AITAH if I decide to end the yearly tradition of our company's year end bonus?
Should I stop giving year-end bonuses in our business?
For context, we have a small family-owned retail business. Every year, we give our employees a small extra bonus (think of it as a 14th-month pay, since they already get the 13th-month pay required by law) as a Christmas gift.
In 2023, they received a relatively large bonus, but in 2024, it was almost halved due to a decline in business and the need to allocate funds elsewhere for the business. I found out this weekend that many employees were disappointed and questioned why the bonus was so small. Their exact words were, "Is that all?", "we need the breakdown".
Note: We did explain the situation to them, and they also saw that business had slowed down. The business can still hand out something but relatively smaller than what they received the previous years.
I'm just disappointed that they seem ungrateful and have a sense of entitlement, expecting a detailed breakdown or written explanation for the bonus when it's actually an extra gift given out of the Christmas spirit.
So, I'm torn about whether to stop giving this bonus.