HOLIDAY TIPPING, P.2

Different buildings have used different formulas to navigate among solutions to the problem. Richard Koral, director of New York City College of Technology's continuing-education Apartment House Institute, lives in a 250-unit co-op with a committee of shareholders that determines how much money to collect from each unit. The board collects the money — in the $40-$50 range in this particular case — and disperses among the buildings' eight employees according to a formula of responsibility: The super gets a third and the remainder is divided on a sliding scale among the handypersons and porters. The reason it's done that way, says Koral, "is that we do not want tenants vying with each other for the favors of the maintenance staff."

Anita Sapirman, president of Saparn Realty, says, "Most of my buildings give a week's salary, but it varies. If it's a substantial building and the super has been a long-term super and does an excellent job, there is a great reward for that superintendent at holiday time. And they do receive many thousands of dollars," sometimes as much as $4,000 or $5,000.

Adds Berenson, regarding doorpersons and porters, "[W]hat you will see many boards do is give from half a week's salary to a full week's salary."

When Supers Save You Money

For those supers who go above and beyond the call of duty, such as coordinating a lobby renovation, Sapirman has seen bonuses as high as $10,000; other management executives report a top rate of $12,000. And that, they all agree, is only if the super has been "remarkable," saving the building a great deal of money and performing a lot of work that would normally be done by contractors or consultants.

The evaluation process can become very emotional, warns Miller. When board members begin calling him, asking for recommendations on what to give, he has to judge the building and the employees before answering. In general, believes Miller, a "reasonable" super shouldn't get less than $50 per apartment, "and it would go up from there, depending on how you felt." He advises buildings that the super and other key building employees "have $2,500 in their pocket" as a gratuity at the holidays. He also recommends his boards pay the taxes on the bonuses, as a further symbolic gesture.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you understand what the gratuity represents, and give yourself time to make a thoughtful decision. Although it's tempting to use the carrot-and-stick approach, that rarely works. To get an employee to do a satisfactory job, a board needs to invest its own time and effort. And that can be undone with a poorly thought-out holiday bonus.

"You have to get an employee to produce through effort and time, and then if they don't produce, you have to censure or dismiss them." But punishment via the bonus is "not appropriate," maintains Andrews. "To me, it just makes for an angry, disgruntled employee."

Adapted from Habitat December 2003. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>