To ask if your manager acknowledges your birthday with a gift?

[Merryoldgoat]

Where I currently work we don’t do birthday collections etc (which I am grateful for).

Would you generally expect to give a present to your direct report? Or receive one from your manager? If so, what kind of value would a gift like that be?

I’m newish to this dynamic and don’t want to embarrass or offend anyone or do something stupid.

In my old team, I organised the birthday collections for the team including our manager, and I usually bought the present.

In my new team, because we're WFH, there's been no birthday collections and I won't volunteer for this in the future as it's quite a bit of effort and time. I don't think my manager has our birthdays written down. She has said Happy Birthday to a few people in the last year so I think if she notices on our records or something it's one of our birthays, she would acknowledge it.

In the office, I would definitely take some cakes/chocolates on my birthday but wouldn't expect anything in return and don't think I would receive anything.

Thankfully not!! I’m in a managerial/ leadership role, and whilst I genuinely like the members of my team, they aren’t my friends, they’re colleagues. If they were getting married, having a child or bereaved I would buy a small gift or a card, but anything else feels like overstepping.

We do a team collection, everyone gives a fiver so there's about £60. Not individual presents though, that would be a bit odd mostly.

Birthday person gets a cake and decorated desk (in normal office times), a card signed by everyone and gifts or vouchers. When in the office we usually all club together and get in a breakfast or lunch buffet too (birthday person also pays), it's a good excuse really!

We've continued card and vouchers through lockdown.

I just meant she has more on her plate to be concerned about than remembering her whole team's birthday and no it wouldn't matter what she earned I suppose. She's a great manager and lovely person but no I don't expect her to remember my birthday

Normally not. The person might not want it to be publicised.

If the person brings in cakes, or the office clubs together for a card or something which is openly displayed, offer best wishes.

It is very bad form for a manager to gorge handfuls of cake, especially if they did not contribute.

If you say "happy birthday" to some people, or give them a crate of champagne or something, you have to do it for all.