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

Hampers are always around 60% stuff you'd never touch with a bargepole.

A £200 voucher would blow me away.

I'd want a voucher!

John Lewis/waitrose voucher would be my choice. I wouldn't want an expensive hamper at all!

Voucher for sure. I think hampers are lovely in theory but always random bits that don't get used. Meanwhile being given money to spend on yourself as a treat is a lovely luxury

My dhs company give an all4one voucher to their staff. It can be spent in many shops (when open) or online like Amazon.

I’d agree with a £150 JL or M&S voucher, and a small mini hamper. Don’t do amazon,Jeff has made a killing this year already!

I think it really depends on the position of the recipients.
Although this year has been hard it's not necessarily been financially hard for everyone, some it's just been physical / emotionally difficult. With such a small team I'm guessing you know enough about them to make an informed choice.
I hate getting vouchers as they rarely for anywhere I want anything from and I end up using them for crap stuff like pants for the kids. I'd also be cautious with some vouchers this year as some shops are on rocky footings. I also want to avoid buyers no from unethical companies these days.
I'm really bad at treating myself especially this year as I've not had any time so a bit of a treat would be really nice.
I loved the year we got a nice wooden box of a couple of bottles of wine, and the year we got a tower of panettone from Betty's
I work for myself now so don't get anything

A hamper full of stuff they might not want or use? Get them vouchers. I hate it when people choose presents for me

www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-treat-hamper-5065546

• £100 voucher

I’d be over the moon with that!

A voucher is best, hampers have loads of random bits one will never use, let people pick a treat for themselves something that they want rather than a rabbit pate!

Voucher, but I boycott amazon so I'd hate it, maybe to a British store?

I would be chuffed with 200 pounds to spend. A hamper etc is OK but I woukd rather but something I wanted or even just pay the bills.

In the nicest possible way, I think you're a bit out of touch with the real world.

£200 would make a real difference to my Christmas budget. You seem to be having trouble imagining that £200 would be well received but I promise you it would!

The voucher is better for sure, less waste, but as a PP says you will have to pick up the tax on it by grossing up your employees' salary that month. If you've got an accountant they'll be able to do it really easily, if not then PM me and I can give you some calcs that'll help (although it depends on each individual's tax code/band).

I vote to give them the option of a hamper, cash or voucher for a store of their choice (with the tax taken care of and the value of the gift reduced accordingly). If you offer a choice, do come back and tell us what people opted for!

I hate hampers. Such an expensive waste and I feel guilty for not being grateful. I especially hate christmas hampers because I dont like christmas food.

I'd choose the cash.

@HerFlowersToLove

I've just looked at the £200 hamper:

Champagne
Coffee
A tin of biscuits
Red wine
Tea
Long life salad dressing
Picalilli
Pickle
Crackers
Long life mayonnaise
Jam
Honey
Marmalade
Mints
Another tin of biscuits

I'd definitely rather have the money than that selection, so dull.

£200 for that

Voucher all the way. I don't drink champagne or wine so this would seem like a huge waste of money for me. But could make a £200 voucher go far.

Looking at the list upthread

Champagne. Nice
Coffee.. nope, we have a pod machine
A tin of biscuits. Ok
Red wine. Nope, migraines
Tea. Nope, have brand preferences
Long life salad dressing. Nope, make my own
Picalilli. Nice, but I have brand preferences
Pickle. As with piccalilli
Crackers. Nope.
Long life mayonnaise. Prefer salad cream. Will sit indefinitely in th fridge
Jam. Depends on flavour.
Honey. Ok
Marmalade. Nope. No one likes it and we have 3 jars already
Mints. Ok
Another tin of biscuits. Ok

So meh just loads of hassle getting it home/ delivered and then stuff to store or give away. But a £200 voucher before Christmas would buy everything we need.

I'd prefer the hamper. Something a bit luxurious that is never buy for myself.

Can imagine that I'd be in the minority there though!!

I'd much rather a supermarket/amazon voucher than a hamper.

@Brunt0n

www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-treat-hamper-5065546

• £100 voucher

I’d be over the moon with that!

But it's still ludicrously expensive for what you get. And it might be nice, but it's not going to be off the scale stellar nice. As an illustration the contents of that hamper are compared below with the most expensive version of each item from Waitrose and it still only comes to about £60 of contents. And as this thread illustrates, most people don't want the wicker basket, so it's not really worth the £40 that it ends up costing you.

Malbec £20 tops
Christmas pudding 454g Waitrose no 1 £7
Tea 200 g £10?
Biscuits in a tin 130 g Waitrose Christmas Amaretti £15
Champagne truffles 125 g No 1 Champagne truffles £6
Figgy preserve 200 g Bon Maman fig preserve 370g £2.60.

Most people could happily consider a £10 bottle of wine and another tenner or so on the other bits to be a massive treat so the rest of the £100 is literally bumping up the cost for the sake of it.

But then you say your budget is £200 per staff member but this isn't a meaningful bonus, so it doesn't sound like your operating in the world of the average person.

Surely most people don't get anywhere near £200 and if they did, they'd be very pleased?

I'm such a fussy eater I think I'd end up giving it all away. Voucher all the way!!

In the nicest possible way, I think you're a bit out of touch with the real world.£200 would make a real difference to my Christmas budget. You seem to be having trouble imagining that £200 would be well received but I promise you it would!
Totally agree, if someone's dp has lost their job you're literally saving their Christmas

A “luxury” with long life salad dressing?
Really?!!

I’d prefer a hamper.
If I get money/voucher it disappears into mundane life/family stuff.

If I was short of money then perhaps I’d prefer the voucher. So I guess it depends a bit on how wealthy your staff are??

(Hoping someone buys me a hamper)

A hamper is a little luxury, even if every item doesn’t appeal.
A voucher to someplace like amazon just means I can use that for something practical.