Collaborative post
Christmas Gifting Traditions in the Workplace
Christmas isn’t as far away as you might think and some people have already made a start on their planning and shopping. Many workplaces have their own Christmas traditions, from decorating the office to planning the Christmas party and arranging gifts for colleagues, often involving that renowned office tradition, Secret Santa.
The Workplace Secret Santa
Having a workplace Secret Santa is an age-old concept that may finally be falling out of favour, at least with some workers, anyway.
A workplace Secret Santa works by having everyone draw a name out of a hat. They then secretly buy a Christmas gift for that person, without letting anyone else – including that person – know who bought it. The benefits to a Secret Santa are that it reduces the overall number of gifts you need to buy and it also guarantees you’ll get a gift in return.
Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to the Secret Santa system too. For one thing, it only works if there are an even number of people in your workplace and no one is off sick or disappears on their holidays before the exchanging of gifts! Practicalities aside, however, Secret Santa can also cause stress and anxiety during the festive season.
This is particularly true if you draw the name of someone you don’t really know very well or – worse still – actively dislike. Suddenly, your arch nemesis from accounts is on your Christmas shopping list and you’ve no clue what to buy them! There’s also the difficulty of not wanting to offend anyone with an unintentionally inappropriate gift, like Christmas chocolates for someone who is diabetic or watching their weight, or a bottle of wine for someone who is teetotal or pregnant.
Professional business card producers, instantprint surveyed UK employees to try and understand a bit more about how we feel about the Secret Santa tradition.
Exchanging Gifts
Out of those polled, 35% of people said that they enjoy exchanging Secret Santa gifts, however, on the flip side, 15% reported that they found it anxiety-provoking with many people afraid of offending coworkers by choosing something they don’t like.
People also worry about seeming stingy by not spending more on a gift and this is the case even when workplaces offer guidelines about how much to spend (with many offices choosing to impose a £10 limit on Secret Santa gifts, for example.) In the current financial climate, some people may struggle to find the extra cash for a Secret Santa gift along with everything else they need to pay for over the festive season but might be embarrassed to say so in front of their colleagues or feel that they’ll be labelled a ‘scrooge’ if they opt-out, which can lead to additional stress.
Common Secret Santa Gifts
So what are the most common Secret Santa gifts? The survey found that the average spend on Secret Santa was between £10 and £12.50, which often limits Secret Santa gifts to smaller items like scented candles, toiletries, chocolates or booze. Joke or novelty gifts are also an incredibly popular option for Secret Santa along with ruder or adult-themed gift choices.
What Do We Actually Want?
When it comes to Secret Santa, what do people want to receive? Of those polled 58% of workers said they would prefer to get chocolate and sweets, and 48% wanted alcoholic gifts from their Secret Santa, making these the two most popular options.
Conversely, 32% of people said they wouldn’t like to receive socks or underwear from a colleague, closely followed by 28% who said they wouldn’t be happy if they received something rude or adult-themed – despite these being a popular choice of many Secret Santa gift givers!