AIBU to be sick of corporate beggers at work??

[OnlyAGirlsHorse]

I am so sick of the "corporate social responsibility" shite that does the rounds at work, which always always begs us to dip into taxed earnings to meet company goals. Which, if we meet the target, is then boasted about in social media & in newsletters as if the company has done something.

The latest one is another begging email for sponsorship of some sports activity, alongside another thing where we can go and sacrifice our lunch break (it's something akin to competition cycling to see how fast you can cycle a mile on a bike, quickest department wins but employees "donate" to enter).

I wouldn't mind if it's a charity I support but the targets are always ones I would never prefer to funnel my limited cash to!

And the latest one is paying £x for dress down Friday every week despite the fact that it's a very casual office and there's really no actual dressing down. The office administrator keeps jangling her fucking bucket at the desks expecting everyone to chip in.

Am I just being a grump because I'm seriously considering asking my manager about the pressure this places on staff, it's constant & humiliating if (like me) you don't even carry cash around any more!!!

I don't think allowing voting has worked

YANBU, that sounds pretty awful. Just tell the bucket-janglers you already make a regular donation to your chosen charities and have a word with your manager about how uncomfortable it makes you feel. CSR is meant to be about the company making a contribution (allowing staff paid volunteering days etc, or donating a % of its profits to worthy causes) not regularly tapping up its employees for cash!

Voting has worked
I used to work somewhere like this and I refused to join in. I won't wear pink for breast cancer, walk round Central Park (the equivalent in steps) for some other charity or a Christmas jumper for another charity. I prefer to donate to smaller, local charities in my area, like the rucksack project for homeless people and the hospice.

Just say that you donate to your chosen charities every month and you feel that's enough.

I didn't join in Children in Need hoopla at work and was pressured about it. In the end I caved and said that I couldn't guarantee the charities that they donated to so preferred to pick my own. I very much disagreed with one charity that CiN supports so I wouldn't be donating. Shut them up anyway!

YADNBU, the bucket jangling sounds really fucking annoying. I'm all for CSR if undertaken appropriately (sadly it seems to be a PR exercise for a lot of charities). I think the PP suggestion to let them know you already donate to your chosen charities is a good idea, some other things which might improve the situation:

• suggesting changing the charity to one which has a genuine meaning to yourself and your colleagues, if a group of you are unhappy with the chosen one(s)
• suggest that for every pound donated by employees for these exercises, the company matches it themselves
• rather than bucket jangling for change, use an online platform which allows anonymous donations and people can't be guilt tripped for not contributing as they can't prove you didn't

Ultimately, you are perfectly within your rights to bring up that you don't want to participate. Nobody should be forced to get involved with charity events just for a good magazine article so your company can go "look how great we are". Especially when from personal experience there are far more great, meaningful causes out there than one person can reasonably donate to. But asking the company to match funding might show you how serious they are about CSR

YANBU! That's not CSR at all; the clue is in the name in that it should be done with corporate funds! Where I work (large multinational) we're big on CSR, but we're never expected to donate - they do facilitate charitable giving (matched fundraising etc) but they fund all the CSR stuff themselves.

This happens at my work too:( dress down every Friday with a bucket coming round . They come round multiple times in the shift in case they have missed anyone and ask the manager who sits there if there is an empty seat. I hate it

Forgot to say the latest is pressurising is to donate money from our salary each month it's even printed on the payslip

And yeah all in the company newsletter with pic of CEO but it's all our pounds and pennies ( that gets deducted from pay)?

Tell them that you donate directly to your chosen charities, and explain that you Gift Aid it so that the charity gets even more benefit from your donation.

YANBU It boils my piss! One of my employers is a multi-billion dollar uber-conglomerate and it’s constantly us mere mortals being asked to dip into our pockets each and every week whilst our CEO is off somewhere delightful for the weekend in his Learjet.

The final straw for me, was during some bullshit corporate overnight that I was forced to go to. I was asked to donate money to charity in exchange for materials for our table to be able to complete a mandated task. I’d much rather they had donated the £500 on hotel room, travel expenses, food etc it had cost for me to go to said overnight with enforced evening frivolity only suitable for the able bodied of the group, and had us bloody Skype in to a meeting!

Could you say you're out of change because you put it in whatever collection tin on your way in this morning? Do you need to take your purse to work? Can you ask if they take apple pay (or the like) until she gets the hint that you don't carry cash? Could you keep smaller change in your desk? Can you say no thank you I've chosen a different charity this month? Or just go to HR, it isn't very dignified. I always give to charities, but that is relentless!

I used to work for a small children's charity locally so learnt all about the tax breaks that companies get for charitable donations. It's worth kazillions, both literally and in terms of the 'feel-good' factor and the image of corporate humility.

I decided a long time ago to donate to a charity by standing order, ticking the box for my tax to go to the charity. This means that regardless of how small the amount is, it enables the charity to plan as it can calculate the income. This is pretty much second only to a deed of covenant (which I think - don't hold me to this - has different tax benefits).

All this is to say that this means I've done my homework in terms of the most efficient way to support my chosen charity, and I don't need to do the flag days/dress-down/walk in the park - unless I really want to. Suggest you investigate this yourself, decide how - if at all - you want to support a charity (and it's not obligatory!), and then harden your heart. It takes a while to get the message across and you have to put up with a few people calling you 'Scrooge', but once you've explained the above a few times they leave you alone as you can see their eyes glazing over as they hear the realities of charitable donations as opposed to the 'corporate beggars'. And that's a phrase I think is really rather wonderful!

Yanbu. Our company was fairly recently acquired by an American Corporate. They startes dress down Friday and wanted a contribution - but shorts/flipflops/ripped jeans are all ok any day of the week. So it was like another tax for no reason. Several of us started saying no - this has.meant more people also said no and now its mentioned they may stop it. I have said I dongive to charity anyway - and wish tonchoose what I support with gift aid. Perhaps a few people agree to say no?

You’re being perfectly reasonable. At a place I worked 20 years ago (my son was young at the time and my wife wasn’t working so not much money about) I worked out that with all the gifts for people’s birthdays, wedding anniversaries etc, charity collections and little Johnnies sponsored walk working there was costing me £500 a year, so I sent an email round saying I would only sponsor immediate relatives and only if it was a charity I support, not one that allows a celebrity to have a tax free office in central London.

YANBU I hate forced charity, isn't the point that you choose the charity that is close to your heart? And stuff like this is just random giving to avoid being the person who hasn't participated?

I work for one of these, they like to make such a big show of how charitable they are and how much they give to the community blah blah blah.

When I dared to suggest in a training brainwashing meeting that they are in business to make money so the people at the top can get their bonuses the woman from head office lost her shit! Apparently we’re here to make money to donate to charidee.

They might give raise loads of money for causes but they treat their staff fairly poorly and they definitely put appearing to be good ahead of actually doing good.

Yanbu. Years ago I worked for a company that were really into this shit. The last meeting I attended after handing in my notice happened to be discussing which charities. I nominated their own lowest paid employees.

Don't think they appreciated me expanding on how noble it would be to ensure they all received a living wage and didn't need to rely on benefit top ups to make ends meet.

That's what pisses me off most, the majority doing corporate charity posturing employ some of their staff on such shit wages they'll be at the level to need charity themselves. But I suppose 'all our employees can make ends meet' isn't as media worthy as a photo of some smug twat giving a cheque to an already wealthy national charity.

Urgh this sounds dreadful. I'd be willing to bet that you are not the only one who is fed up with all of this nonsense but everyone feels too awkward to be the first one to mention it. Could you bear to be the one to bring it up to HR/your manager/whoever? I bet everyone would be so glad it stops. It's all so bloody false isn't it. Helen rattling her bucket pretending to give a shit about the Spam Appreciation Soctiety of North Norflk getting funding for a new garden bench.
Charity is a personal thing and how much or if at all one chooses to give is nobody else's business. It should also be done graciously. Companies like yours making charity giving so corporate I find so distasteful.

@TrainspottingWelsh, good on you! That made me smile

My husband works for a massive company with loads of branches across the country and turn over millions of pounds a year. They are encouraging employees to raise/donate money for their chosen charity and it's been made into a competition between branches. The target is 1 million pounds. The company itself are donating zero of that figure.

Gross

Looks fairly unanimous on the voting YADNBU

Why don't you suggest that instead of constantly bucket shaking at their staff they allow you to take one day a year off work to volunteer for a charity of your choice.

Great for CSR and employee engagement.

Howlovely not as much as it made me smile at the time. Mr never stuck for words glib fucker developing a sudden stammer as he tried to formulate an argument against it left me sniggering for weeks.

My employer does regular fundraising coffee mornings which vary from 1-3 pounds to attend.... in our own staff room where we drink the coffee (I bring my own) that is provided by school 🤮🤮🤮 and a slices of one of the donated cakes.... Every time I’m asked if I can donate a cake (I love baking big buttercream things) which cost me about £30 to make! And then I have to pay for a ticket to eat my own bloody cake! Really pisses me off!