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Tipping is prohibited, but residents are asked to contribute $1,095 each Christmas to be distributed to non-management employees.

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? 1,000 ????
Goodness, that must be one rich population.

Here's how they work this.
They do frown upon individuals being individually recognized. It often causes unrest with employees and jealousy, accusation.
So once a year they gather a fund and then however they choose to divide it up, that's what they do, or throw a party, or whatever.

I think that this is way too much money to be honest. I would completely ignore it.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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While it’s voluntary I find it insulting to be asked to I pay bonuses. That is the responsibility of the employer. Period. I pay $8500 a month for my mother’s care in an AL facility and while some staff are better than others, it’s the responsibility of the employer to reward their staff. If we follow this “logic” should we be expected to pay bonuses for staff at our doctor’s and dentist’s offices or maybe lawyers and tax accountants?
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Dupedwife Apr 16, 2024
I agree with you that it’s an insult to be asked to pay bonuses. That’s the responsibility of the employer to pay bonuses to its employees.
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If this is optional and you cannot afford to pay the additional money, can’t you tell them that you won’t be paying that amount?

Shouldn’t the money that you already pay be enough? Why can’t they pay for the employee bonuses themselves? Ask them why they expect you to pay for their bonuses. See what they tell you.
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It’s rude and unethical for the nursing facility to ask the residents to contribute over $1,000 for employees’ bonuses. The bonuses should be the employer’s responsibility. It’s up to the residents if they want to contribute, but to be told the amount to contribute is insulting.
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PeggySue2020 Apr 16, 2024
The residents at dh’s work donate on average enough for each full timer with a year to get about 2300 before taxes. If they donated half of that probably most of the hourly workers would quit, starting with the servers who get paid the same as Burger King to work there. Then there are the housekeepers who could work at a hotel and never see a guest during their stay,as a housekeepers job now is cleaning up after they leave. The janitors who have to deliver everyone’s individual delivery from Amazon to pizza to every apartment, which again hotels don’t do.

Having the residents pitch in enough for basically two weeks of pay is huge enough so that most of them stay. The only options other than this is to raise everyone’s rates or cut services.
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Curious before I form an opinion. What kind of senior living facilty are we talking about? Independent (with no or only social worker services) Assisted living, Memory Care, Personal Care, CCRC?

In my rather old fashioned and somewhat British mindset... a gratuity is a "gift" from someone (an individual or a group) who has received excellent service/care. A bonus is something that is given to a staff member by their employer for an outstanding performance during a specific time period.
So if the facility has a specific amount they are asking for and plan to divide the amount received and give it to the entire staff... that is a bonus because it is going to the entire staff, which means they are shirking their duty. It is the owner/corporations job to provide bonuses for the staff. As a resident, I may not even know the entire staff. I might know 5-6 and want to give them a memento at a special holiday but it might not add up to $1k. Everyone in senior living is not wealthy and depending on the situation some are on Medicaid; if they can come up with $1k, they will have some explaining to do to the Medicaid office.
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BurntCaregiver Apr 17, 2024
I think exactly the same way, geddyupgo. Rewarding excellent service with a bonus is fine. Residents giving gifts to employees who provided outstanding service is fine too.

No management should expect the residents to just write a check because they don't want to part with any of the profit to reward good employees.

When it was the holidays season, I put it to the vote with our employees. There was a certain amount set aside and this could either be divided equally among them, or could be used to throw an excellent holiday party. The party votes won because the cash amount would not have been as much.
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The amount of money my DH's mom paid for her living expenses was $12,000 a month. She didn't live long there (8 days) but had the facility come to the family with hands outstretched for another $1100--there would have been fireworks.

You can call that what you want, but it's tipping.
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Reply to Midkid58
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A qratuity is vountary IMO. They cannot tell you what to give. Give what you want.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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No. Gratuity is not appropriate to ask for at a senior living establishment or any other place that is a person's home. Every person living at the senior establishment you mention pays for whatever services they get which are included in their monthly rent.

When you live in a rent, do you think you owe gratuity to the landlord if he cuts the lawn of the property he owns? How about if he sends someone else to do it? No, you would not pay a separate for the landlord to do his job which is to maintain his rental property.
Same goes for the people living in a senior residence.

Gratuity and tipping are one in the same. The management of the senior residence just wants to control how much is given and to who.

Employees get wages for the work they do. The residents of the senior residence don't hire and pay these workers. The management does. So let the management give them their holiday gratuity by taking it out of the rent they collect from the residents. Not ask the residents to write them a check.
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TouchMatters Apr 18, 2024
No, many residential elder communities do not provide all the services needed. Many many residents need - and rely on - personal caregivers / care providers for various needs. Absolutely not all services are included in their monthly rent. This may apply to where you work or establishment you know personally. It certainly isn't true for most residential elder communities.
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"Required" tipping, gratuities, extra money beyond the monthly rent, especially when put into a pool of money, doesn't work out for anyone except management.

1. It is counted as a bonus in the employees w-2, hence it is now taxable income to each of the employees
2. It is a way of getting more money from the residents without necessarily disclosing the increased cost to future residents.
3. They cannot bill Medicare or any agency for this money, hence it is "out-of-pocket" from those who choose to contribute.
4. Since it is put into a pool with everyone else, those who contribute do not get the recognition they should get.
5. To be fair, if it is Christmas money, everyone gets the money, regardless of the kind of job they do. In addition, there probably are some guidelines as to who will get them (e.g. have to have been employed for one month and working on day x to qualify)
6. Absolutely no guarantees that it will be used as Christmas money. It could be kept in a pool and used for birthday parties, individual recognition, etc.

Since the request sounds optional, tell them no.

...and...I always bring in goodies about once a quarter for all the floor staff to share. One time, I brought in light lunch, unannounced. Bakery items, cookies, boxes of candy, etc are good too. That way, they know who brought it in and it occurs throughout the year, rather than a single occurrence.

In my city, free food at the workplace, is always appreciated.
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PeggySue2020 Apr 17, 2024
If the workers get nice lovey cards and a fruit arrangement from customers when last year they got a one or two week bonus, they’ll just quit. Like I said, it’s either that these residents pay their tip collectively and anonymously once a year or not. Or every resident now faces a fee increase and/or services decline because everyone’s moved on to hotels.
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The responsibility is on management for making sure employees are paid enough and receive recognition for their work. If management wants to suggest an optional tip and handle it as a pool, fine. It should never be mandatory. The “no individual tipping “ rules are there for two reasons. First- it keeps the employees from being jealous of each other. One may want to give an extra attentive employee a tip or gift, but that doesn’t recognize all that goes on behind the scenes by the unseen employees. Also, we families and residents don’t always see the big picture- maybe one employee is not as good at forcing a smile while they quietly pick up the slack or mistakes of another more seemingly popular employee. Second, some residents truly cannot contribute extra cash and some are more unpleasant to take care of for whatever reason. Management also doesn’t want to create a resident “teachers pet” situation where the resident who tips or is more pleasant gets more attention. Management can’t afford to have even the appearance of favoritism in either direction- from resident to employee or vice versa. This would not make for a good work or living environment.
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