I’m winding down on a project which has gone about 14 weeks so far(little add-ons&loose ends to do), and I want to give a bonus to the guy who works for me, for all his great work, at the end.
He is my peer(we started around the same time), and does everything I do, as good or better.
I can give him minmal direction, walk away and not think about it again until he makes a point or asks a question.
Do you think something like $500 would be be fair, or would that seem ‘cheap’? This is the first time I have been able to do this, and I want to leave a little room to ‘raise’ another time. I also need to give him a pay raise this year. I was thinking like $2/hr. Again, I want to leave a little room to increase over the coming years.
As long as I can keep the work coming in.
Replies
Dave, only you know whether or not it's in the budget. No matter what, a $500 bonus is a very good bonus. All we owe our employees is a fair days pay for a fair day's work. But when they go above and beyond, we should go above and beyond. If $500 seems like a fitting amount, then it will probably be some of the best $ you'll spend this year.
I think I would be happy if it was given to me, and I do feel comfortable squeezing it out of the $ I'm squirreling away for slow times in the Winter.
I say 500 is too high. Give him 350.00 and split the difference with me!
it will be very well appreciated. I have bpnused guys between 200 and a grand at different times and on different projects and find that it shows appreciation, wins appreciation, and helps everyone work together towards the goal.
Funny thing tho, I learned to wait 'till the end of the project for bonus day. I had one guy disappear the next week when I did the bonus for everyone about five weeeks before the job was over. wE were all hitting it hard and I figured that it would lift spirits all around. With that one guy, I think it helped him lift the wrong kind of spirits and too much of them. but it was always well appreciate from every one else.
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Ya know ive gotten bonus's and given them too. and moneys alwaysgood but I found it comes and goes and its no big deal. moneys always there wether I get it or get rid if it. so I (speaking for myself here) like gifts more. like whats he using for tools ?
A new bag of millwaulkee or bosch cordless tools for 500.00 could be the thing he remembers every time he picks them up and wont be forgotten as easy as money. or the Bosch 10 in table saw, or a new comp slider for 600.00 . great gifts and bonus's he will never forget. Be creative in your thankfulness . anyways your on the right track.and 500. to 600. is plenty of a gift to anyone .
dogboy
If you really want to light the guy up, don't just tell him how much you appreciate him, tell other people how much you appreciate him, where he can hear it. My boss who did that, I'd follow him into the fire.
But go ahead and give him the bonus, too.
Thanks for the responses.
I prefer to keep the 'tool giving' to around the holidays. He has pretty much everything he needs to do his job, and the things he doesn't have, he either buys, or I give him for a Christmas thing. Last year, it was bits for the chisel mortiser he bought.
I do cover all the praise thing, but I feel that you can't get too loose with homage thing.
I'm feeling a lot better with this now, I know he will appreciate the bonus(he's putting a addition on his house).
Thanks again
I do the bonus thing on a frequent basis. I would rather have them see something for making a project go well, on time and underbudget than to just give them a big raise. Raises add to your daily overhead. Its nice to think that he will be working every hour in the future but the fact is sometime we carry employees till the next job. I would rather do that at the lower rate. Hence the bonus.
Also when you give a $2 raise if you are paying him as a regular employee it will really cost you more like $3. Any way I vote bonus of cash or tools and a raise of .50 an hour. Then if another job goes well you can bonus him again.
Oh, and I try to mix the bonuses. If you give him cash the family gets it all. If you give him a tool or something he needs he enjoys it personally. So I try to do some of both. DanT