Have we gone completely mad with office gift collections?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that office collections only take place when you’re in, well, the office. But thanks to the rise of hybrid setups and the ever-present demand to fork out on other people, you can’t even escape it when you are “WFH”. Case in point: my friend’s boyfriend.

“The horrors of office gifting,” she began in a message to me last week. “My boyfriend was asked to contribute to a collection following the birth of a colleague’s grandchild the other day. A GRANDCHILD! And to make matters worse, the person being collected for is really senior.”

“Did he give?” I asked. 

“Did he hell!” my friend replied.

Office collections, like gift-giving in general, started off with good intentions – but it’s grown into a uncontrollable monster. We need to rein it in.

We’ve all been there: on the receiving end of the envelope going round – or nowadays the email – asking for contributions to mark someone’s birthday, wedding, or new baby.

Generally, I’m pro office collections. We spend a lot of time at work and, by extension, with the people we work with. Office collections are an important way of creating a sense of team, camaraderie, and belonging in the workplace.

Whether you work remotely or in-person, you likely interact with your colleagues more than you do family and friends. So why wouldn’t you want to buy a card or gift to celebrate your colleagues’ special occasions? I still use the yoga mat my team at work bought me for my birthday in 2009, for example. But there is a line.

In this instance, I think that line is asking the wider team or department to contribute to a gift to mark the birth of a colleague’s grandchild. If you’re close enough to your colleague to care, you can give a gift yourself – you don’t need to ask others to chip in.

Let’s not spend our hard-earned money celebrating the special occasions of people we don’t know and don’t care about. Harsh, but true.

I conducted my own robust research on office collections – yes, I ran an Instagram poll.

The majority of respondents – 64 per cent – said, “Yes, I give willingly.” This was followed by an even split of 18 per cent who opted for, “Yes, I give reluctantly” and 18 per cent who said, “No. Not me parting with my hard-earned cash.”

People also shared their thoughts on the subject:

As an organiser of – and contributor to – many office collections over the years, and with my money coaching hat on, here are my top tips on how to manage them.

First, while it’s nice to give, it’s not a necessity. If you can’t afford it or simply don’t want to, that’s fine. That said, if your personal rule is not to give to any collection, don’t be surprised if you don’t get anything back in return. Do as you would be done by, and all that.

Secondly, no one wants to look stingy. If you are giving, give what you can afford. In my experience, £5 seems to be the going rate. But this will depend on how big your team is and the number of occasions that are celebrated – the more there are, the bigger the demand on your pocket.

Thirdly, for employers, are there company, department or team rules on office collections? Rules help people know where they stand. Ask your employees for their input and set a policy accordingly.

Here’s what one team manager friend told me: “As a manager I find the whole office gifting thing a massive burden. I recently joined a new company, and a few days in found myself needing to organise a card, cake and gift for one of my team. When did this become part of the job description?

“I decided to have a chat with the team about it and they had a good idea. We’re now going to do ‘Secret Santa’ for birthdays.

“We’re each only arranging one other person’s birthday and paying for the gift for that person ourselves rather than having a collection each time or the manager paying for everyone. The team agreed on a £20 limit so it’s not too burdensome.”

Talia Loderick is a money coach who helps people understand and take control of their behaviour with money so they can stop stressing about money and have enough to live well – now and in the future. Visit: talialoderick.co.uk