Imagine receiving an average annual bonus of $456.7 million… one can only dream. But that’s what Elon Musk reportedly rakes in every year, on top of his other earnings as the big boss of Tesla Inc. According to data, the average bonus for American workers in 2024 was around $2,503. But not everyone was that lucky.
People have been sharing the most ridiculous company bonuses, gifts and perks, and some are so strange they’re insulting: a rock, an empty tin, a handful of sweets. These are just a few of the random rewards that employees were expected to be grateful for.
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most mind-boggling corporate offerings that people received in return for their hard work and loyalty. Bored Panda also reached out to customer service and experience (CX) expert, best-selling author and keynote speaker Shep Hyken for tips on how not to fail at the corporate gifting game.
#1 Here’s A New One. If Our Store Makes The Most Sales Competitively We Earn A Pizza Party Not For Ourselves But For Our Bosses
Image source: Spiritual_Eye_4645
#2 Little “Gift” My Wife Got One Year
Empty gift bag from work.
Image source: Ill-Simple1706
#3 Company Gave Employees Cookies To Celebrate $10 Billion In Profits
Give the workers an extra day of PTO a year, or a raise, or working technology? Nah, how about COOKIES???
Image source: ShaneWhite2nd
#4 Happy Nurses’ Week
Image source: sloretactician
#5 This Will Cover My Rising Rent
Image source: nevadabeach
#6 Employee Appreciation Day
Our local Walmart decided to show their appreciation for the hard work working employees who tirelessly work themselves to ensure that the shelves are stocked for customers.
Image source: ElectronicBunch8010
#7 Congrats On 35 Years For The Company! Here Is 12 Donuts
It’s kinda sad honestly after 35 years they think 12 donuts is good enough.
Image source: brootalgamer
#8 What My School Gave Its Teachers For Teacher Appreciation Week
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#9 My Wife’s Teacher Appreciation Gift From The Administrators Who Have Let Everyone Know All Year They Do Not Appreciate Them At All
Image source: aint_no_flapjack
#10 Getting This As A Teacher Is Degrading. If You Want To Show Us Appreciation, Then Pay Us!
Image source: Zenku390
#11 10 Year Symbol: Represents Durability And Flexibility. My Wife Got This From Work, She’s Been There 19 Years. They Gave This And A Bunch Of Other Random Stuff
Image source: Fantastic_Boss_7612
#12 For Christmas 2019, My Boss Gifted Us With 1 Work From Home Day In 2020
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#13 After A Year Nurse Shortages, Running Out Of PPE, Working Employees To The Bone Without Hazard Pay, This Is The Meal My Wife’s Hospital Had The Audacity To Serve For Nurse’s Appreciation Week
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#14 The Bring Your Own Potato Bar Hosted By My School For Teacher Appreciation
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#15 These Are Trying Times With High Inflation, Better Bust The Sticker Budget
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#16 The Warehouse I Work At Was #1 In The Company For The 1st Quarter, Management Promised A Huge Reward, This Was It
The GM of the warehouse kept going on and on about how glad he was that we hit #1 because he’d be getting a bonus check “just in time for the warmer weather.” Also a few suits from corporate came in to “personally and individually thank each of us” and needless to say they neither talked to nor thanked nobody.
Image source: PuppyVomit_LLC
#17 2 Billion In Gross Profit
Image source: mastah21
#18 I Work At A Prison That Is Terribly Short Staffed, 12 Hour Overtime Shifts Are Mandated, And We’ve Just Been Informed That We Won’t Be Getting A Yearly Raise For Cost Of Living/Inflation. This Is Our “Mental Health Awareness Month” Gift
Image source: Babythatsright
#19 Pathetic
Image source: UnionDrip
#20 My Friend Got A “Gift” From Work. Chappy New Year
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#21 This Snow Reminded Me Of That Time When My Employer Asked Us To Work In -40 Weather. Our Reward? A Hat
The hat reads “40 Below Survivor 2019” which sucks for a couple of reasons. 1. People literally could not make it in, and I had a number of factors that allowed me to do so and 2. It wasn’t at our facility, but another employee of the company actually died in the snow. Your job doesn’t care about you. Stay warm and stay safe.
Image source: airportunicorn
#22 Our Work Christmas Bonus. Can’t Wait To Pay My Bills With This
Image source: Virtual-Nobody-6630
#23 No Money Reward, No Time Off, Just Meaningless Things
Image source: Dashi90
#24 Genuinely Ready To Quit! This Was My Bonus For Making The Company $85,000 In February
They gave me rainbow earphones because I’m part of the LGBT community. The earphones cost $2 on Amazon and didn’t work. This is a Fortune 50 company. I make gross $45,000 a year.
Image source: DarthSupremacy
#25 A Competing Company Is Offering Us 20 Percent More To Work For Them. Management’s Response
Image source: daniel-moseley
#26 My Girlfriend’s Boss Handed This To Her In Her Office Saying, “These Are Being Handed Out From The Company.” I’m Not Sure If This Is A Christmas Gift. What Do You All Think?
Image source: Forex4x
#27 My Company Has Given Each Employee 1-2 Bottles Of Expired Hand Sanitizer For “Employee Appreciation Day” 3 Years In A Row. Guess They Had Some Left Over From The Lockdowns
My husband works in HAZMAT. He’s 100% sure it’s because bulk disposal of 70% iso is too expensive, so they’d rather disperse it to staff and make us get rid of it for them.
It smells horrible and I almost never use hand sanitizer when soap and water is available.
Image source: bellabelleell
#28 Last Week Boss Overhears Us Complaining About No Raises, This Week Everyone Get Cookies
Image source: Ok_Beautiful7793
#29 After 10 Years At Her Job She Got A Pay Rate Increase, I Don’t Know What We’re Are Going To Do With All This Extra Cash
Image source: jbuckster07
#30 My “Bonus” A $5 Dunkin Gift Card
Image source: Atathor
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