To want to pay less at work Christmas drinks?

[Rainallnight]

Agh, I just wrote a long post and it got lost!

the short version is - it’s my work’s tradition that SMT members split the bill for drinks at our Christmas lunch. I am the least well paid member of SMT by some distance and have begun to feel this is unfair.

I’d rather we make a contribution that’s proportionate to our salaries.

AIBU?

I'm aghast having worked for the NHS for many years (as a nurse) and yeah - you buy your own drinks and pay for the Christmas meal.

Obvs was in the wrong job for free stuff....

Why are you paid so much less?

Do staff pay for their own meals and SMT pay for the drinks? I work for a charity and I've never known anywhere that drinks are paid for. Usually you might get food paid for but never drinks as costs can spiral. I think as a charity they also don't want to be encouraging high levels of drinking Where I work we've had food paid for by the CEO but it's been a set menu at a cheap curry house or one year a cheap buffet

I meant I don't think it's reasonable the OP pays for other staff drinks @leafybrew not that she doesn't pay for her own.

I find this whole SMT pay difficult. I am one of the more senior in my team, and I have several teams
so I am attending more than one event. I will buy some drinks but i’m a single income household, 3 children (one at uni, only one living at home now) and living in the South East. I am saving for a house deposit as I am moving to the north in 18 months and my rent is very high. Many people in my team have a lot higher household income, many benefitting from cheap house prices many years ago, mortgages paid off etc. Granted I don’t have to go, but I do want to celebrate the season with my team and I will pay for a round of drinks but staff need to remember a higher salary than then doesn’t mean more disposable income.

If there are a few senior managers and some earn a lot more than others maybe fair for them to pay more. But no-one seems to consider all of this so they won’t offer no doubt

I work for a government dept and we don’t get anything. It’s just the way it is. I mean we barely have enough money to operate our business let alone spend millions on christmas meals. Tax payers wouldn’t be happy if they were funding this, and I don’t blame them. It’s just something you accept when you’re a public servant.

Missing the point entirely. It's a goodwill gesture from management to staff and has nothing to do with whether the individual members of the SMT drink.

I don't think this is necessary when you are working for a charity I would have a conversation about how this works going forward. I wouldn't be keen on this.

Is this your first year on the SMT? If not, how much did you contribute in previous years?

50k isn't a huge salary to be splashing on drinks.

How much would this typically cost?

I get the gesture but surely it would be fairer if the person at the top of the tree and on the highest salary just bought a round of drinks.

I think the most important word here is ‘lunch’. No one will be hitting the shots hard at lunch. Even if everyone had a fancy cocktail and a glass of wine (£15 + £10) the bar bill would be less than £400. Divided between at least 3 members of management? About £125?!

Personally, I’d suck it up. It’s tradition, a nice festive gesture and - I assume - you’ve benefited from the system in the past?

Alternatively, could you suggest SMT get the first round in? Any further drinks are paid for by the employee. Most people would only have one drink with lunch anyway, surely? And it’s still a nice gesture.

The only solution to this is to discuss it with your SMT and hope they see your
Point of view.

Civil Servant here. Our SMT salaries are 45-63. One on the higher amount and 4 on the lower. In London. Team of 100.
The SMT traditionally give £20 each to the staff Christmas do. It’s a bring a plate self funded buffet and our contribution pays for soft drinks and a Costco haul to bulk it out.
I am dithering about asking for the contribution this year as there have been so many collections for leavers and funerals. We are not high earners!

I would be refusing to pay. SMT doesn’t mean you’re fat cats.

(Anyone fuming about Civil Servants having a Christmas do during work time please note we do carry on working and answering the phones. We just take an hour off 🥳)

In my experience there is usually a sizeable element of people who go mad at any event where they see a “free bar”, ordering shots, cocktails, multiple drinks at same time, which is fair enough if that’s what they would drink if they were paying themselves but don’t take advantage of a “free bar”. It is never actually a free bar as someone will be paying. My work used to do free drinks at Christmas do and some people took the piss, then it was cut to free drinks before the meal and wine at table, some people still took the piss one year someone had ten vodka and red bulls before the meal. Now they tend to do a voucher system where you get two vouchers to get whatever drinks you want then pay for your own. My friends wedding she kindly put £1000 behind the bar and a few piss takers were up straight away ordering shots and rounds of multiple drinks each so they could save them for later when the free bar had finished. The sensible non piss taking people got one drink before the money was all gone.

Charities are allowed to pay going rates for roles to attract good staff.

If you were applying (for let's say) office Manager Role and Charity A were paying £20,500 and Company B right next door were paying £38,500. Which role would you apply for?

I think if it will "only" cost you about £100 or less I would just suck it up though I can see it is unfair on the least well paid manager.

Any more than that I would have a word with the other managers next time you are all together, maybe phrase it that Christmas is an expensive time for you, you're not on a huge salary yourself and you will struggle to pay for the team drinks this year.

If they are nice they will suggest alternatives and you yourself could suggest an amount you are happy to put into the kitty which you deem fair.

Maybe managers should pool and buy one drink for each person not fund all their drinks for all night. I’ve never worked anywhere where anything is paid for!

As for the comments about salaries, £50,000 for a senior leadership role isn’t a lot. In mumsnet when everyone seems to be on 6 figures and apparently ‘struggling’. Charities still need to function as a business and i bet op could earn a lot more in a similar room in the private sector.

It’s a totally ridiculous notion in the first place.
No matter what you earn, your outgoings could be massive compared to the next SMT person having to foot the drinks bill.
You need to speak up OP, instead of going along with pretending you can afford to be so generous.

You're not mentioning how many SMT there are or what a typical bill is. I think if you're buying for volunteers and/or minimum wage workers then it's just more straightforward to all split the bill. Yes some SMT are paid more but that's life.

I think you’ll find that the NHS gets more “ free stuff” than the charity sector. Generous pension, sick pay, blue light card , many other discounts offered by retail and other businesses.
Most people working in Charity sector get a basic contributory pension , statutory sick pay etc The staff, and their volunteers don’t get offered any of the freebies that organisations like NHS, emergency services or military do
The party isn’t “free” either , the management team are paying out of their own pocket
These are the senior managers of ( I suspect) a large national charity - very few local charity staff or management get paid this amount
I’d imagine that management staff in NHS get paid much more

Having worked in a few charities, the most expensive staff member I've ever come across was an unpaid director. In quite a short tenure, due to fuck ups with funding applications and driving staff out, he cost well more than just paying the going rate for someone vaguely competent.

The OP isn’t really on enough to be fronting up drinks but hopefully in a small organisation people would be less likely to take the piss and abuse it and if it’s lunch will probably be a mix of wine and soft drinks rather than spirits.

Some of this comes down to people expecting public sector and charity workers to have a shit experience at work. I think many places would have happier staff if they provided tea and coffee and fronted £30 a head for a Christmas party. Charities can do that- it’s just many don’t for fear of backlash.

This. If you're looking for freebies, moving from the NHS to the voluntary sector is not likely to benefit you!

Mine called it team building and put it through on expenses.... I used to think they were so generous ...

This is difficult, because first of all it gets complex in all the calculations, and secondly everyone has to say their salary and I very much doubt unless it’s published they will wish to do this.

in addition some folks maybe happy to contribute more than what would be their percentage, as you don’t know their outgoings etc, someone on 50k can have a lot more disposable income than someone on 100, who maybe paying a large mortgage, or to support parents or a child with additional needs, you just don’t know. You can’t make assumptions based on what someone earns. And you can’t ask them to tell you

however you can have a word with your manager and explain you can’t afford it. And see what they say.