To think hamper is better gift than voucher for staff

[Christmasmorale]

Ok given everything going on this year I want to boost staff morale with a nice Christmas gift. Our budget isn’t large enough to give a meaningful bonus. We have about £200 spend for each staff member.

I like the idea of an F&M hamper - with staff either choosing the Wine or Christmas food hamper. My business partner thinks it’s a waste of money and that staff would appreciate a £200 department store or Amazon voucher instead to spend as they please.

Personally, I used to get an F&M hamper every Christmas from an old work place and I still have the hamper boxes in use to this day as blanket storage etc. Even though I would also get a £1000 Christmas bonus from that workplace it’s the hamper that I remember fondly and associate positively with the organisation.

So:

YANBU: hampers are a more personal touch
YABU: just give them the money, no one wants F&M fruit cakes

I think most people would prefer to recieve the voucher or money.

Hampers are ok if you make a personal one for a friend. However a generic one is a waste of money, and many people will only use a handful of the items included.

Voucher all the way, let staff choose for themselves!

Personally I’d rather the hamper - really who gets F&M often enough for it to be anything other than a huge treat?

It’s Christmas and has been a rubbish year - F&M all the way!

Think cash would be better appreciated.
£200 is a lot of money!

Definitely voucher

I'd imagine that most people would prefer the money. It's far more useful. Is it possible to give them cash or does it have to be a voucher for tax purposes.

what about both? smaller hamper and a voucher?

Voucher. My experience of hampers inc. F&M is that yes the baskets are nice but there's always random things that we would never eat in them.

I would shy away from vouchers at the moment - they’re worthless if companies go bust which is a real risk in the current climate. Amazon are probably safe from that but lots of people object to them not paying enough tax in the UK.

Cash or hampers are safer.

I'd prefer a voucher... The staff can use it to buy what they want, rather then bring stuck with food stuffs they might not like (I'm a fussy eater and I don't drink so a F&M hamper would be totally wasted on me).

Voucher for sure

100% the voucher - you have no idea what financial struggles staff may be going through and a voucher could help to lessen the burden.

Also, give earlier if possible so they can use it for actual Christmas if need be.

I would offer a choice of hamper or vouchers. I would love a F&M hamper - we got one from my work for a wedding present and it felt like a massive treat. But not everyone would see it that way and some would prefer vouchers. You can’t please everyone with just one option.

£200 bonus will always be better than a hamper. If they want one they can buy one with the bonus

I would much rather receive a voucher than a hamper, I agree that the wicker baskets are useful and look nice but the contents never suit everyones taste. I have family members who don't like dried fruit so that rules out Christmas cake, pudding, mince pies, stollen - of course they could give it to someone else, but then they are giving away a large part of their gift. A generous voucher for a department store with lots of choices like John Lewis would be a great gift.

Voucher as I can’t eat dairy or eggs. The last time I got a beautiful hamper, most of it was wasted.

I'd much prefer a £200 voucher. We were given a hamper in a previous role. It was a nice gesture, but so much of it was food I don't like, I ended up giving it away.

Definitely voucher. I've just had a quick look at the hamper and I'm sure it's lovely if you like that sort of thing but I wouldn't use half the stuff in them.

My DH used to get a large M & S voucher from a company he worked for. That was very much appreciated and we used it to but nice treats in the food hall over the course of a few months, was excellent.

YABU.

Voucher voucher voucher!

My boss gave us all a waitrose voucher and it meant I could choose some lovely bits I wanted but wouldn't normally have.
A hamper always has jams and chutneys that I would never use.
It seems a waste.

No! give them a voucher so they spend it on what they like.

And btw £200 is a meaningful amount to most of us - you can get something nice with that!

Personally I’d rather the hamper - really who gets F&M often enough for it to be anything other than a huge treat?

See that’s how I see it- kind of like spa days - I would never spend money on those things myself but when someone gifts it to me it’s a massive luxury I wouldn’t otherwise treat myself to

F&M is that yes the baskets are nice but there's always random things that we would never eat in them.

Hmm very true - I always chose the wine hamper in the end as I only enjoyed maybe 50% of the items in the food hamper - gifted the rest to neighbours.

100% the voucher - you have no idea what financial struggles staff may be going through and a voucher could help to lessen the burden.

That’s a good point - although we pay our staff well and luckily haven’t been too affected by COVID so I don’t think any of money troubles would be job related.

I don't drink wine and I'd rather choose my own food, thanks.

@gertrudemortimer

£200 bonus will always be better than a hamper. If they want one they can buy one with the bonus

Tax would come out of bonus though so wouldn’t go as far. If was larger about (I.e £1000) would seem worthwhile but for £200 hopefully a voucher would go further?