Celebrating a holiday in a family circle or with your friends is always fun and a pleasant thing to experience! Especially if you are the one who loves giving gifts and you spend a lot of time testing different gift options and choosing what to give to your cousin or what your best friend would surely like!
However, with your colleagues, it is somewhat different. In the majority of cases, the corporate system implies that all the coworkers contribute a certain sum of money that will later be used for buying gifts for each of the employees.
Of course, it does not mean you are not allowed to give presents to your coworkers in person!
But here is the question: what sum of money can be considered appropriate for contributing to the corporate holiday gifts?
So today we are going to tell you more about that! You will learn how much money it is ok to contribute if your department is going to buy an employee leaving gift, or what sum of money would be optimal for you female coworker’s wedding present.
With that in mind, you will surely find it simpler to decide what amount of money is fine for this purpose!
How Much Money Should I Give For My Colleague’s Gift?
This question usually bothers almost everyone, of course, if you work in an office! That’s because if you are self-employed, or if you are a freelance worker, there is no need for you to worry about that since you and your colleagues normally even never meet in person!
But if you do meet every day in your office, when holidays arrive, you need to decide how much money you can contribute to holiday gifts. And if the exact amount was not suggested, you surely wonder what sum will be appropriate.
Celebrations for your coworkers are often joyous occasions that you are happy to contribute to.
Yet, nerves around unspoken office etiquette regarding a coworker’s gift may leave you anxious about the total amount you should contribute! This is especially true when you might be on a tight budget or an amount per person is not set.
So if an exact amount has not been set, you may find it awkward to ask how much is appropriate to give.
In addition, the appropriate sum of money may vary depending on the occasion, such as a retirement of a coworker, his or her anniversary, or even wedding!
So below, you will find a few handy tips and recommendations on what sum of money to give to hit the ten and not seem greedy or careless about others.
How Much to Contribute to Coworker Wedding Gift
If one of your colleagues is going to get married, that’s great! However, you might not be sure about the coworker’s wedding gift amount, and that’s what might make you feel not quite well and easy about the thing.
Of course, if the organizer has set the amount of money that has to be contributed by each coworker, that makes things easy and clear! But what if the sum of money was not specified?
For this situation, we can suggest you three different ways out:
- You can give a so-called standard amount of money. Usually, for a coworker’s wedding gift, it’s ok to contribute from 50 to 75 dollars from each colleague.
- You can come up to your colleagues and ask them what sum of money they think of contributing. Like this, you will have at least the average amount you should focus on!
- Finally, the simplest way is to ask the organizer what sum of money would be considered appropriate.
No matter what option you choose, in any case, you will show yourself as a caring employee that cares for his or her colleagues.
Related: 20 Genius Christmas Gifts Ideas to Surprise Your Family and Friends
How Much Money Should You Give For a Retirement Gift?
If one of your colleagues is going to leave and retire, the whole team may decide to present him or her with a retirement gift. Naturally, everyone would be asked to contribute a certain amount of money for that!
But how much to give for the retirement gift, you may wonder? If you have never had to deal with such an occasion, this might indeed be difficult for you.
But this puzzle is not something one can’t solve! If the exact amount of money has not been specified from the very beginning, what you can do is that you opt for one of the following ways of action:
- Ask the organizer what sum of money is expected as a contribution
- Ask your colleagues how much money they are going to give
- Give a standard amount which is equal to five and up to twenty dollars from each coworker
In any case, you will not miss. As a result, you will show to your coworkers that you are a part of the team and you care for them.
In any case, even if those twenty bucks will appear to be not quite enough (which we think is hardly possible, but still), you will prove that you did your best to contribute to your colleague’s retirement gift giving!
Related: 10 Great Gifts to Buy Yourself: Present Ideas for the Most Important Person of All
How Much Money Should You Contribute For a Colleague’s Christmas Gift?
Since Christmas and New Year make the busiest time for all the workplaces, collecting money for corporate gifts often turns into a mess if not a real nightmare!
And if your team decides to exchange presents on Christmas day or the day before, and they decide to collect money for that, you might be wondering how much exactly you should contribute.
Well, with Christmas time, it’s more or less clear. If you are collecting money for corporate gifts, usually it is enough if you contribute from twenty to fifty dollars. But of course, if your organizer has set a fixed sum of money, you need to stick to that!
With these tips and suggestions, we hope it will be easier for you to decide what sum of money would be appropriate next time you and your coworkers start collecting money for one of your colleague’s gifts!
We Are Collecting Money For a Colleague’s Gift. Do I Have to Contribute?
things happen, and you might feel rather uneasy when all other colleagues are collecting money for a gift for one of your coworkers, but you realize that you can’t do that!
There may be different reasons for that. You might be tight on your budget right now, or you have other plans for your salary, especially if it’s holiday time.
Finally, you might simply not like that person much! This also happens quite often, and there is absolutely nothing wrong about it.
However, many people keep on wondering whether or not they are obliged to contribute to a gift for a coworker.
Well, the simple answer is no. Under any circumstances, you should not feel pressured or forced to contribute to a gift or party! Gift-giving and party planning, however, make the office environment generally more friendly and a little more fun.
It isn’t always just about the person being celebrated, but also about making the place you spend 40+ hours a week in a little more tolerable.
It is also important to keep in mind that there will eventually come a day when you have something to be celebrated, whether it is a birthday of yours or your retirement.
It is time to keep in mind the life-long mantra of the golden rule: do unto others what you would have them do unto you. So even if you don’t contribute for any reason, do your best to show up for the party in some way or another!
Studies have been taken that showed that you may actually get promoted faster or even get picked for special projects if you do so! That may sound weird but that’s how a human society works!
Group gifting in the workplace also helps alleviate the anxiety some coworkers have about when to give individual gifts and how much to spend. It can also build a sense of camaraderie and offer the ability to get higher quality gifts for your coworkers or boss.
Our team Is Collecting Money For a Colleague, But I Can’t. What Could I Do Instead?
Well, first of all, we would like to tell you that you are doing great by simply looking for alternative ways! You might not be able to contribute with money (for instance, if you are tight on your budget), however, it does not mean that you must stay aside and do nothing.
You might not be able to contribute with money right now, but you can search for alternative solutions. And here we recommend you take into consideration what person you are collecting money for.
If this is your colleague whom you know very well and/or you are close friends with him or her, then selecting another way to greet this person should not be a problem for you!
- You can bake his or her favorite yummies, pack them nicely, and present them as a gift from you!
- You can make a handmade greeting card and sign it.
- You can do anything else with your own hands if you are good at this (maybe, knit a sweater, etc)!
- Finally, you can just show up at the party and greet the person with the warmest words!
But if the person your coworkers are going to contribute for a gift for is not that close to you, or if you two don’t like each other that well, it might be better if you just send a nice card with a warm greeting and show up for the party to show your respect to him or her as a colleague of yours.
In any case, we do not recommend you ignore the event of the person!
So, now you are pretty much aware of the basic rules of corporate etiquette when it comes to contributing money for your colleague’s gift.
No matter what the occasion is – the wedding, a baby shower, retirement, or mere Christmas! – you should always participate in this or another way.
Ignoring your colleague and avoiding the celebration event, as well as skipping the money-collecting thing, will only show you to others as an ignorant and selfish person. And that may result in quite bad relations with your coworkers in future.
So instead, try to find out how much you should give (if the exact sum of money was not set), or try to find alternative ways of greeting your colleague. Finally, you can always suggest cheaper ways of celebrating – that’s in case it’s not only you who can’t give money for a corporate gift.
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