To Holiday Bonus or NOT to Holiday Bonus

No one likes to be seen as a Scrooge, but with everything that’s happened this year how do law firm owners approach the idea of Holiday bonuses? In today’s episode we are going to look at how to answer this question not from an emotional perspective but from a financial management perspective.  In this episode we discuss:   The mindset of giving a holiday bonus. Basing your decision by the metrics of financial well management. The feelings of guilt and shame that can be associated with not giving a bonus.   Making it about them, not about you. Distinguishing between a holiday bonus, an incentive and a gift. The danger of prioritizing others to the detriment of your business. How your own feelings of self-worth can influence your business decisions. The importance of helping your team to understand how money works in your business culture. Contact Info: SOCIAL LINKS & Contact Info -  Scheduler:  https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor  Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Wall Township, New Jersey.  She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is a member of the New Jersey Board on Attorney Certification (NJBAC) – Matrimonial Committee, a New Jersey Supreme Court committee that determines eligibility of candidates to be certified as a recognized practitioner in the field of matrimonial law. Ms. Williams has been named a Rising Star Attorney by the New Jersey Super Lawyers franchise continuously from 2008 – 2013, and has been named a Super Lawyer by that organization for 2014 – 2019. In 2016, she was featured in the Super Lawyers publication (Williams v. The Rubber Stamp), she has been named one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in New Jersey from 2017-2019 and in 2019, was voted in the Top 100 Super Lawyers in the State of New Jersey. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  She received her B.S., magna cum laude, and her M.S., summa cum laude, from Florida State University. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law.  Snip-Its: 00:30:05 And so when the owner realizes that they have set up this mismatch of expectations. Right. Employee expects to get it because they're employed and owner expects that you will get it only if the firm is producing a certain amount of money and only if you do certain things, then oftentimes there's a triggering of guilt and shame, particularly guilt, because the owner perceives that he or she did not lead the employee to a reasonable expectation. 00:34:06 If you are prioritizing others to the detriment of your business, meaning you don't have it, but you're going to pay it out by virtue of taking a loan or you're going to pay it out by virtue of not taking the salary, or you're going to pay it out by virtue of not making an investment in the future. What you are really doing is saying that my need as the business owner to feel good about myself supersedes your needs as the employees to have a fiscally sound employment, you know, experience.