Ok So it's almost christmas time... and I'd like to do something nice for my employees. I've been kicking around the idea of either giving them a holiday bonus or a raise. I'm just curious to whether you all do this? Which do you prefer to do? I'm kinda leaning towards to the bonus myself.

We give a holiday bonus. We don't base it on anything other than what my husband and I want to give. To me, a raise should come because of good work, separate from the "holiday" season. We also give an "earned" bonus to add to it. Our employees get an additional $ .10 an hour for every hour they've worked during the year. A forty week employee with two weeks off a year would get $ 200.00. The employee who doesn't work as much would of course get less. Don't forget to take the payroll taxes out!

I'd go with the bonus too.

A bonus is a one-time thing, a raise is forever.

Who knows what next year will bring? (I don't mean that I'm questioning the economy, that was just a broad statement.)

I am with a bonus as well, and I am with Kaylinda on this one. Base a Christmas bonus on what you want to give. Have a performance bonus with measurable matrese (sp?) that gives a defined bonus.

As pointed out - don't forget about Payroll taxes. Have your accountant look into both. I remember the first two years that I managed a small company, everyone got a nice "even" bonus. And then they decided to get an accountant and those checks turned into these weird amounts that showed the employees that even the government got a Christmas bonus.

A raise should be rewarded for time and potentially when they have more work to do

Kaylinda - what a great idea... it's absolutely perfect!

I've decided to go with the bonus route... and the couple of employees who have earned it will also get a raise at the first of the year.

Thank you all for your input on this... Out of curiosity ..Do many of you give "holiday" bonus's? Or is this a practice of the past?

The company that my roommate works for gets a bonus. Unfortunately it is not as much as it used to be since the company was purchased by a Fortune 100 company and has to answer to board members but it is based on the projects that his team handled and how well they handled it.

(Before the company was purchased, the owner gave him a Rolex watch for working 10 years. After the purchase, they gave him a magazine to look through - he ended up getting a bike (for the annivesary).

Thank you Jen! I hope some form of that works for you!

I came into this a bit late, but I would vote for bonuses as well.

A bonus is something nice and unexpected, a reward and recognition for extra effort. That is, theoretically, what a raise used to be, but most people have now come to expect a raise every year.

A side note, a bonus doesn't necessarily need to be cash either. One year, a company I worked for gave us really nice computer bags and a gift card for Best Buy (it was a tech company). I still use the bag and I haven't worked for the company in over two years.