'Boss, it's only $100/month': Company offers a skimpy 'bonus' to employees in exchange for 24/7 availability and 12 hour work days

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jun 2, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Bonuses are meant to be a congratulatory sprinkle of cash that comes as a gift from your company. It's on top of your regularly scheduled salary and it's how a business says "thank you" to their hardworking employees, but a lot of companies forget that, turning a bonus into some kind of leverage over the office minions. Some bosses see bonuses as either a huge payout for themselves (when they write themselves the blank check, why not put a number with a lot of zeros on it?) OR they see it as a way to coerce their employees into working harder with no official pay raise. Nothing screams 'corporate corruption' quite like the dangling carrot of bonuses in the office, especially when you have to work overtime to get one.  

In this case, OP and his colleagues decided to take a stand against clueless management, by flat out refusing the alleged 'bonuses' that were offered to them. These bogus bonuses were basically petty cash payouts for making employees eternally available, but were they eternally grateful? No way. Keep on scrolling for OP's hot take on pathetic bonus offerings and how his department flat out rejected their boss's "offer".

For more dastardly workplace stories, click here to read about a cashier that quit on the spot after getting screamed at by an entitled customer (psst, there's a video too!)

Advertisement
  • 01
    Font - r/antiwork. Posted by u/nagol93 20 hours ago My boss realized were not desperate wage slaves.
    via nagol93
  • 02
    Font - I work in a senior position on a team of 3 in an IT company. Burnout, stress, and being over worked are a huge problem at the company. A lot of people end up quitting within one year, mainly due to all the stress. I wont say me and my coworkers are un-fireable (because no position is) but if they were to fire us, it would be INCREADIBLY inconvenient for the company.
    via nagol93
  • 03
    Font - Anyway, the other week in our team meeting our Boss brought up quarterly bonuses to increase morale. At first this sounded amazing! But then it said the bonuses would be about $300 and you had to work 12hr days, and be oncall 24/7 to qualify. I said something along the lines of "I'd rather not"
    via nagol93
  • 04
    Font - Boss started asking probing questions like "Why not?" "Your telling me you don't want free money?" and "Its practically $100 extra dollars a month, your saying you don't want that?"
    via nagol93
  • 05
    Font - Normally I like to keep my work and life divided but I snapped a bit and said "Boss, its only $100/month. I make more then 10x that outside of this Company. Selling you those extra hours is extremely inefficient and, quite frankly, I just don't want to deal with all the stress this entails"
    via nagol93
  • 06
    Font - Then Coworker #2 chimed in and said "I'd like to opt-out of this as well. I resell computers and accepting this deal would be a huge loss of opportunity". Coworker #3 had to leave the meeting, but I think he would also have opted out. Our Boss didn't expect or know how to respond to that, He just kinda said "Err.... umm........ well...... ok?"
    via nagol93
  • 07
    Font - KelVarnsenIII 20 hr. ago Wow, a whole 100 extra, what is that, 65 after taxes? Reply Share 00 2.7k kazmirsweater 19 hr. ago 62.50, don't spend it all at once
    via KelVarnsenIII
  • 08
    Font - K_NORRIS 15 hr. ago Hold my 5 and a half draft beers. 354 ↓ Reply Share sleepyj910 13 hr. ago Or 2 at a sports event
    via K_N0RRIS
  • 09
    Rectangle - FloatingAwayIn22. 13 hr. ago Gas for the week
    via FloatingAwayIn22
  • 10
    Font - happynargul 11 hr. ago Let's see... For an extra 80 extra 4h/day*20= hours/month. 78 cents an hour. Wow OP, how could you possibly pass up this opportunity to compete with sweatshop workers in Bangladesh? (And i suppose even they are not on call 24/7)
    via happynargul
  • 11
    Font - oztiks 11 hr. ago 3 $62.48 because he already gave his boss his two cents. Reply Share 77 BeefamDev 10 hr. ago Brilliant!
    via oztikS
  • 12
    Mammal - Almacca 12 hr. ago And all you have to do for the 'free money' is work 12 hours a day and be on call 24/7. How could anyone pass that up?
    via Almacca
  • 13
    Font - Procrasturbating . 8 hr. ago Paying less than an hour of my billable time for 24/7 on-call and 12-hour days? My response would start out with intermittent chuckling, followed by maniacal laughter, and a sharp "Never insult me with such a disrespectful proposition again or I will quit on the spot."
    via Prorasturbating
  • 14
    Rectangle - DreadedChalupacabra. 8 hr. ago No, it's a bonus. Bonuses are taxed extremely heavily, they take about half. Dude would actually (at least here) be on call 24/7 and work 12 hour shifts for the price of a dinner for two at applebee's.
    via DreadedChalupacabra
  • 15
    Rectangle - AffectionateFruit816 18 hr. ago It's not a bonus if you have to work more for it lol. I'm on-call once every 5 weeks, and I get $480 extra for that week PLUS $58 an hour for any calls that come in.
    via AffectionateFruit816
  • 16
    Font - AbraxasTuring. 12 hr. ago. edited 12 hr. ago This is the way. Watch out for salaried/exempt jobs that have on-call. You want $ for carrying the phone+pager and at least time and a half for any work done on call. Count the hours, and round up.
    via AbraxasTuring
  • 17
    Font - Bao Xinhua 19 hr. ago I remind you of Carl Marx? Would Pizza Fridays convince you? Reply Share 348 What_Is_The_Meaning 18 hr. ago Cheesesticks included?
    via Bao_Xinhua
  • 18
    Font - YaBoyEvit 10 hr. ago CEO: "WOAH CHEESE STICKS, YOU THINK IM MADE OF MONEY?!"
    via YaBoyEvit
  • 19
    Daytime - "My boss realized we're not desperate wage slaves"
    via u/canva

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

skimpy boss antiwork corporate bonus drama lame work coworkers burnt out employees colleague workplace burn out Reddit company cheap
Scroll Down For The Next Article