Christmas gifts for staff / co-workers

[Zetec-S]

Anyone buying gifts for their staff this year, just curious if anyone has any better ideas than the standard bottle or box of chocolates? Or have you received something really nice and a bit different to the standard stuff?

(No honestly I'm not fishing for ideas )

[Countdown]

£50 Amazon gift cards for all staff.

We used to give hampers but that was becoming a bit of a PITA with different people having different dietary needs.

[blueg33]

Back in 2004 my MD bought presents for the staff

He only bought presents for the female staff
He bought risque underwear for the young or attractive females
He bought chocolates for the older or uglier ones

It was creepy


Not sure it would be good for your career to do it in 2023!

[Zetec-S]

blueg33 said:

Back in 2004 my MD bought presents for the staff

He only bought presents for the female staff
He bought risque underwear for the young or attractive females
He bought chocolates for the older or uglier ones

It was creepy


Not sure it would be good for your career to do it in 2023!

I'll pass on that, probably for the best.

It does remind me of my first proper job, just a fresh faced 20 year old, the first year we did secret santa and someone bought me edible underwear. Lots of laughter and embarrassment, unfortunately I didn't pick up on some subtle clues from my attractive (but slightly mental) 30 year old female co-worker that she was the one who bought it. Probably a lucky escape, but oh how naive I was back then

Countdown said:

£50 Amazon gift cards for all staff.

We used to give hampers but that was becoming a bit of a PITA with different people having different dietary needs.

Hampers is a nice idea, might give that some thought as I don't have many people to buy for so might be a bit easier...

[Silvanus]

Zetec-S said:

blueg33 said:

Back in 2004 my MD bought presents for the staff

He only bought presents for the female staff
He bought risque underwear for the young or attractive females
He bought chocolates for the older or uglier ones

It was creepy


Not sure it would be good for your career to do it in 2023!

I'll pass on that, probably for the best.

It does remind me of my first proper job, just a fresh faced 20 year old, the first year we did secret santa and someone bought me edible underwear. Lots of laughter and embarrassment, unfortunately I didn't pick up on some subtle clues from my attractive (but slightly mental) 30 year old female co-worker that she was the one who bought it. Probably a lucky escape, but oh how naive I was back then

Countdown said:

£50 Amazon gift cards for all staff.

We used to give hampers but that was becoming a bit of a PITA with different people having different dietary needs.

Hampers is a nice idea, might give that some thought as I don't have many people to buy for so might be a bit easier...

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

[Countdown]

Zetec-S said:

Hampers is a nice idea, might give that some thought as I don't have many people to buy for so might be a bit easier...

I suppose it depends on how diverse your workforce is

When I used to work for an Engineering firm it was 99% white, and 90% white males. They all got a case of booze and the office staff (all white female) got hampers to the same value. That was about 30 years ago. My current firm has a wide range of individuals from very diverse backgrounds (vegetarian, vegan, non-drinkers, multiple allergies) which is why we go with vouchers. It's almost impossible to complain (although last year some people said we were discriminating against small local business on the High Street and supporting Tax evasion)

[bigandclever]

Silvanus said:

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

I think staff would prefer the cash to a voucher.

[blueg33]

Silvanus said:

Zetec-S said:

blueg33 said:

Back in 2004 my MD bought presents for the staff

He only bought presents for the female staff
He bought risque underwear for the young or attractive females
He bought chocolates for the older or uglier ones

It was creepy


Not sure it would be good for your career to do it in 2023!

I'll pass on that, probably for the best.

It does remind me of my first proper job, just a fresh faced 20 year old, the first year we did secret santa and someone bought me edible underwear. Lots of laughter and embarrassment, unfortunately I didn't pick up on some subtle clues from my attractive (but slightly mental) 30 year old female co-worker that she was the one who bought it. Probably a lucky escape, but oh how naive I was back then

Countdown said:

£50 Amazon gift cards for all staff.

We used to give hampers but that was becoming a bit of a PITA with different people having different dietary needs.

Hampers is a nice idea, might give that some thought as I don't have many people to buy for so might be a bit easier...

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

Hampers are what we use, but you have to know your staff. For instance my son is vegan, most of the stuff he gets in his hamper from work he cant eat, his girlfriend has the same issue from her work.

[Countdown]

bigandclever said:

Silvanus said:

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

I think staff would prefer the cash to a voucher.

Cash is taxable, vouchers up to £50 aren't.

[Andy_290]

I always pop one of the £10 scratchcards into my direct report's christmas cards, always goes down well!

[bigandclever]

Countdown said:

bigandclever said:

Silvanus said:

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

I think staff would prefer the cash to a voucher.

Cash is taxable, vouchers up to £50 aren't.

I was under the impression there is an exemption, without any real onerous conditions, for cash up to £50. Guess I'm wrong

Edited by bigandclever on Wednesday 13th December 16:10

[Gastons_Revenge]

My place (headcount <120) organises hampers for the staff, typically one of the admin team sends around a signup link for them where you confirm your dietary requirements- that gets fed straight into the purchase order with the corporate gift company they use so requirements are all captured pretty easily.

[Honourable Dead Snark]

Starbucks/Costa voucher for those that drink coffee but don’t drink alcohol.

Bottle of alcohol for those that don’t drink coffee but drink alcohol.

[blueg33]

Gastons_Revenge said:

My place (headcount <120) organises hampers for the staff, typically one of the admin team sends around a signup link for them where you confirm your dietary requirements- that gets fed straight into the purchase order with the corporate gift company they use so requirements are all captured pretty easily.

Yes that’s what we do for 1500 team members.

[Countdown]

Gastons_Revenge said:

My place (headcount <120) organises hampers for the staff, typically one of the admin team sends around a signup link for them where you confirm your dietary requirements- that gets fed straight into the purchase order with the corporate gift company they use so requirements are all captured pretty easily.

You don't happen to have the link do you?

[JQ]

bigandclever said:

Silvanus said:

I think staff would prefer a voucher to a hamper, does anyone actually like hampers?

I think staff would prefer the cash to a voucher.

I'd prefer a voucher. Cash would just get absorbed into my wallet, I'll actually buy something with a voucher. Most likely something frivolous that I wouldn't want to spend my own money on.

[BoRED S2upid]

Staff Christmas party food paid plus a few bottles on the table. That’s about it really.

[blueg33]

BoRED S2upid said:

Staff Christmas party food paid plus a few bottles on the table. That’s about it really.

One year we paid for drinks at the bar after the Christmas dinner. It took less than 30 mins for 55 people to drink £5k. The bar manager came and informed me that my corporate credit card had hit its limit. Double vodka red bulls were the drink most people had.

We stopped paying for the bar !

[soad]

Andy_290 said:

I always pop one of the £10 scratchcards into my direct report's christmas cards, always goes down well!

Good for the Secret Santa too.

[Gastons_Revenge]

Countdown said:

You don't happen to have the link do you?

Can't post links yet as I only signed up recently - the vendor we use is Carabella Gifts. We've had a decent selection of stuff in the hampers and it's all nicely packaged.