Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Couldn't find a thread in this forum (I know they exist) based on the search terms I was using, so decided to create a new one.
I recently received a notice from the condo association with a request to donate to the building employee holiday gift fund. We have a resident manager, staff of 4 security team members, and a handful of building maintenance people. Unfortunately, the notice didn't give any ballpark estimates of how much each unit owner/renter "should" give; I live in a 200 unit condo FYI.
This would be the first year that I'm giving to the fund. I want to be generous, but don't also want to give more than is the norm for these things. How much do my fellow CD members give (if they do) to their building employee holiday bonus funds?
Couldn't find a thread in this forum (I know they exist) based on the search terms I was using, so decided to create a new one.
I recently received a notice from the condo association with a request to donate to the building employee holiday gift fund. We have a resident manager, staff of 4 security team members, and a handful of building maintenance people. Unfortunately, the notice didn't give any ballpark estimates of how much each unit owner/renter "should" give; I live in a 200 unit condo FYI.
This would be the first year that I'm giving to the fund. I want to be generous, but don't also want to give more than is the norm for these things. How much do my fellow CD members give (if they do) to their building employee holiday bonus funds?
I'm thinking of giving between $200-$400 btw.
I guess that depends where you live. I lived in a 162 unit condo complex in So Cal that had plenty of property employees and I was never asked by management to contribute to a fund for them. And I wouldn’t have if asked. Not all jobs receive bonuses. But if you want to give to the fund and can afford $200-$400, by all means do so.
That said, I really believe a holiday bonus is something the management company should handle rather than trying to guilt residents into doing it voluntarily. Because, as you can attest, not every resident may be able to contribute. If management takes just $5 to $10 a month out of everyone’s monthly dues and puts it into a year end bonus fund for the employees, they would have a guaranteed $12,000 to $24,000 to draw from at the end of the year. The management company could raise the monthly dues $5 or $10 a month per unit going forward to cover it for next year’s bonus. If divided equally by 10 employees, that would be $1,200-$2,400 bonus per employee. Even if they do it as a percentage based on the position, it could still end up being a decent bonus for each person, especially in a time when not all companies pay holiday bonuses. Maybe you could suggest it at the next association meeting and vote on it? By that calculation, that’s $60-$120 per unit, per year. You could also use that figure as your gauge for giving to the bonus fund this year.
I would prefer to give to each person a bonus directly, based on my interaction with them and the service they provide. I’d have complete control over my money, and the service person would remember me better than if I contributed anonymously to a general fund. There are holiday tipping guidelines online for each of the positions you mentioned.
I live in a house with a HOA, but services such as trash, bottled water delivery, and lawn care are our individual responsibility. There are only 3 service people I have ever given holiday tips to. Each receives the equivalent of one session or service: my personal trainer (bonus equal to 1 training session), my regular hair stylist (bonus equal to the cost of the usual cut & color I get), and my gardener (bonus equal to 1 month of service).
The condo association gave some history for the current setup in their notice. Apparently, the board (using member funds) used to pay out yearly holiday bonuses. For whatever reason, however, they stopped doing that and, instead, went to a voluntary program. One of my fears is that if residents don't provide sufficient amount in bonuses, the board is going to reinstate the original setup, and I'm not for an increase in association fees for "unnecessary" things. The numbers you provided would make any such increase in fees seem reasonable, but I don't trust my board not to take such an idea and allow it to spread to other "unnecessary" areas. Note, my board already tried to force every owner to buy new balcony windows/doors (even though there is NO need for new windows and doors), but, thankfully, the law prohibited such a requirement . . . Or at least that's how it was explained at the meeting.
I've also thought about giving to the staff directly, but then I'd run into the problem of the board not being able to account for everything that was given. If enough people followed my lead, then the board may have a severely limited picture of who gave what and may be inclined to start doling out member funds again. And, fair or not, owners at my building--even if they don't like a board action--give the board a lot of leeway as no one wants to devote the time/effort to challenge and serve on the board themselves.
I've done some shopping around for answers via other mediums and many are telling me that, for a building my size, a $200-$400 donation is a bit excessive. So, while I'm definitely still contributing to the fund, I think I'll limit it to around $100-$150.
Surely these people get a salary. Surely you pay generous HOA/condo fees each month as well. This really strikes me as the function of the condo association to have built in some cash to distribute as holiday bonuses. I might rather hunt down the individuals and gift them personally were I so inclined.
$200-400 at Christmas – if I had it to give – would be going to what I would consider more needful causes.
But when I read the headline, I thought it said "employee graft fund" – so that's all I've got.
The condo association gave some history for the current setup in their notice. Apparently, the board (using member funds) used to pay out yearly holiday bonuses. For whatever reason, however, they stopped doing that and, instead, went to a voluntary program. One of my fears is that if residents don't provide sufficient amount in bonuses, the board is going to reinstate the original setup, and I'm not for an increase in association fees for "unnecessary" things. The numbers you provided would make any such increase in fees seem reasonable, but I don't trust my board not to take such an idea and allow it to spread to other "unnecessary" areas. Note, my board already tried to force every owner to buy new balcony windows/doors (even though there is NO need for new windows and doors), but, thankfully, the law prohibited such a requirement . . . Or at least that's how it was explained at the meeting.
I've also thought about giving to the staff directly, but then I'd run into the problem of the board not being able to account for everything that was given. If enough people followed my lead, then the board may have a severely limited picture of who gave what and may be inclined to start doling out member funds again. And, fair or not, owners at my building--even if they don't like a board action--give the board a lot of leeway as no one wants to devote the time/effort to challenge and serve on the board themselves.
I've done some shopping around for answers via other mediums and many are telling me that, for a building my size, a $200-$400 donation is a bit excessive. So, while I'm definitely still contributing to the fund, I think I'll limit it to around $100-$150.
That’s good your association gave some history of the bonus practice for perspective. I agree that you don’t want to be nickel & dimed for frivolous expenditures. Your $100-$150 limit sounds very reasonable. Regardless of how you choose to tip/give bonuses, its fortunate you’re in a position to be generous and very kind of you to do so. A very happy holidays and prosperous new year to you and yours. 😊
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
