We are in the midst of a major remodel/addition on to our house, which means lots of shopping for appliances and sundry other things that you need for said remodel/addition. This took us to several Big Box stores, including one of our local Home Depots. The first salesperson realized we had lots of questions that he couldn’t answer, so he found a guy with more knowledge, who was quite helpful.
Somewhere in the process of us all waiting for his computer screen to refresh on some ranges, the topic got around to the $1,000 bonuses that HD was reportedly giving out. Our “senior” salesperson acknowledged said bonus, but then noted, “I got $750,” and went on to state, “I’ve been here over 15 years, so missed the $1,000 by 4 years.” I commented that a $1,000 raise would have been more helpful than a $1,000 bonus, to which he heartily agreed, and then commented to us that he’d done the math and after taxes, etc., it all came out to “well less than a dollar,” by which I think he was referring to his hourly rate.
And that is being charitable. If he was a full time employee, then out of that gross of $750, he might have netted $550 to $600 after FICA and state and fed income withholding. If he was a full time employee, that means he got the equivalent of about a one-time $0.29/hr bonus (not a raise, which would have gone forward into time). Even if he was a half-timer, then that would still be less than $0.60 per hour one-time bonus.
And this was a guy with 15 years with HD. Given what I would imagine is a pretty high turnover rate, I can only speculate on what kinds of bonuses other employees with ten or five years would get, but assuming a linear relationship, that would equate to $500 for the ten year employee and $250 for the five year employee. According to USAToday, it bottoms out at $200 for all hourly employees.
So, no, everybody isn’t getting $1,000, and the vast, vast majority are probably getting less than half that, based on what my 15 year salesperson was getting. Great publicity, because all anybody remembers is $1,000, which isn’t anywhere near the real number for most of those folks. And it is one-time, never to happen again, unlike a raise that carries forward year after year.
Conned again.