Gift giving in the office, what is the proper ettiquette?
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ONLY give a gift to the top boss that works directly with your group. Make sure it is something outlandish and is on display and everyone knows who gave it to them (including the boss).
I do agree with this as a general rule. As a manager, I always gifted down and did not want or expect gidts from my employees. I recently moved into a new role and do not have any direct reports. I made christmas cookies and gave a card and a few cookies to each person in the department (about 45 people). I gave my VP the exact same "gift" everyone else received, as it would have been rude to specifically exclude her. I did not expect anyone to reciprocate with a gift. I felt it was small enough to be seen as just a nice gesture and not a "gift".
A couple years I've given small token gifts to everyone in my department (5 of us plus the manager). A couple years a coworker made jam and gave everyone a small jar. Sometimes people bake and bring in things to share with everyone. In my department, there's never been a rule. When someone gives out gifts, no one feels like they should have reciprocated and it never seems to "start a thing" for next year. It's just kinda random. It's nice. Very relaxed. Some years there's nothing and no one seems to care. We all have years when we're really into the holiday season, other years when we're not. When folks are in the mood and feel like it, they give things out.
I only have one coworker who I give a small gift to every year. She notarizes all my documents throughout the year, and even though that's part of her job, I use the holiday as an excuse to say an extra thanks. It's usually just a small box of candy or something.
I gifted last year to my coworkers and boss. I didn't expect anything in return. No one else gave gifts. This year I gifted only my boss since our team was broken apart, the new dynamic is different and didn't feel right.
As a rule, I don't gift up. To me it looks too much like brownnosing.
I don't give gifts to my coworkers either. I bring candy or other fun snacks for my coworkers on holidays (not just Christmas which I don't even celebrate), but I don't consider those gifts per se.
IMHO you shouldn't gift everyone in your team because that creates awkward "do I have to give gifts to everyone too" conundrums. If there are one or two people you're close to or socialize with outside of work, exchange gifts outside of the office.
We gift up, but only as a team: my larger (10-person) team chipped in $5-$10 each and we bought our VP a fancy Henry & David gift basket; my immediate (4-person) team chipped in about $18 each and bought our manager wireless ear buds.
My company is pretty casual and interactive across the levels. Everybody is on a first-name basis, and we have an open office environment that puts us in each other's laps. It didn't feel weird (or negative) to me to gift up. The gift for the VP felt more like a token, and the the gift for our manager felt more sincere. (I know that I, for one, really appreciate what he does for our group.)
Our immediate manager gave us $15 gift cards. It wasn't much, but it was appreciated.
Within the group, the four of us exchanged gifts: gift cards and bottles of wine or alcohol, mostly.
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