A Baltimore commercial real estate developer floored its 198 employees with a surprise $10 million bonus at the firm’s holiday party this past weekend.
But while St. John Properties workers wiped away tears of joy, the chances are many other U.S. workers aren’t doing the same thing.
Fewer companies have been doling out performance-based bonuses in recent years, according to a survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm.
The Baltimore company, St. John Properties, was celebrating the overall production of 20 million square feet of office, retail and warehouse space, and awarded employees based on how many years they have worked at the 48-year-old company.
The average bonus check came to $50,000 for each employee; as context, median household income in America — per year — is now just over $63,000.
“Everybody is important in this company, and everybody performs in this company,” founder and chairman Edward St. John told staff at the company’s holiday party last week.
The bonuses handed out at the party were actually on top of other year-end bonuses.
Such year-end corporate gifts to employees are becoming less common.
Almost 10% of companies surveyed by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said they would give bonuses to all staff based on company performance this year, down from almost 19% in 2015.
Nearly a quarter of companies (24%) said they would give bonuses to select workers, down from 37.5% in 2015.
The firm polled 250 companies last month.
Here’s the consolation prize: the same survey shows the share of companies awarding bonuses of $100 or less, in cash or gift certificates, is increasing, up to 20% from 12.5%.
Non-monetary gifts, like a gift basket or an extra vacation day are on the rise, up nearly 11% from 6.3% in 2015.
On Wall Street, employees probably aren’t hoping for a repeat of last year.
Annual data from the New York State Comptroller showed the 2018 average bonus in the New York City securities industry was $153,700. That’s down nearly 17% from a 2017 bonus of $184,400, the agency said.
Andrew Challenger, vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said the decline in season’s end gifts was uneven. Based on anecdotes, Challenger said bonuses in finance, real estate and construction were strong, but slipping in retail and manufacturing.