmas bonuses in the past have come to rely on them in their annual personal budget and family planning. In these challenging economic times, there are several ways the expectation of a Christmas bonus can be viewed. First, despite the difficult economy, did your company give out a Christmas bonus last year? If they did, and it was not performance based, was it less than in previous years? Was it accompanied with any explanation? Or were lack of profits and plummeting company stock enough that no explanation was actually needed?

If despite lowered profits, or unexpected revenue declines, your company gave out a Christmas bonus last year, it probably was done to keep employee morale high and to reward remaining employees who were putting in longer than normal hours due to layoffs within the company. Much may depend on if 2009 was a better year for your particular employer. If it was, you can probably expect to receive at least the Christmas bonus you received last year. Otherwise, it will depend on just how much better or worse your company fared this past year. However, it would be unlikely that you would get into December without some sort of internal memo if typically given Christmas bonuses were being reduced or eliminated this year. If your company is struggling to stay afloat, it would seem obvious that most employees would rather have their jobs than a Christmas bonus.

In larger companies, such as major oil companies or related service companies not as drastically affected by the economic downturn, you should probably expect to receive a Christmas bonus equal to or greater than the one you received last year. Businesses and companies not seriously affected except perhaps with stock price decreases, are highly unlikely to change any Christmas bonus tradition or structure.

It is those employees in medium and smaller company situations who will have the most concern over this issue. When living through recessionary times, it is the “extra’s” that go by the wayside in order to keep a company viable in the marketplace. Many companies around the globe have revised their traditional holiday celebrations and customs including eliminating or reducing the scope of office Christmas parties. Even many of those companies who have not been dramatically affected by the recession hesitate to over-celebrate the season. Even if their specific employees have not been affected, with the unemployment rate what it is, and the economy is such dire condition, everyone has or knows of friends or family members trying to hang on to their home and put food on the table.

If your particular company is doing well financially in 2009 and it has given out Christmas bonuses in the past, including last year, then unless you hear otherwise from management in the very near future, you are probably safe to expect a Christmas bonus again this year. Unfortunately, while in past years Christmas bonuses actually were spent on Christmas gifts and merriment, many people are spending less of that bonus and saving more. So if you are lucky enough to expect and receive a Christmas bonus this year, don’t take it for granted.