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'd bite my bosses hand off if they gave me £200 at Christmas. My wage is unaffected by covid but DH has lost his job altogether.

@DarlingCoffee

Maybe give them the choice and ask them each to choose whether they would like the hamper or vouchers. Personally I would be delighted with either, and think it’s a very generous gift on your part. We were given John Lewis vouchers one year which I found very helpful as they can also be used in Waitrose.

Who's got the time to make a list of everybody's choices? Too complicated.

It won’t take too much effort to capture preferences of 9 people.

My company offered a choice of 8 hampers as a summer gift. E.g. wine only, craft beer and nibbles, afternoon tea with or without alcohol or an equivalent donation to charity. I expect most people would have found an option that suited. Most of my hamper is finished.

The Love2Shop vouchers from 2 years ago are still in a drawer (and I had to check they haven’t expired! I have another year on them).

Who's got the time to make a list of everybody's choices? Too complicated.

It’s 9 staff members. It takes one group email. Sorted in seconds. I’ve even been sent surveys about this sort of thing that are easy as anything to respond to and see responses of. It’s really not difficult or time consuming.

@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

Voucher all the way. F&M hampers aren’t even all that special when you spend less than £500.

@Brunt0n

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

• £100 voucher

I’d be over the moon with that!

£100 for a bottle of red, Christmas pudding, tea, biscuits, chocolates and jam?!

If you were wanting to give a hamper I'd much prefer an Aldi one and the difference in John Lewis/Waitrose vouchers!

I read the title of this thread as 'hamster' and enjoyed imagining the look when hamsters were given out instead

I would worry about giving a voucher in case some companies go bust. A hamper is a lovely idea.

Sorry to be a kill joy but check HMRC there are different rules and a limit what can be gifted

Might be able to get round it but fishing out 'party' budget hut it's something I always get told to check as I suggested this

@TaraR2020

I read the title of this thread as 'hamster' and enjoyed imagining the look when hamsters were given out instead

OP, you should definitely do this, I dare you

It'd certainly be memorable!

www.bookblock.com

This website seems like a good idea, you pick a fancy box and pick some fancy bits to go into it. I’ve not tried it yet. Maybe spend £50-£75 on something like this and the rest in vouchers?b

Very nice of you to do this. I think a voucher but one of those ones that you can spend basically anywhere

If anyone is on a very low or part time income bear in mind that a cash bonus or benefit in kind may affect their universal credits. By the time they pay tax on it personally it doesn’t come out as worth it. If you’re going to pay the tax via a PAYE settlement agreement then that would be better for the voucher option.

I would 100% prefer a hamper.

It's a Christmas present, I'd go for the John Lewis hamper someone posted rather than a taxable voucher/bonus.

1000% the hamper

Do you have ALLGO in the UK? It's a prepaid Mastercard that businesses use to give bonuses to staff. Can be used in any shop and online so basically like cash but you don't have to withdraw all that cash from the bank. I use mine to buy my Christmas presents. Makes January a lot easier.

@Cocomarine

The point of a gift is for the giver to choose something nice that they think will treat the recipient to something they wouldn't otherwise have had. A treat. It's not money to pay the gas bill like someone further down thread has implied, nor is it money to prop up the family income.

It's not the responsibility of an employer offering a Christmas gift to worry about the (potential) job loss of their employees partners! Gift giving doesn't come with responsibilities attached!

They are offering a very nice, very generous Christmas gift in the form of a hamper. It's a lovely thing to do. I'd be very grateful, regardless of financial circumstances, if my employer unexpectedly treated me in this way.

Having the gas bill paid would be quite a comfort to some people. Who wants to sit in the cold and dark trying to find something they like in a hamper?

It's a Christmas present, I'd go for the John Lewis hamper someone posted rather than a taxable voucher/bonus. The hamper is also taxable, the only difference is if you had a bonus you'd have money to pay the tax, some people might despair at being given a hamper they don't want and a bill for £40 they don't have.

Mouse house cheese have lovely hampers. I've just got ds1 one. They're on Facebook too. I got it off mner recommendation.

I would much much much rather prefer to receive a voucher - then I would have the choice to spend it on luxuries if that's what I wanted or necessities if that's what I needed. Hampers are cute but over-priced for the content.

@Christmasmorale if I remember correctly if you use a John Lewis voucher for say £100 and only spend £5 they give you the rest back in cash, so it’s the best of both worlds, you can either spend it all in John Lewis or Waitrose or buy a token item and get the cash to do whatever you like with

Yup, voucher.

I remember one year, our MD walking round the office before Xmas rattling a massive carrier bag full of miniatures, bringing them desk to desk for us each to pick one. That was hilarious! (We got a proper gift too). He's very good at things like that - we have an annual state of the company meeting with funny quizzes where you can win chocs/booze. Love my job ❤️