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On company time, and each attendee to bring a gift....
Admittedly, have never been to a baby shower (not my culture). I also am not close to the mom-to-be, and I feel that such things are best celebrated outside the workforce. In a setting with many young women of childbearing age, introducing this concept may get costly.
Nothing wrong with it at all, most companies I have worked for had baby showers held during work hours. Strictly voluntary of course.
If you don't want to attend, don't.
This also depends on how big of a company and group you work for. I worked in a pretty decent sized organization so I was able to not go to any of these. But if it's a very small work group, small company, etc., it would behoove you to participate. No need to carry on your everyday life with a huge chip on your shoulder just to prove that you prefer to be a loner (saying in general). It's not gonna hurt to attend such functions once in a while.
1) Never thrown by management; only a friend(s) of the person
2) 100% voluntary
3) no mention of gifts - EVER. (Should people bring gifts, that is their prerogative.)
This applies to all "parties" - baby showers; wedding showers, graduations, birthdays, etc...
It has been management-organized (mom-to-be and management are pals), I have been voluntold to attend, and a list of where the mom has registered was disseminated by the organizer.
Frankly, that was a bit too much pressure for me, and I bailed.
People at my company used to throw baby showers. It was fine, except that they circulate e-mails and a folder asking for everyone to donate money for gifts with a link to the person's baby gift registry. Voluntary, with a hint of peer pressure.
Baby showers were held during the lunch hour in one of the conference rooms. E-mail invitations were sent out. It was voluntary but those who planned to attend would circulate throughout the office questioning if you were going to attend and if you wanted to chip in money for a gift. If you declined you were pretty much declared rude.
My thoughts are that functions like that should be held off company property and not on company time.
It's one of those things we have to suffer through as part of the cost of having a job. Much like buying a suit or special clothes for work, gifts for various events are a necessary expense.
That said, I don't like them. I can understand a going away luncheon for someone leaving, but wedding and baby showers seem a bit over the top. Those are things that are supposed to be thrown by best friends for best friends, not quasi-mandatory work function where participation goes into your "not a team player" score. The thing for me isn't the cost, but the essentially mandatory part of it. Like a long ago boss told us "It's strictly voluntary if you participate. Just like it's strictly voluntary what I write on your evaluation." Yep, message received, loud and clear.
So a gift is REQUIRED?! What is this nonsense? What if you don't even like the person OR just don't care for them either way, such as in your case?
I just won't show up OR if you still care about good work attendance, how about work that day, but leave early when the party starts or something?
It was held during regular work hours.
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