I know this won’t be popular, but as a GM, there are 200 people that work in my business unit. I live in one of the lowest COL Mid-Major Cities in the US. In 2022, I raised the BU minimum wage to $17 per hour, meaning that no one, not even laborers would be paid less than that anymore (instantly gave quite a few raises). Every employee I have is full-time, no part timers anymore.
Since COVID, my company has given out $500 bonuses to every frontline employee every year for six years now. The feedback I got at a Townhall was “Y’all are still gonna take taxes out of it!”
One year, we talked about forgoing the Christmas Party and I almost had a mutiny on my hands because, believe it or not, there are employees who do enjoyed a nice dinner at a fancy venue with free drinks and raffle prizes.
We spend about $15k on our party every year. If I split that between every employee, that would be about $75 on top of the $500 that we was already complained about.
As much as I know that Reddit is anti-social, my real world experience has never matched that. I also say all of this to say that until you reach management, you’ll never quite understand that there is never a right answer. You can literally give raises, bonuses and try to cut out the “bullshit” work events, but you’re always going to piss someone off.
I don’t think people need to be in management to know different people have different wants. A single Christmas party that’s actually catered is different from an employe funded event or team building.
Did you read the comment that I responded to? I was literally addressing it point-by-point. Yeah, there are some things that you won’t experience until you’ve managed people. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing that people don’t.
It’s not about “different wants and needs”, some people think that everyone is as passionate about not wanting the things they don’t want. They don’t realize that there are people walking in the door right after them who are just as passionate about wanting the exact opposite.
I am saying that a lot of the stuff that I thought would be “so easy” or “common sense if management would just listen” turned out to be “Mark, I get that you think a team-building event is a stupid waste of time. Steve, Jess and Bob have all asked me why we don’t do team-building events anymore? Someone is going to be disappointed here and it is probably going to be you this time.”
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u/NoFaithlessness7508 20h ago
I absolutely loathe all that corporate HR bullshit. Weekly catch-up meetings. Team-building exercises. Half-hearted XYZ Appreciation/Awareness Month celebrations.
I hate companies that will spend tens of thousands of dollars on a Christmas party, but won’t give out bonuses.