UKC

My CEO gave me a unique passcode to a £5 gift voucher for my hard work this year.

"We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

Thank you for playing your part in another challenging and demanding year for our service. We recognise your ongoing determination and commitment, and are extremely proud of what you and all of our teams continue to achieve under such immense pressure. 

As a small token of our appreciation, please accept a £5 voucher to grab yourself a coffee, a tasty snack, or top up your Christmas shopping fund. You can use it how you’d like at one of many retailers."

Should I spend it all in the one shop or what?

In reply to The Lemming:

Do you ever get the feeling someone's taking the f*cking piss?

I wouldn't do your job for 10x the money.

In reply to The Lemming:

You’d think someone who got to be CEO would recognize that doing f*ck all was better than something as derisory as £5.

In reply to The Lemming:

I’ve had a good year, I’ve saved 100s of 1000s of pounds in train cancellation penalty fees for my employer. 

Got a photocopied letter a fortnight ago saying thank you from a director. Wife wouldn’t let me wipe my arse on it as it was a ‘childish gesture’ so I lit a cigar with it on Christmas day!

Keep doing what you do best old mate, it’s what we are here to do.

Happy new year 😊

In reply to The Lemming:

We got an extra 10er in December's pay packet, plus the usual congratulatory, back slapping thank you letter

In reply to George Ormerod:

Certainly at the level where something like a small box of chocolates/bottle of wine is better. Staff ‘rewards’ are very ticklish things- I’ve watched so many land really badly, especially into pissed off teams.

In reply to The Lemming:

don’t forget the pin badge as well

at least he didn’t add “and wealthy “

especially galling when our Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish colleagues all got a bonus precisely 100 x ours.

nice to know (if the rumour mill is correct) that at least our chief exec got a decent covid bonus of 20k for all that covid stress he’d heard about

I deleted the email

In reply to The Lemming:

I'm on a team delivering PCR testing. We got a video, from Boris, thanking us for our effort. Can't even light a cigar with that crap.

In reply:

5 quid is far, far worse than nothing 

As someone said, a small gift would be much better IMO

In reply to The Lemming:

Spend 50p. in each of 10 shops, Lemming 

You've been insulted as you well know 

If that was me I'd be inclined to print the voucher, wrap it around a brick, and gently deliver it*

*disclaimer from me, no violence 

In reply to Maggot:

When I think about what the NHS has done for me in the last 12 months (it's a lot), always with such great kindness, and professionalism, I really want to cry 

And I don't cry easily 

In reply to The Lemming:

Insulting and scandalous.

In reply to George Ormerod:

You don't rise to CEO by not being a *&£#

In reply to The Lemming:

Sounds better than the enamelled pin badge which came with a new rota and the threat of zero notice redeployment.. small mercies.

edit: assuming the CEO just got a gong for ‘services to privatisation’ or something?

In reply to Longsufferingropeholder:

I said to a colleague recently ‘we’re sinking here’. She replied totally deadpan ‘better than swimming with all the turds who’ve floated to the top.’ 

In reply to The Lemming:

Send it back. 

In reply to nikoid:

I think that’s what I would be tempted to do, with a note along the lines of you obviously need it more than I do so perhaps you had better keep it….

In reply to profitofdoom:

Likewise. Not for me personally but for me mam. 

In reply to The Lemming:

There should be more businesses run as cooperatives and less hierarchies. That would help.

In reply to The Lemming:

Fiver more than I get. And the supreme Court ruled few years ago that us agency workers should get Xmas bonus on a pro rata basis. Still we get nothing. 

In reply to The Lemming:

£5. Hmm.

I wonder if it's weighted towards where you live. Down south it wouldn't be worth the effort to bend over and pick a fiver up in the street but £5 in Blackpool, the possibilitys are endless,  you could buy half the pleasure Beach and still have change for a hotdog and chips. 

In reply to The Lemming:

£5 more than we got. All we get is a thank you e-mail from the head honcho. Our line manager did give everyone in his team two bottles of wine, but he does that every year. He's one of the good ones.

We've not been at the sharp end like you and your colleagues have, but we've never stopped and in some situations we've been ordered onto sites because the customer complained the work wasn't being done, even though the finished product is still in an un used state 18 months later. Work that one out ??

My Daughter works for a large Pet retailer. Their employees have been treated very well. I believe they all received a £200 bonus in 2021 as a thank you, and where they normally get £30 each for a Christmas get together, this Christmas it was £50.

In reply to The Lemming:

I got the offer of a sausage roll from Greggs... I didn't (honestly) feel upset or owt. It made me smile and giggle... It's 96p of Greggs best nutrition. i didn't take up the offer. 

In reply to George Ormerod:

The CEO disease. CEO’s exist to float about on vastly inflated salaries/bonuses etc, understanding nothing about the business they’re in ; launch a totally disruptive reorganisation (see above about understanding nothing) then b***er off after 18 months before they get found out. 
Rinse, repeat….

No wonder the NHS, not to mention the voluntary sector, is in such a state.

In reply to The Lemming:

At least they remembered you and you got something. I got to see the hospital trust I work for boasting all over social media how the executives had been out round the hospital thanking everyone and giving out thank you gifts making sure everyone got something. They didn't cone to out dept so we got nothing. I made comment on the social media that they missed some depts, they deleted my comment.

In reply to The Lemming:

What world does someone who can comment on the 'challenging and demanding year', and say your efforts have been appreciated and then think a £5 voucher is reasonable, live in? It is insulting.

It reminds me of the joke -

My boss drove into the car park at work in a new Ferrari.

I said, "Wow! That's a nice car"

He said, "Yes it is and if you are willing put in the effort and go the extra mile then next year you could help me get another one."

Dave

In reply to The Lemming:

Just thought I'd share this little anecdote of how much my employer really appreciates me and my colleagues.

Over the years, for those working Christmas Day, my employer would send a small spread of cold food, sweet snacks and soft drinks to the five local stations. I really appreciated this offer. For the second year in a row this did not happen.

Such is life, we're here to work.

However on Christmas Day, the cleaner who is the most lovely and humble woman that you could ever meet, brought in the most delicious spread of cold food that I have seen at many a family gathering. She just wanted to thank us for what we do. 

I was grateful for that food as I missed the chance to go to the hospital restaurant for a free turkey sandwich in a cardboard box because of outstanding jobs.

Every single one of us working on the day commented on this heart felt personal gesture from the lowest paid member of our team and the zero effort from our management.

At the end of the day, I have my heath, a job and a roof over my head. Many don't even have this.

In reply to colinakmc:

..and the whole of the UK corporate sector. The self-centred short-termist outlook of those running businesses is the reason the UK is going down the pan.  If we want to become more productive, then we need to make big investments with long payback periods, and nomadic management planning to be in post for 3 years max won't do this because it doesn't make them look good. They want 'increased profits by xx percent within 2 years' on their LinkedIn CV, not 'made a loss this year in return for profits in 10 years time'.

In reply to The Lemming:

The other side of the coin is that the CEO of a publicly funded NHS trust  probably has little control over these things .they are not like the CEO of a privately owned business for example where there is alot more they can do.

So I would not be so harsh about criticising the voucher.  
 

In reply to Toerag:

Not all businesses are the same. Some pay out very healthy bonuses .

In reply to neilh:

£5 voucher AND we clapped for you!

In reply to neilh:

Kind of my thoughts. 

I worked all my life in the public sector and we received zero at Christmas. The Christmas meal/night out/whatever was entirely paid for by ourselves. I think the public would have gone mad if headlines appeared upon the lines of "drunken booze up at taxpayers expense"

When I got to a senior level I would stand a round for everyone (about 60 staff) from my own pocket. It was pretty expensive but I felt it was the obvious thing to do. If anyone had suggested I was being mean or disrespectful to their hard work I would willingly have not bothered. 

In reply to The Lemming:

It actually shows they've no clue how to do incentives.

If you read the management  books the theory is that it is more cost effective to give a small number of people a large bonus than everybody a tiny one.   So e.g. you choose somebody as 'employee of the year' and give them £50K in a bogus ceremony instead of giving everybody £5.  The idea is that many of your employees will work stupidly hard if they think they have a chance of getting £50k but they aren't going to care about £5.

In reply to The Lemming:

Sorry to report Lemming but we got £50 gift card in the Trust I work for....my daughter as a nurse doing a 12 1/2 hour shift on Christmas day got a voucher for £1.75 to buy a sandwich for her lunch but there were no sandwiches for that price so none of them bothered!

They'd had an email advising them that they weren't entitled to a Christmas lunch from the kitchens....our Trust made sure all staff could have one!

The saving grace is that all the people who are ill or injured that you help will be grateful to you even if they can't say so at the time...and what you is greatly appreciated by us all...

In reply to The Lemming:

A fiver is about on a par with the £10 Christmas "bonus" handed out to pensioners.

I remember, when it was introduced in - I think - 1972 my dear old gran was over the moon and she put it to good use. It's been static at £10 ever since so I wonder whst it comparative buying power would be now. Like your £5 it's an insult.

In reply to Toerag:

 

Point taken. It was actually an old climbing pal who pointed this out to me in Thatcher’s time, he was a paint sales rep and had to endure the same procession of chancers then. I’ve more recent first hand experience in the voluntary sector, it’s the wafer thin skill set and complete absence of any depth that really gets me. I’m sure it’s the same across the board.

In reply to Bojo:

I don't know whether I'm old-fashioned, just plain old or maybe not as comfortably off as those who are complaining about this.

My thoughts are wouldn't it be nice to be given a fiver to go and sit and have a nice,  quiet guilt free coffee without thinking  about what else the money could or should be spent on.

In reply to Bojo:

I get the bonus. Don't need it and makes no difference to my life. Would doubt if it makes much difference to even the poorest pensioners. (May be wrong.) I don't see it as an insult but an anachronism. I wish the government would scrap it and put the money saved (including admin costs) towards Universal Credit. I give mine to local food bank. (Not looking for praise. Costs me nothing.)

In reply to Stichtplate:

I'm presuming NWAS, their 2020/21 annual report can be found at

https://www.nwas.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2021/07/Final-NWAS-Annual-Report-Ac...

Pages 94-99 are the remuneration report which details all the board members (including CEO). You'll have to wait a while for the 2021/22 annual report to see whether he did get a significant (covid) bonus. A "small" (for him, not small for you) bonus might not be visible because a lot of the figures are disclosed in "bands".

If it's not NWAS then all NHS bodies should have a similar remuneration report in their annual report.

In reply to timjones:

imagine you’d signed up for a job, it turned out circumstances meant it was not only far, far harder than you’d expected but it was also far more dangerous, and not just dangerous for you but also for your wife and kids. The job stretched on and on, you saw your colleagues hospitalised and worse and it all got so stressful that people started quitting in droves or going on long term sick with PTSD.

and then your boss turned round and said “well done, here’s a voucher for a fiver”

you’d think to yourself “that’s nice” ???

In reply to Stichtplate:

How much would be acceptable in your eyes?

Sometimes life isn't all you would wish for,  being miserable about even the smallest of gestures doesn't make it any better.

In reply to timjones:

You really need to burn your copy of 'the little book of platitudes'.

In reply to timjones:

If you can't make a significant financial gesture, then it's better to just send a sincere letter that shows that you appreciate all the hard work etc; e.g. "At the moment, the Trust is unable to commit to a financial gesture of appreciation, but I want you to know how much..." etc.

The whole point of these things is to support the morale of the workforce by showing that they are appreciated.

A trivial financial gesture is just seen as insulting, basically "is that all I'm worth".

And, rather importantly, if an organisation is not giving a "covid" bonus to those at the coal face, then it shouldn't be giving a "covid" bonus to anyone, unless there are individuals (excluding senior management) who everyone knows have gone beyond what everyone else has done. You can't give to senior management because that'll just be seen as feathering their own nests; this will depress morale which is opposite to the desired effect.

It ain't rocket science, but it's surprising how many senior managers haven't got a clue when it comes to dealing with a workforce.

In reply to timjones:

about what every other U.K. national service got would be nice

Hmmm…. Glad you pointed that out for me. I had no idea (he says, having just resuscitated a heroin addict who’d found himself abruptly dead on some else’s bathroom floor)

How’s your Sunday going?

In reply to Michael Hood:

Are you suggesting that those who would appreciate the gesture should go without to appease thoose who would view it as an insult?

In reply to Stichtplate:

Feeding cattle that are outside in the rain and mud because we are not allowed to sell them due to a TB breakdown, thank you for asking.

Sometimes life is pretty shit!

 

In reply to captain paranoia:

Surely I can be forgiven for thinking that platitudes were in vogue based on the "£5 is an insult" tone of the thread?

In reply to The Lemming:

Serious question. Given the strength of the jobs market at the moment why don’t you just leave and work somewhere else?

In reply to VSisjustascramble:

Vocation

In reply to Stichtplate: (and the OP)

I’d think “is this a deliberate insult?” (The words far more than the voucher).

I’ve been trying to find a constructive comment to post all day.  I’ve failed.  

In reply to timjones:

At £5, I suspect the number who would appreciate the gesture is pretty small.

And my views were more about the inanity displayed by some senior management. If a bonus is being "sold" as a treat for the recipient, then it really should be more than just a cup of coffee. IMO minimum value should be about the cost of a decent bottle of spirits, or a spa treatment - say £25.

In reply to VSisjustascramble:

How many job opportunities do you think paramedics (or whatever other titles emergency response ambulance crew have) have outside of the NHS to do similar work? There are some (St John's ambulance, etc) but not many.

In reply to Michael Hood:

Which comes back round to my original point that all of our circumstances are different.

Right now I feel that it would be nice to be able to view a £5 gesture as an insult rather than a pleasure.

And I am far from being amongst the worst off in our society.

In reply to timjones:

But if the rumour of the CEO getting a £20k bonus is true (or even if it's just perceived to be true), then I think a £5 gesture would be seen as derisory by most recipients.

The way to win your workforce would be to publicly use the £20k bonus (if it's real) to fund the £5 (or whatever it works out as) bonus for every member of staff. In that situation, £5 would not be seen as derisory.

In reply to Michael Hood:

Unfortunately, there is increasing use of private companies within the NHS:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-private-ambulance-taxi-emerge....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_the_United_Ki...

In reply to captain paranoia:

Mentioning private ambulances - late last year I passed what appeared to be a fully liveried emergency ambulance complete with the usual emergency light bars in place except there was not any Trust name on it; just Ambulance. What really drew my attention was it had a mobile number printed on the driver’s door!
I googled and found that private ambulances were common on the roads and guess that that one was a private one; maybe it was old trust one since it looked just like the “real” thing at first glance.

In reply to The Lemming:

As ever, The Mash were on point right at the start of the pandemic...

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/health/nhs-workers-asked-if-theyd-like-...

In reply to timjones:

Really feel for my colleagues south of the wall.

Genuinely, Tim, nothing at all would be much, much better after the past couple of years. Top brass going round to stations to personally thank crews would be a much, much nicer gesture IMO. 

In reply to VSisjustascramble:

Because the work itself is utterly awesome, on a good day with a good crewmate you don't feel like you're at work. 

*Fairly newly qualified, but I'm sure the more experienced on won't disagree too much with the above!

In reply to The Lemming:

Blimey that's tight - I wasn't over-impressed by my 10 times greater one! 

In reply to The Lemming: For the last four Christmas’s my store gave a selection box to every staff member at Christmas. Not much of a gesture, but a gesture non the less. Since we’ve been bought out by a couple of garage owning brothers, we’ve had our careful driving bonuses stopped, our staff shares savings scheme stopped, no selection box and we still had to work Boxing Day and all the other bank holidays for plain time pay which come April will be, if it doesn’t rise substantially, effectively a pay cut.  Nice to know we as essential workers are well thought of by the owners and shareholders. 

In reply to Michael Hood:

Upto a point. But if there is cash allocated to spend as a gesture by the Treasury  , then it’s better spent than not …..therein lies the paradox. 
 

In reply to The Lemming:

I've decided what to do with my fiver.

A couple of years ago somebody on this site highlighted a charity that bought a Christmas dinner for a homeless person.

If that charity is still going then, they get the money. If not then I will hand the money to an individual poor soul wandering round my town which is paved with gold.

In reply to The Lemming:

Social bite do that, that might be who you are thinking of?

That's a nice thing to do with it.

You guys deserve so much more, thanks for still being there after all of this chaos.

In reply to didntcomelast:

They weren't called vdiffisawalk and e2is deadeasy by any chance? 

In reply to girlymonkey:

Just checked their site but the feature has ended, so I gave my £5 to a Blackpool "Street life" charity.

I can't be arsed claiming my voucher code for the £5. However I do hope my anonymous gesture will improve somebody's day.

In reply to The Lemming:

You poor sod. I got £10 and I'm PTS!

That's topsy-turvy...

I did lose 116 hours of holiday that I never got a chance to claim though.

Lol.

In reply to broken spectre:

 

Been there, done that, lost the tee-shirt.

A few years ago I got a work based injury and had seven months off. I returned in the new annual leave year with about 130hrs credit. It all got took off me. However if somebody had told me, which they kept quiet about, then I could have converted that into mucho pennies.

You can't do enough for a good firm.

In reply to didntcomelast:

Who did you work for before the Issas took over? (I worked in the same sector until April).

In reply to Ian W:

Same supermarket. Seems that since we’ve been acquired we as employees are being squeezed as much as possible. We were also one of the few stores that opened Boxing Day this year. This will be the last year I’ll be working for them. It’ll be interesting to see what they do when the minimum wage rises. We currently get 86p an hour above the current minimum so it’ll be interesting to see what we get. Yes even as a delivery driver we get the same pay as a shelf stacker. We get to spend our unpaid meal breaks in the van and have to pee in a bottle if we can’t find a public toilet while out on our rounds. No canteen breaks for us. 

In reply to didntcomelast:

Yes, from their reputation, your t's and c's wont be improving anytime soon. The large organisation that bought out our sites didnt take long to "examinw" and "standardise" staff contracts, and you can be assured no revisions were upwards.

good luck in whatever you do next!

In reply to The Lemming:

According to todays private eye you did better than those at the university hospitals sussex trust. Who got excited when they were told they were getting "thank you hampers".

Which sounds nice aside from when they turned up the "hampers" were:

a shortbread biscuit

a brownie

a slice of out of date christmas cake