(no subject)

[stakebait]

Hi Guys, this is my first holiday season as a boss and I am trying to figure out how to handle it, hoping a quick poll might help. For the gift choices, assume they're all worth about the same amount (and none of them huge).

Thanks!

[Poll #1945021]

Comments

[siderea]

I'm watching this thread with curiosity, because I have no idea what to feel about the topic.

In my previous place of employment (education non-profit), friends gave gifts to friends if so moved, and that was it.

In my present place of employment (MH/SA clinic) I figured out right quick that the giving of gifts was a sign of superiority in the organization hierarchy. That is, gift-giving exclusively ran from superiors to subordinates. This was handy to figure out because it gave me a subtle, decorous, and acceptable way to assert my place in the organizational hierarchy. And by "figure out" I mean "my boss all but instructed me to do it". Worked great.

Holiday gifts at the clinic are given on the last work day before the Christmas holiday, not least because if they are money, they might most benefit the recipient if they can be used for Christmas/New Years expenditures.

One year, my boss (the clinic director) gave all us grunt-level clinicians $100 gift cards to a grocery store. It was much appreciated, but I'd have appreciated it more if it had been an AmEx or Visa card of the same amount. The grocery store she picked was one of the worst values for the money and least convenient for me to get to.

ETA: I will say that I feel that gifts from a superior at work are very different than gifts between friends. They're like a bonus: they're a sign of appreciation of one's work/loyalty. As such they are not to be reciprocated. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

BTW, a non-LJ friend who emailed their answer works in a high powered legal office which seems to operate much as you describe in terms of " gift-giving exclusively ran from superiors to subordinates" with a tiered structure based on how directly the person works for your and what their rank is.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Around my father's lab it seems to go he gets each of the people who work for him something small, but nice (often food/candy.) They all pitch in to get him one thing, so individually they spend less on the gift(s) than he does. (Mostly the gifts to him end up being gift cards, largely because my mother and I have a hard enough time finding things to get him, that finding things for other people to get him is an occasion for flailing.)

But it also sounds like he supervises more people than you do, so the economics of it aren't quite the same.