Tis the season of giving or December blues?

Organizational code of conduct

It’s Christmas, and for many it’s a time of joy and celebration, decorations, Christmas dinner, parties and gift giving! However, in organizational settings gift giving can be rather complex. Why? you might ask. Let’s start off by defining the term “gift”. A gift is any item of value, such as cash, tickets or gift cards. These examples readily come to mind, but there are also intangible gifts or experiences such as all expense trips, spa days and complementary memberships or services. Lines can become blurry when people start to exchange gifts, especially if they are of high value. The theory of social exchange tells us that people value reciprocity, and if someone presents you with something valuable, chances are they will also expect something of value in return. Maybe not immediately, but somewhere down the line that gift may be perceived by the giver as an investment in your exchange relationship and that gift may be expected to influence your judgement and decision making. This is why many companies have an “Employee gift policy”.

Employee gift policies outline the dos and don’ts of giving and receiving gifts by employees. Its main purpose is to maintain a sense of ethics and prevent conflict between, employees, customers and vendors. Gift policies generally limit the monetary value of gifts and require employees to report gifts that exceed the acceptable limit. Some companies even require employees to seek approval from management to exchange gifts to vendors and clients. Companies are so committed to maintaining good ethics, that breach of gift policies can result in serious penalties, including termination.

Individual code of conduct

Something most gift policies do not cover is individual employees receiving personal gifts at work from their loved ones. Let me ask you, should people be able to receive personal gifts at work? You know that lady who receives flowers from her partner or an extravagant balloon or fruit display. Is this acceptable or does it stir up comparison, jealousy or even intense sadness for others who do not have a loved one during the holiday season. Some may say, receiving gifts at work are totally fine and anyone who is bothered is envious or perhaps a bad person. While others may note that the holiday season is especially difficult for those struggling with loss and grief (e.g. death, separation, divorce) and people don’t need to be bombarded by over-the-top displays at work. Unfortunately, this author does not have the answer for which point-of- view is correct.

Here are a few things to consider:

• ·Gifting your loved one, especially on special occasions is great. However, what is the need to create a spectacle at their place of work? Are you trying to make them feel special or are you trying to make yourself look good?

• Non-business celebrations shouldn’t be a distraction from work. Don’t embarrass or draw excessive attention to the recipient.

• Consider the appropriateness of the office for presenting gifts.

• If your relationship with the recipient is outside the office, and you’re giving a gift based on that relationship, consider gifting outside the office.

Office Pixie

Despite how complicated gifting at the workplace can be on special occasions co-workers come together to make each other feel special in the office “pixie” and exchange gifts. There are many variations of the pixie, where each co-worker gives a list of items they would like to receive or sometimes there is no list, which makes it difficult for the gifter. Though we like to publicly "it's the thought that counts", gifts can convey implicit messages and a gift that does not match a co-worker’s expectation can invoke negative feelings such as, disappointment, anger, dissatisfaction etc. I have seen office pixie ruin workplace relationships when people either spent over or under the agreed budget, bought something plain or just didn’t give much thought to selecting an appropriate gift. Choose gifts that are thoughtful, practical and align with people’s interests. A thoughtful gift to a co-worker can enhance working relationships. A nice touch is to add a message about what you appreciate about the receiver and what are their areas of strength.

A modern spin-off to the office pixie is “white elephant” or “dirty santa”, where everyone buys a gift and places it in the common area, with no labels or notes and everyone randomly selects a gift. This reduces the stress associated with gifting, as you’ll never know who bought what item! This event allows everyone an opportunity to interact with colleagues they ordinarily wouldn’t have a conversation with. Of course there are rules to the game.

Gifts are meant as a token of appreciation, however, selecting the appropriate gift can be complicated. Make sure to consider price, usefulness and connotations associated with your gift. You don't want to be considered unthoughtful or even worse, be accused of bribery. Now that you are armed with the formula for gifting, happy holidays and happy gifting!