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

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-taste-of-christmas-bag/p5059055 PLUS £200 in vouchers would see me happy.

There have been a few threads like this recently.

Consensus was definitely cash or a voucher for a supermarket or or marks and spencer.

As you’ve said money could be tight this year so being able to purchase a new lovely treats for family would likely be more welcome than an overpriced tin on F&M tea etc.

Hampers are lovely but there's going to be stuff not used - we don't eat jam or marmalade so the local foodbank got a bunch of Fortnum and Mason preserves from us last year after DH got a couple of hampers.

Vouchers are a safer bet. But not Amazon - lots of people try not to spend on Amazon. John Lewis or M&S would be good.

I'd prefer a hamper, personally. Sure, they contain things I don't usually buy, but isn't that the point? I'd love trying them out.

It would be a nice touch to let them choose to receive cash, though. Wouldn't go with vouchers: although Amazon are extremely unlikely to go bust, there are a lot of people who prefer to avoid them.

I would give them the choice
F& M Hamper or voucher from a shop/Amazon , maybe 3 options?

I’ve never had a hamper, this thread has made me want one.

I’d do a 50/50- £100 cash and a modest hamper for the rest.
Something like this one

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-spirit-of-christmas-hamper/p5059041

A voucher - one for M&S, John Lewis (if you live near one) or a supermarket. I'd hate an Amazon one as try to avoid them as much as possible. Agree with PP about a decent compromise could be £175 voucher and then a nice gift bag of biscuits, wine etc so you're still giving a gift if that's important to you.

The only good gifts I have ever been given by an employer were cash or vouchers. I hate generic hampers, half the the things are just plain unpleasant (and I'm an adventurous eater!). A personal one from someone who knows you well can be nice, but this won't be that sort of hamper...

But then, I also hate spa days as gifts (no! Not pure luxury. A waste of my day and someone elses money), so I think we have very different views on what makes a good gift!

Honestly I think a hamper when it could be that much money in vouchers is utterly tone-deaf for this year.

Some people will really be struggling to afford Christmas and £200 of vouchers could make such a massive difference. They'd love you forever!

You clearly want to get a gift so do so. But make it a token one. Chocs, £20 value max. That would also make a nice gift if they didn't want it. Then the rest in vouchers.

I would be so gutted at having that much money spunked on a flipping hamper I'd really resent the whole thing. It's so utterly wasteful and is the kind of present that's all about the giver.

The empty hampers are very expensive to buy - I’ve just bought one for shoes so I would love a hamper !

In terms of tax, would there not be a liability on the hamper too ? It’s surely a benefit in kind? In our organisation, for something like that, the tax would be paid on our behalf by the company, but it would be still payable. So I don’t think tax should be a deciding factor- you would probably have to ensure you paid the tax as your staff wouldn’t want to pay tax on an item they never asked for!

I'd plan well in advance and give them all a choice. Off a choice of hampers, and then a choice of vouchers, and ask what they would like. Might as well make sure everyone's going to be happy with what they receive.

If it was me, I'd get the hamper and then give it to my in laws as a gift ha ha.

I wouldn't mind £10-20 being spent on a hamper but for £200 I'd rather have it in voucher form.

I hate vouchers/gift cards as you're tied to that shop, I've got a few cards that have gone out of date because there are at places I never shop at. Some you can get reactivated some you can't, I don't use Amazon ever.

Hampers are full of stuff that no one would ever eat we would probably struggle to give the stuff away to friends and family, going by the list posted up thread.

I would much rather have the cash or if it had to be vouchers then from a store of my choosing please.

Cash definitely

A choice of vouchers.

An overpriced hamper is crass at the best of times.

@QueenOfLabradors

I'd be very annoyed with an Amazon voucher, as a dedicated Amazon boycotter. John Lewis or M&S voucher would be appreciated and used.

This absolutely!

I'ld prefer a voucher then you can get what you want, we used to get choice of £100 JL voucher or hamper and hardly anyone chose the hamper. The JL voucher just spent at Waitrose but very much appreciated. Husband gets a hamper and its nice but a lot we don't use or use but don't enjoy that much but some lovely things. I think money may be tighter this year for some families so a voucher may be more appreciated than usual. I'm not keen on Amazon as delivery is terrible. I would go with John Lewis or a supermarket or a voucher you can use at lots of shops.

I'd love the hamper myself, but think overall vote would be for voucher.

I'd prefer the hamper. I remember my dad getting a hamper at Christmas from supplier and it was great, even though some of the contents were bizarre ( a pheasant in a tin, for example) and the tin of fois gras pate with quails eggs sat in the larder for years as a sort of standing joke. A company I worked with used to give a collection of christmas stuff which was usually lovely except for the time I had left for Christmas early and a fresh pineapple sat on my desk in a very warn office for two weeks, not nice to return to. Money is nice but not much fun and not memorable.

We get a F and M hamper from DHs work each Christmas. It's quite nice but some of the stuff in it we would never use ( posh odd flavoured tea bags/ jam and panettone ) We also now have a collection of very nice but largely useless wicker baskets which just gather dust in the garage.

Its quite a treat and exciting to open but think I would prefer a voucher to be honest...

Vouchers all the way for me.
We wouldn't eat/drink most of the contents, because of dietary restrictions, and we'd throw the hamper as they just take up a load of space (like the wicker picnic basket that I threw out last week!)
Neither do I want champagne, as I prefer to choose my favourite types of alcohol.
And what's so 'personal' about a generic hamper, identical to everyone else, which you've ordered online with your only effort being to change the number required from 1 to 9?
Your partner's right.

I'd prefer a hamper, personally. Sure, they contain things I don't usually buy, but isn't that the point? I'd love trying them out.

Tanith No, it’d be totally wasteful. I wouldn’t enjoy “trying them out” and they’d all end up in the bin. I don’t buy them because I don’t want them.

a nice bottle of something, some luxury mince pies, some florentines, potted stilton, some posh hand cream etc

There's the problem with hampers. For me, every single one of those items mentioned would end up in the bin.

The JL one I would be interested in only 4 of those items.

It probably depends on how well you know your staff. I think I'd offer them the choice.

Having read all the responses I think offering the choice is probably the way to go - hamper or equivalent in John Lewis vouchers (or other stores as appropriate).