Thirteenth Check Comments from Bosses

SoulTax said:
And that is the **** that I dont accept. I would renegotiate that contract ASAP. You get no tax benefits for splitting your salary like that. You can also calculate the rate at which you get screwed if you ever want to resign.
Resign in Jan, 1/12th screwed. June? 6/12ths. November, 11/12ths.

Different if you were paid every 4 weeks, which works out to 13 evenly spaced paychecks throughout the year. But when your 12th and 13th are backloaded like that, you always get screwed over. I hate hate hate hate hate that payment method.
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Our financial director is a **** of the highest order. He once fired one of our wage workers who was coming up for retirement on a technicality so that they wouldn't have to pay all the leave and overtime (unions made sure they got paid overtime) owed to him.

I admit I heard this story from a guy in my dept. as it happened before my time there, but I've known him since childhood and he wouldn't lie about that. Also we're talking about the same guy who made jokes about my dead father, so I wouldn't put it past him.
 
Drake2007 said:
365 ÷ 52 = 7
4 x 7 = 28
365 ÷ 28 = 13
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Impressive bit of maths that. I am sure there is a point there, but as you did not accompany your napkin maths with words, the point is lost.

I am going to take a guess and presume that you are attempting to justify 13 paychecks. But that maths only justifies 13 if you are paid every 28 days. When paid monthly the 13 checks to the employees overall detriment.
 
This is what I found out in the past year:
This bad attitude, about 13th checks, and the fact that bosses continually whinge about the "hurt on the books" and other such stuff, in other words guilt-tripping the employee because he draws a salary (some bosses even think if they had their way the people would work for them, for free) is creating a growing group of individuals who now refuse to work for companies and will gladly consult, but decline formal employment.

We have two such people working for us as contractors. They have declined formal employment on two occasions. I questioned them about this, one of them told me he has had his share of being unappreciated and screwed over by bosses.
 
At my SO's workplace they were informed there would be no bonus and the next month the boss came to work in a brand new Porsche 911s.
 
satanboy said:
At my SO's workplace they were informed there would be no bonus and the next month the boss came to work in a brand new Porsche 911s.
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What has his car got to do with your wife's bonus? Have you made the massive assumption that somehow he has spent her bonus money on his new car? Are you complaining about his taste?

My business has not turned a profit since I bought it at the beginning of the year. Therefore the bonuses have been a lot smaller than I know everyone would have liked.

Yet if I buy myself a new samsung tv out of my own nest egg you would be the employee that is going to say "Tut, Tut.. we cant have bonuses but he spends R25k on a new tv..."

What I do with my money has fkall to do with anyone except my SO since we are responsible to each other when it comes to money.
 
Madman88 said:
What has his car got to do with your wife's bonus? Have you made the massive assumption that somehow he has spent her bonus money on his new car? Are you complaining about his taste?

My business has not turned a profit since I bought it at the beginning of the year. Therefore the bonuses have been a lot smaller than I know everyone would have liked.

Yet if I buy myself a new samsung tv out of my own nest egg you would be the employee that is going to say "Tut, Tut.. we cant have bonuses but he spends R25k on a new tv..."

What I do with my money has fkall to do with anyone except my SO since we are responsible to each other when it comes to money.
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But a TV is not exactly a 911s now is it? If your company is not turning a profit, then it would be pretty hard to find the money to buy a Porche surely? Even if you had the free money per month in your own salary to afford the monthlies on this new sports car. You probably wouldn't do that until you were turning a profit and sure of the company's long term stability. If this guy could claim to have a sufficient nest egg to buy this car cash, (R1million +-) then surely he is taking a much larger portion out of the company than is warranted. Especially if he might fall back on the same claim as you, that bonuses are withheld based on lack of turn over profit. That profit is in the 1 million rand car he just bought.

So yes, it is a fairly safe bet that the company that this person works for is profitable, and yet the boss chose to bump up his own pay and most likely bonus, enough so to buy an expensive sports car. Leaving his peons with empty excuses and even emptier pockets.
 
And usually when the business doesn't turn a profit, the man at the top feels it first. Why? Because in this country it is common practice to make the company pay for his expenses, including his cars
 
SoulTax said:
But a TV is not exactly a 911s now is it? If your company is not turning a profit, then it would be pretty hard to find the money to buy a Porche surely? Even if you had the free money per month in your own salary to afford the monthlies on this new sports car. You probably wouldn't do that until you were turning a profit and sure of the company's long term stability. If this guy could claim to have a sufficient nest egg to buy this car cash, (R1million +-) then surely he is taking a much larger portion out of the company than is warranted. Especially if he might fall back on the same claim as you, that bonuses are withheld based on lack of turn over profit. That profit is in the 1 million rand car he just bought.

So yes, it is a fairly safe bet that the company that this person works for is profitable, and yet the boss chose to bump up his own pay and most likely bonus, enough so to buy an expensive sports car. Leaving his peons with empty excuses and even emptier pockets.
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well, it seems to me that youre making a whole lot of assumptions there. I'm not defending the boss since I have no idea whether he did that or not, but to assume that his sole source of income is the business is a mistake. Personally I think thats in piss poor taste and incredibly insensitive to do something like that, however if you make assumptions youre heading for trouble.

A hundred things could have happened. He could have saved for it. He could have cashed in an investment or had one mature. He could have received dividends from other businesses, tho if that happened now it would be the wrong time of year.
Hell he could have financed it.

Baseless assumptions caused by the little green monster just make you unhappy.
 
SoulTax said:
But a TV is not exactly a 911s now is it? If your company is not turning a profit, then it would be pretty hard to find the money to buy a Porche surely? Even if you had the free money per month in your own salary to afford the monthlies on this new sports car. You probably wouldn't do that until you were turning a profit and sure of the company's long term stability. If this guy could claim to have a sufficient nest egg to buy this car cash, (R1million +-) then surely he is taking a much larger portion out of the company than is warranted. Especially if he might fall back on the same claim as you, that bonuses are withheld based on lack of turn over profit. That profit is in the 1 million rand car he just bought.

So yes, it is a fairly safe bet that the company that this person works for is profitable, and yet the boss chose to bump up his own pay and most likely bonus, enough so to buy an expensive sports car. Leaving his peons with empty excuses and even emptier pockets.
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It's all relative. How many employees work there. What's the installment on a Porsche. Do the math. Maybe the boss worked harder than any of the employees.

Many ways to look at it.
 
Funny its always about "Ag shame the boss works so hard" Really!!!! Please pull the other one.
I myself have out-worked bosses, they go home, I am still at work, they sit and play with toys in the office with the door closed, or lock themselves in the boardroom for 4 hours to have a dop or two with their chinas
 
Bosses buying new cars while the company flounders is almost always a bad sign. I knew one guy who would do that every 3 years. He would open a new company on borrowed money, live a high life, pay his staff crap, and then declare bankruptcy once the credit limit was maxed. No idea how he kept getting new money. The sad part is one of those companies had a product that would have been a mega hit in the market place and had many many orders but because of how much money he drained the company shut down before it could be productionalized. Hence I think its perfectly valid for an employee to question the motives and business sense of a boss who buys a 911 when saying there was no profit and no bonuses for staff. When you sign up to work for a company you tie your financial future to that boss and company for the duration of your time there. If the boss is an idiot then yes, it does matter.
 
Well I stand correctedbut surely there must some legal recourse for financial mismanagement. And company finances should be audited.
 
Tman* said:
I got the opposite of a bonus last Monday afternoon - retrenchment letter! :cry:

Company is bankrupt, letting a few employees go according to the last in 1st out policy.
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Sorry to hear. Heard about another company that handed out retrenchment letters this week as well.
 
Madman88 said:
well, it seems to me that youre making a whole lot of assumptions there. I'm not defending the boss since I have no idea whether he did that or not, but to assume that his sole source of income is the business is a mistake. Personally I think thats in piss poor taste and incredibly insensitive to do something like that, however if you make assumptions youre heading for trouble.

A hundred things could have happened. He could have saved for it. He could have cashed in an investment or had one mature. He could have received dividends from other businesses, tho if that happened now it would be the wrong time of year.
Hell he could have financed it.

Baseless assumptions caused by the little green monster just make you unhappy.
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And yet you make the assumption that he found the money to finance a new car, while his company is not profitable enough to pay bonuses, from completely unrelated sources. How is my assumption going to head me into more trouble than yours? So because I make the boss out to be the bad guy, yet you are a boss yourself, you feel like you have to defend him?

Whether he financed it or saved for it, both cases bring his management of the company under suspicion. If a company is not profitable, but you are taking 100k per month as a salary for yourself, then surely you are missmanaging that in your own favour. If he was able to save enough money to buy a porche cash, then the same rule applies, he is taking a salary that is far far above what needs to be taken. If he cared about the business and the EEs he would be taking a slightly lower salary and putting that money back into the business.
 
SoulTax, Madmann does have a point even though it may be distasteful. A lot of business people have more than one going concern and most of the time they don't mix the finances up. (Possibly for legal reasons.) Even well run businesses go through rough times. Can you say with certainty that he is drawing a salary from the failing business?

It's life. It is why he drives a sports car and you don't. He is able to start and run enterprises and you aren't.
 
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I'm getting a bonus this year - for the third time in my working life. If a company gives me a bonus - awesome. :D

However, if they don't - that's their proactive - bonuses are not mandatory and its up to the company's discretion. If I don't get one - well, then its no different to every other month I get a salary. I don't take my bonus as an income. My finances are based around my salary - that way, no disappointments and no unexpected bills "I thought I could pay"
 
BobsLawnService said:
SoulTax, Madmann does have a point even though it may be distasteful. A lot of business people have more than one going concern and most of the time they don't mix the finances up. (Possibly for legal reasons.) Even well run businesses go through rough times. Can you say with certainty that he is drawing a salary from the failing business?

It's life. It is why he drives a sports car and you don't. He is able to start and run enterprises and you aren't.
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Exactly. The point Im trying to make is that assumptions about someone else's finances will only make you unhappy.
It wont make a single iota of difference to him while he is cruising in his 911.
 
Madman88 said:
What has his car got to do with your wife's bonus? Have you made the massive assumption that somehow he has spent her bonus money on his new car? Are you complaining about his taste? ..
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He owns the company.

That type of behaviour leaves your staff feeling worse about not getting a bonus. Agreed?
 
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