Office collections

It was very hit and miss, and usually dependent on who did the collection. That was a thankless task - it was a large school and difficult to catch people or even to guess who knew the person and would want to contribute. We tried various things over the years - the best in my view was when we were all asked to pay in a small amount every month, then presents of the same value for each leaver etc were bought from this. Unfortunately it proved unpopular so didn’t last long.

We had one bright spark of a headteacher who just wanted generous presents for all occasions bought from the school budget. She took some convincing that this money was supposed to be for the benefit of the children……

I always really disliked all this kind of thing.
It's very uncomfortable having to decide how much to put into a collection for someone you aren't keen on, and it always seems some end up with huge gifts and others have embarrassingly little.

I agree, collections can be a nuisance. I get fed up with them.
.

To me, it's another example of something that probably started out as a nice idea, but has gone way over the top.

I think they should be confined to big events - people leaving or retiring, weddings and maybe new babies.

But there's always some well meaning person who starts collections for 30th birthdays, or engagements or housewarming gifts and people can get fed up.

I had one colleague who bought a house, got married and had 2 children all within about 4 years. People were starting to grumble a bit when the collection for baby number 2 was going around.

Usually the well meaning one is a personal friend of the worker they're collecting for.

We worked in a small shift with people who all loved each other. Christmas would see us staggering out as if we were on Crackerjack. Birthdays the same.

We were all happy to do this but had someone been struggling financially it would have been a huge burden.

We used to have a “staff association” annual fee. This paid for special morning teas during the year such as pre Easter or football final morning tea etc. a $ amount - if I remember correctly $5- was set aside from each years fee for staff gifts. When someone left they were given a gift to the value of $5 per year of service. It worked pretty well although there were a couple of people who refused to pay. It did mean though that there were no collections for presents.

MissAdventure

Usually the well meaning one is a personal friend of the worker they're collecting for.

So true. That's probably why workplaces should have general guidelines around office wide collections. Some people mean well but don't understand that for a colleague on a tight budget collections going around for this that and the other every month can be very difficult.

I don’t subscribe to these collections at all, if I want to give the person something I will give them it personally from me

I agree wityh @Shinamae and have always taken a strong hard line on them.

As an employee I always refused and expressed my disapproval in pretty vocal terms because of the element of moral blackmail. The woman who did the collections used to wait until I was absent before she came into our office.

In my own workplaceas a manager I forbad any of my team members to go hawking around the staff for contributions. In very exceptional circumstances (rg someone ill in hospital) I myself organised it. I could not tell my staff how to spend their money if they wanted to gift a colleague privately but I disapprove the moral blackmail which often goes with these things.

My grand niece started in a workplace and before she even got his first months pay there was someone hawking around the office wanting £10 each!!! When she told them she only had her bus fare with her they told her "go to the cash machine".

I advised her to contact HR as this is a form of bullying and she did. As a result office collections have now been banned.

I think it is better if an amount is set. In my day it was £2-£3. Maybe now £5 depending on the size of the office/department/company.

We usually pass an envelope around and people make anonymous donations.
But of course that could lead to a situation where one person gets a large present and another an embarrassingly small one.