If you manage a team of people (at work)…

[Dozyoldtwonk]

…are you buying them a gift?

I manage 5 people, but we are all part of a wider team reporting into my boss (the Director of the overall department) - day to day, I manage one to one meetings, their performance & the everyday stuff but in terms of team meetings, briefings & so on, my boss oversees and covers off the whole team.

My boss buys everyone in the team a gift at Xmas, usually a nice-ish bottle of red…& presents them at our team Christmas dinner.

So, should I buy for my 'sub team' also? This would mean them effectively getting two gifts…I'm veering towards no, but with a nice card each with a personal message. Keen on mumsnetter views as always

I mange seven people directly.

I will probably just buy seven bottles of wine and let them choose which they want. I spend £8-10 a bottle for us (at home) and will probably just buy my normal sort of wine, hopefully on offer somewhere!

I think they all drink, pretty sure of it.

In your shoes I am not sure I would bother tbh.

I have bought them all luxury advent calendars instead

I think a card with nothing in would be a bit disappointing!! Can you do the personalised card and wine? A lot of goodwill for not much money.

I run a massive organisation, I organise secret santa for 2000 people. (With the help of management of course) so far so good, 2 years running.

Oh I forgot about that! The whole team (my sub team plus me and everyone else) are also doing a £5 secret santa too.

Placemarking. I manage 28 people, but am on a similar wage to them as they get enhancements for nights/ weekends and would struggle to buy for all, but starting to worry I should?

Why not bring in something they can all share like a selection of cakes/box of chocs so a big sharing gift rather than individual ones

I never do. Nor do my bosses for me. There might be some chocolates for the whole unit (about 20 of us) to share but that's all. It has never occurred to me to buy my staff anything.

Have only ever had one gift from a manager at Christmas. It was very kind of him, although he was a terrible manager (very sexist) and I would much prefer to have had a decent manager than someone who was thoughtful at Christmas only.

Some big boxes of sweets for the office would be a nice gesture?

I have a team of 12. I don't buy gifts. We always have lots of biscuits and sweets in the main office and many people are based out and about so I don't do that.

I've paid the drinks at Xmas lunch for the last few years,but not everyone goes and only one or two have an alcoholic drink.

This year I'm going out on secondment so so won't even be there to do that.

I came here this morning to post this exact question!

Following a job change this year, I now manage a team of 17 people and I'm stressing about Christmas gifts. I've always received a bottle of wine or similar token of thanks from bosses in previous jobs but these were always small teams of 4-5 people, and when I used to manage 2 people, I would give them a small gift at Christmas.

Yes, I earn more than most of my team (not a lot more than some of them) but even a fiver each would have a huge financial impact on me and I don’t really want to cut back on my family's gifts so that I can buy for my team although I do very much appreciate their hard work over the year.

We do have a secret santa (£10), although 6 people have opted out. I don’t know if this means I can abandon additional gifts altogether, give to the six who won’t get anything else or give to the other eleven (neither of those seem right - it's got to be all or nothing).

DH manages a team of 24 and there is no gifts from bosses culture at his work. He balked at the idea of me buying for 17 and is telling me not to do anything.

Goodies for the office would be a compromise but we don’t all work in the same location. There are 7 of us in one office, 3 in another, 2 in another and then 4 people work on their own - these locations are spread around the city so I can't really say " drop into room xxx for some chocolate" nor would it feel right to buy individual gifts for the four on their own when others are sharing.

I had also thought about putting a lottery ticket in a card for everyone?

As a manager I can't afford to buy everyone a gift but have bought large chocolates/biscuits/box or cakes to share out.

I have had managers purchase me gifts (chocolates or wine usually) and it's lovely and very kind but depends on your financial circumstances and sets a precedent for future years