Scrooged.

We received official word that our year-end performance bonuses were all denied.  The official reason?  It is not and has never been policy to give a year-end performance bonus.  Nevermind that people got them last year and the year before that and the year before that and…

Given the current state of the economy, I can’t really complain about the lack of a bonus.  I know that bonuses were cut in a lot of companies, and I wasn’t really expecting one, so it’s not the biggest deal in the world.  Sure, it would have been nice to have an extra chunk of money to dump into my savings account, but I’m lucky in that I don’t need the money to pay bills or help buy gifts for Christmas.

I am, however, frustrated at the reasoning expressed to the employees.  I don’t understand the purpose of lying when the fact that it is a lie is so obvious.  I could see lying if maybe they were trying to hide the fact that the business was losing money and in danger of going under.  I work for a major agency in the government.  We’re not going anywhere.  Our budget is tighter this fiscal year, so that very likely plays a role in this decision, and I can respect that.   I just wish that we could get that as the official answer.

I find it very insulting when management lies to employees, especially when the employees will very clearly know that lies have been told.  I think a business has a better chance of success when upper management is open and honest with the employees.  I also think that employees will be much happier with their jobs when they feel that upper management is respectful and including them in important information.  Happier employees are more productive employees.  Really, it would work out for the best for everyone.

Guess I should get back to my job hunt, huh.

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.