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

We also now have a collection of very nice but largely useless wicker baskets which just gather dust in the garage

I use mine for storage but you do know they’re very popular on eBay? Don’t let them gather dust when they could be used.

Beware! The hamper is still taxable. There’s a trivial benefit exemption for gifts up to £50 but anything more is taxed, either on employees or on your paye settlement agreement.

Voucher or cash every time. That could easily pay for someone's Christmas so make sure that you give them early enough just in case.

personally i hate hampers because im vegan and i dont drink alcohol and i dont eat sweets or chocolates or read books so every hamper i can reallly think of is out :D

I would like to know, has anyone ever received £200 from work and decided to go and buy an F&M hamper with it? And I mean for themselves, not a in a, “shit, what shall I get my parents?” way... I bet the number on here would be single figures!

I think voucher for Marks & Spencer or Waitrose/John Lewis. It would be really useful to buy nice Christmas food and drinks with.

Looking at what you can get in the hampers is already making me want to swop stuff out to be honest!

I am amazed at people suggesting a hamper shows thought, it shows zero thought (personally constructed ones of items you know the individual enjoys are different, but this is a company gift) it just says "we're happy to waste money"

How many staff are you buying for? Any chance of vouchers for local independent retailers that you know they like? That's who needs the most support right now?

Clearly this only works if you have a small staff, and know what they like. It would be easy for my boss, as there are only 10 of us, and she knows us well enough to know where we'd choose to spend money for a treat (either shop or restaurant), but hopeless for OH who works in a team of hundreds!

But voucher over hamper for me in any case - I think hampers are style over substance.

We have decided to go with vouchers. Having looked at hampers and the challenges of a one size fits all approach catering well for people who dont drink and others who may have dietary restrictions, we have decided this isnt a route we want to go down.

I think vouchers too. Having read pp's comment though, how about vouchers for 150/175 ish and with the rest make up you own hamper (or probably gift bag, as it would only be small). It would be more work, but if you're looking for a thoughtful gift, I'm sure you could buy a few bits and pieces from local businesses. Maybe local biscuits, chocolate, wine - whatever's in your area. Also, you might have an idea of which of your staff drink, have food allergies etc, so you could make it more personal.

I think this year particularly, people are keen to shun Amazon and support local businesses.

Whatever gift you give (unless under £50) will be subject to tax, so you may as well just give cash.

Alternatively you’ll need to gross up the value of the gift/voucher and pay the tax on it via payroll. Or I suppose you could put it on the employees’ P11Ds and make it their problem, but I doubt you’ll raise much morale by giving your employees a tax bill on a pile of chutney they never asked for.

@HerFlowersToLove

Actually, the John Lewis £200 hamper is way nicer than the Fortnum and Mason one:

Prosecco
Merlot
Sauvignon Blanc
Luxury Mince pies
Chutney
Christmas Jam
Continental Christmas Wreaths
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow
Christmas Chocolate Cracker
Chocolate Box
Brandy, Port & Walnut Round
Christmas Pudding
Tea
Sweet Chilli Mixed Nuts
Jewel Topped Sharing Slab
Chocolate Chilli Shards
Tomatillo Salsa Tortillas
Dark Chocolate Popcorn Bites
Mini Panettone, 100g
Gouda & Chilli Biscuits
Lollipop
Milk Chocolate Bar
Crackers x12

I'd like to receive that. The Fortnum one is so old fashioned it should have a tin of ham in it

Oh wow that does look better - need to expand my horizons.

Although I’m leaning towards a voucher now given the responses. And I’m very conscious of waste too so the idea that half of these hampers and even the baskets will go unused is making me think twice about it all.

I was coming on to say don't give your staff a hamster

Voucher or cash.

Cash may seem a bit crass any other year and doesn’t have the physical bulky presence of a hamper but this year due to Covid, excessive death, lockdown and unemployment, I think money would be much more appreciated than any luxurious food gift that the recipient may or may not like.

Definitely a voucher! My gran gets a hamper every year from work and ends up giving most of it away so it’s not really a treat for her.
Where I used to work used to give vouchers and it was brilliant using it in the January sales. If you give the option of a voucher they can buy a hamper with it if they want one.

The JL hamper just means there'd be more stuff for me to throw away!

@FudgeSundae

Beware! The hamper is still taxable. There’s a trivial benefit exemption for gifts up to £50 but anything more is taxed, either on employees or on your paye settlement agreement.

Oh really? What about vouchers? Need to speak to the accountant. Normally we just host an open bar Christmas dinner and drinks and give everyone the next day off.

But not organising any party this year so looking at other options including everyone having Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day off.

But we didn’t realise any type of gift over £50 is taxable. Is that only if the taxman finds out? only joking not really

As others have said, I wouldn't want a hamper. A generic hamper doesn't have a personal touch anyway if that's what you're after.
Gifts over a certain amount can be subject to tax anyway so you'd be better checking that.
You could send out a list of different gift options and let people choose?

Money or JL or M&S voucher (but preferably money), and maybe something like a panetonne or a box of chocs or bunch of flowers. And a personal, meaningful handwritten card.

No way would I want £200-worth of overpriced hamper for the sake of it. And not everyone drinks alcohol.

So much extra unnecessary packaging in these 'hampers' as well.

I used to get a hamper in my old job. Food I didn’t eat and champagne I didn’t like. I gave most of it away and chucked the hampers as they cluttered the house. I’d rather have cash or John Lewis vouchers.

I would probably gift most of the hamper away (vegan and fussy kids)... A posh shop voucher would feel like more of a treat...

My work gave a choice - hamper or voucher and staff had to reply and then those who wanted hampers were ordered. Rest got a JL voucher. Think only about 10% chose hamper but you could maybe ask staff.

Personally money would be the only thing I'd be interested in receiving from my employer (in lieu of a party which obviously can't happen this year)

The hamper would be a waste of time in our place

No one drinks wine and “posh” food doesn’t really get eaten

The voucher would be heavily appreciated though

We juat had this dilemma. Hampers are quite generic and in my opinion a waste unless you use it for a large party, gift things on or eat very traditional. They look beautiful but are just not what I would want.

We compromised by offering the choice of champagne, wine or craft beer gift set plus a larger than normal M&S voucher.

I know of some colleagues whose spouse had lost jobs or reduced earnings and some extra money is more welcome than fancy food.