Tips & Gratuaties Fairest Way To Split?

[Robert Frost]

Ok, so what is the fairest way to do this

Do we just put all the tips together and then split between the staff (monthly for example) or if as an example, a client felt they had received particular good service or assistance from one particular employee and put the tip into an envelope with their name on it that they should get that?

Need to sort out how I word this in the employment contracts

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

I think if a customer specifies that a tip is for a specific member of staff, it should go to that member of staff. But if it is general, it should go into a pot and then split maybe twice a year or something - Christmas and in the summer tend to be the best times, because they're when people could most use the bonus!

 

[Pete Brindle]

I'd say save it and split it up with each pay packet. Or you'll just get people who deal with money like the bar staff getting lots, and then the people who don't take the bills not being given anything at all, which wouldn't be fair. Or save them up and spend them on the Christmas party, that might not be a bad plan.

 

[Mike Turner]

I'd say save it and split it up with each pay packet. Or you'll just get people who deal with money like the bar staff getting lots, and then the people who don't take the bills not being given anything at all, which wouldn't be fair. Or save them up and spend them on the Christmas party, that might not be a bad plan.

What about people who don't go to the Christmas party though? If I'm being served by someone, and I hand a tip to them, if they've been the one to care for our table all evening then I do like the money to stay with them. I know that it means there may be other jobs that don't get as much, and if it's not said that it is for a certain person then it should go into a pot, but I think the customer giving the tip should have some say as to where it goes.

 

[Pete Brindle]

What about people who don't go to the Christmas party though? If I'm being served by someone, and I hand a tip to them, if they've been the one to care for our table all evening then I do like the money to stay with them. I know that it means there may be other jobs that don't get as much, and if it's not said that it is for a certain person then it should go into a pot, but I think the customer giving the tip should have some say as to where it goes.

True, I didn't think about that. Well maybe give it to them in their Christmas card then. I do think it is a good idea to try and make an occasion out of it, because then it feels as though the staff are being rewarded for their hard work rather than just picking up bits and pieces through the rest of the year. It would feel like they were really getting something, and that would make them smile, which is always a good thing.

 

[Lauren Turner]

I'd probably rather it split on a weekly basis because it can add to what can sometimes be quite a low wage. I waitressed during my teenage years and it seems like SUCH low pay on minimum wage for the amount of running round that needed to be done, but then when we split the tips (at the end of each shift actually) I'd sometimes have as much as double what I was being paid, though obviously that was the exception to the rule rather than the norm.

 

[Branded Merchandise]

I think splitting them monthly might be too long. It might be better splitting them at the end of the day? This way, the tips the customers give are going directly to the people who earned them. If you split them over a month, you might get people who work on quieter days receiving more of a cut than they earned.

The downside is that it would probably be a bit of a hassle having to hand them out everyday!

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

I'd probably rather it split on a weekly basis because it can add to what can sometimes be quite a low wage. I waitressed during my teenage years and it seems like SUCH low pay on minimum wage for the amount of running round that needed to be done, but then when we split the tips (at the end of each shift actually) I'd sometimes have as much as double what I was being paid, though obviously that was the exception to the rule rather than the norm.

Did you find that at Christmas you had seriously mega tips as well? I know that for me in my student days I sometimes got paid say £20 for a shift but then had an extra £40 to add to that in tips alone! And in the particular place I'm talking about, we just kept the tips, so it was fairly awesome for someone of my age at that point. It didn't happen to that extent all year round though!

 

[Mike Turner]

Did you find that at Christmas you had seriously mega tips as well? I know that for me in my student days I sometimes got paid say £20 for a shift but then had an extra £40 to add to that in tips alone! And in the particular place I'm talking about, we just kept the tips, so it was fairly awesome for someone of my age at that point. It didn't happen to that extent all year round though!

When I was bar staff in my younger days, some people would give me £10 for serving them at Christmas, even though their drink had only cost a fraction of that. I suppose it was in thanks for serving them all year. I always volunteered to work the shifts that most people didn't like over the holiday period just because I knew the amount of money that I would take home for doing so.

 

[Edward Obi]

A nice post. This came up in my previous place of employment and I decided to put a Tips/Service Charge policy in place. Tips/gratuities are non contractual

Secondly, Tips/Gratuities should always be declared by staff. This is not always done so we ensured all tips were calculated at the end of day and then passed onto accounts for it to go through payroll and it worked perfectly well even up to the kitchen porters getting a share. It was all about a fair equitable distribution to be in place.

We had a consultation with staff and they all agreed to it. Any concerns raised were discussed and addressed.

An appropriate policy would suffice Robert.

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

A nice post. This came up in my previous place of employment and I decided to put a Tips/Service Charge policy in place. Tips/gratuities are non contractual

Secondly, Tips/Gratuities should always be declared by staff. This is not always done so we ensured all tips were calculated at the end of day and then passed onto accounts for it to go through payroll and it worked perfectly well even up to the kitchen porters getting a share. It was all about a fair equitable distribution to be in place.

We had a consultation with staff and they all agreed to it. Any concerns raised were discussed and addressed.

An appropriate policy would suffice Robert.

I think the key thing here is that all staff should know what they should do when money is given to them. One of the many problems is that some people might be honest and put the money in a jar, whereas other people might prefer to put it in their pocket, and there's always the chance that they may never be found out.

 

[Edward Obi]

Hence the reason to have a policy in place that guides the distribution of tips and also implications of breaching the policy. You will find out that once the policy has been agreed upon each member of staff will be on the look out and act appropriately should any staff breach the policy.

 

[Aaron Reed]

thanks