Do you give your boss a holiday gift?

[Boopuff]

At lunch today a co-worker, on another team, said someone in her group suggested pitching in to get their boss a “nice” gift. Each person was asked to give $30 (teams are 6 people). My co-worker told the group “no”. My team isn’t planning anything like that. I can’t see giving a boss (who’s much higher paid than us lowly staff) a big gift! Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Anyone else deal with this at work? And would you pitch in?

I do usually give all my teammates some homemade goodies, but that’s it!

 

[NotUrsula]

Most HR folks will tell you that it's inappropriate for employees to give a supervisor a holiday gift. A major personal occasion like a wedding or a new baby might be different, but not at the holidays.

 

[amcnj]

At the places I worked we never took up a collection for a gift for a supervisor for the holidays.

I too went the homemade route, in my case peanut brittle. My immediate group was small, but I included all 40 people in our division, as we were all in one area and interacted. Everyone, supervisors included, received the same thing.

 

[supercarrie]

As a manager, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable to receive gifts from my team, because it can make those who don't give anything feel guilty and pressured to follow suit.

This year, one of my team who has had a particularly challenging year (and needed a lot of support from me, largely related to mental health) wrote a very thoughtful card and gave me a candle - which was very kind, although absolutely not necessary. The card was the absolute best part! Conversely, I had someone gift me a Coach wallet one year, which probably cost her $80. (More, btw than the gift I gave her! We both worked in higher ed on fairly low salaries at that time, and my team got gifts in the $50 range that year.) Both times, I could tell some of the team felt bad that they didn't get me anything (even though it is 100% not expected), and that caused some very unnecessary, mild drama. I would hate anyone to feel uncomfortable or pressured into gifting me.

As a manager, I do give gifts to all of my team members each year, along with a birthday gift, and that comes out of my personal bank account. I typically work alongside another manager in a parallel team and we split the costs for both teams down the middle. Our company doesn't allow us to seek reimbursement for gifts.

 

[loves to dive]

I think it depends on the size of the company. I worked for the same company for over 30 years, throughout those years we grew and shrunk. When I first started there we were about 15 people in the main office and about 5 people in an on-site office out of state. The office staff exchanged gifts, there were only 3 of us but we did not give gifts to the other employees or bosses (there were 3 partners). Eventually we grew to over 100 employees across the two sites. I went from bookkeeper to head of the office staff/manager/corp. officer. I gave my staff gifts, there were about 5 of them between the two offices. Did not give the bosses gifts (there were 2 partners by this time). Then one partner bought out the other because a division was being bought by the other site head office. I went with the smaller office so we were back down to about 5 techs, my staff of 3 (including myself) the boss and his assistant. By that point I gave everyone gifts, usually I made up baskets with $20 gift cards to somewhere, maybe a bottle of wine or other refreshing adult beverage or food items for the one who didn't drink and I made a larger basket for the boss. We had always put up a tree, even from the beginning and somewhere during the years the bosses decided it would be nice to give gift cards to the employees. I always had a small tree in my area and just felt it looked nicer to have gifts under it. When we shrunk down to our almost final size, we just had one big tree and I think all the employees enjoyed looking for the gifts I got them under the tree. My staff did give me gifts then, usually some home made food or something small like an ornament. I was very adamant with them not to give me anything over $20 because I just didn't need anything. I think by this point since I was the 2nd person on the totem pole as far as management, everyone felt it was more like the gifts were coming from the company and not me personally, they weren't I paid for all of them out of my pocket, which they knew.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

No but I do wish him Merry Christmas
In all seriousness the man does not want us to give him a gift he does not want spending our money on him ! I do nice things for him outside of my job on impersonal level throughout the year he knows I care we are very small company of four employees and my boss and my boss is handicapped and we all pitch in to do little extra things for him all the time!

 

[soccerdad72]

Yes, I do. I also give gifts to my staff (along with taking them out to lunch) and a small gift to the boss’ admin as well (who always helps me out with things during the year).

 

[_19disnA]

Work at a large company and giving Christmas gifts to the boss isn't expected or encouraged. I can't recall ever buying any of my bosses a gift and none of the people who report to me have ever given me a gift (and I have never expected them to). It can be awkward when you do since some might be able to afford more than others and annual employee appraisals are already subjective enough regardless of what the Personnel/HR dept claims. Some might give a gift expecting their boss to think more highly of them compared to their peers so avoiding gift giving eliminates this potential issue. It is common practice for the boss to take their direct reports (perhaps 5-10 people) out to lunch around Christmas, but no gifts are exchanged.

Have never viewed gift giving as related to job performance, HR already has various ways to recognize outstanding performance as it takes place throughout the year. I think a lot of it depends on the expectations/practices where you work and whether you are hourly/salary and what level of the company your job is. Even at a large company, the boss won't have hundreds of direct reports and the size of each group depends on what they do and how much supervision is necessary from the boss.

 

[disneychrista]

No I have never given or received gifts from my boss. In years past our department did a luncheon with a white elephant gift exchange (with “good gifts”). I participated the first year but declined after that. Not only do I not need/want what wouldn’t be received. I don’t want to buy/give a gift either.

 

[footballmouse]

I don't give a gift to my boss for Xmas or Boss's Day. I usually receive on for Xmas and Admin Day which makes me very uncomfortable, I'd rather just receive a card and call it a day.

 

[soccerdad72]

My wife joked the other day that we'll be getting a raise after this year - she would send gifts to all her direct reports every Christmas time. The past few years, it was something like 12-15 people and probably cost us around $1,000 or so. It's not something that's expected of her, it's just the way she was brought up - to take care of the people around you. She's retired as of tomorrow, so that's an expense we won't have going forward.

 

[mmbrad02]

Yes and I don't necessarily agree but I'm also not one to rock the boat so we just go along with it. My husband is asked every year to give $20 toward a gift for his boss. In return, the boss takes his reports out for a brunch and usually an outing of some sort like an escape room.

For me, in my department its just me and my boss. She has always bought me something so I felt I should reciprocate. However, I tried to reel it in this year and kept it simple - a puzzle (she loves working them with her granddaughters) and a favorite lotion (which oddly enough I was raving about earlier this year and got her into using it as well) and I got a shave gel in the same scent. I've often thought around March I would like to propose we not do it the following year but it feels awkward to bring up.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

At lunch today a co-worker, on another team, said someone in her group suggested pitching in to get their boss a “nice” gift. Each person was asked to give $30 (teams are 6 people). My co-worker told the group “no”. My team isn’t planning anything like that. I can’t see giving a boss (who’s much higher paid than us lowly staff) a big gift! Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Anyone else deal with this at work? And would you pitch in?

I do usually give all my teammates some homemade goodies, but that’s it!

I donate $250 to their favorite charity.

 

[MamaMermaid]

No...

 

[EACarlson]

My team in the past has gone in together on a gift and card for our boss. There are 5 of us and we all throw in whatever we would like, one person does the shopping and we all sign the card. I don't think it's happening this year as I haven't heard anything about it and we are 6 days from Christmas. I will be doing more this year as on the first of the year I'm being transferred to another group. I've spent 5 of the last 6 years working for this boss, she sought me out to transfer with her when she changed groups and has opened a career path for me that wasn't available in the group I was in.

Most HR folks will tell you that it's inappropriate for employees to give a supervisor a holiday gift. A major personal occasion like a wedding or a new baby might be different, but not at the holidays.

It's inappropriate if the gift giving is expected or encouraged by the supervisors. It may also be in violation of company policies. I work for a company that is very involved in HR Compliance, our rules are no more than $50 from an individual, but a group is allowed much more.

 

[easyas123]

I'll answer this from a different prospective - as the boss I'd be mortified and feel bad if any employee felt they needed to spend their $$$ on a gift for me. Now we (myself and my 2 brothers w/ whom I own the Company) do give out bonuses, and give everyone the week between xmas & NY off paid. We used to have a big Christmas party but we have three offices that aren't near each other so that doesn't work well anymore. I bring in a catered lunch for each office.

 

[Chirple]

Normally, no. A few years ago my manager had two teams with over-the-top challenging projects, and he had to get involved with them on a regular basis (demanding clients never satisfied). He has also had some serious health issues for a few years. I reached out to my teammates and asked if they were comfortable giving him a small gift for Christmas in appreciation for having our backs, and they all agreed.

I think we contributed 10.00 each and got him an AMC gift certificate since he's a big movie fan.

 

[lovesmurfs]

No. I give gift cards to my staff members, but don't receive/expect gifts. Gift down is what I was always told, not up.

 

[CynBeth]

At my former company my team always pitched in for gifts for the managers and team lead for birthdays, boss’s day, and the holidays maybe $5 to $10 per person each time if I recall correctly. They would give us a holiday gift and we would get some type of gift card from the company itself. At my current company so far we have pitched in for team leads and manager birthdays and boss’s day. We are remote and I am in a different state than most of my co-workers and do not do Venmo or similar so have had to mail a check each time. I have not heard anything about collecting for gifts for the holidays.

 

[ronandannette]

No. Nor do I buy for my team; there are 15 of them now and I can’t afford to give them anything meaningful. (I used to, when I only managed 6 people.) A few of my staff give me something some years; I just thank them warmly and try not to make a fuss in front of the others. It’s awkward.

Our business unit gives everyone a very nice gift (people get to choose from 3 items) in the $200 range and the corporation gives everyone a $250 grocery card to represent the traditional “Christmas turkey”. Everyone is equally appreciated by the company and equally treated, including management. We have 128 people in our business unit and over 1,000 company-wide. It’s a big investment.