Office Gift Giving: Questions to Answer Today

The holiday season means many things, including the fact that you’ll be purchasing gifts for a variety of people.

In addition to your family and friends, you may wonder if it’s appropriate (or required) to purchase gifts for your coworkers, boss, and others at your place of employment.

While there is no right or wrong answer, it’s important to have a plan this year. To ensure that you’re on the right track, here are five questions to address today:

•    Should you purchase a gift for your boss? You aren’t required to do so, however, it’s never a bad idea if you have a good relationship.
•    Will you look bad if you decide against office gift giving? Unfortunately, there may be people who look down their nose at you. Even so, if you aren’t comfortable with this or don’t have the money, there’s nothing wrong with your decision.
•    What should you do if others are pressuring you for money to buy a gift? For example, other employees in your department may ask for money to purchase a group gift for your supervisor. Again, you have the right to say “no” if you don’t wish to participate.
•    How should you handle gift giving with coworkers? In addition to your boss, you may be on the fence as to whether or not you should buy gifts for coworkers. Again, this should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if others are exchanging, you may want to join in. Or maybe you find that your office is doing a Secret Santa exchange.
•    How much should you spend? There is no set amount of money to spend on office gift giving. You have to make this decision based on who you’re buying for, your budget, and past history.

Office gift giving doesn’t have to be as stressful as it sounds. Instead, try to turn this into something fun this year.

Do you have any tips to add? Have you dealt with any unique challenges in the past?