What do you get your boss this year for the holidays? How do you handle gift giving but also the donations so to speak your office requests for gifts etc, now and throughout the year. Here’s how you can handle what your office asks for during the holiday season, with grace and greater comfort… Thank you to Terry Wynne, one of our associate certified career coaches, for this article!
‘Tis the season for holiday time at the office and the office wants you to contribute more money than ever. For the office party, gifts for the boss, gifts for co-workers, gift wrap sold by co-workers’ children, the homeless, the needy, the less fortunate, and the monthly birthday club. You want to be a team player but if you have more bills than you can afford already to pay, what do you do?
First of all, decide which requests you think might be “noticeable” or “trackable.” For example, the Human Resource department contacted one young bank officer saying his monthly pledge to their company-wide “combined giving” charity was less than any other officer. Of course, he was humiliated. Hopefully, you won’t be humiliated if you give something, however small, to any “noticeable” or “trackable” requests so you will be considered a “team player.”
For all other requests, ask co-workers the amount they plan to give and to which requests. You’ll probably find you’re not the only one who does not plan to contribute to everything or who needs to make small contributions.
Lastly, ask yourself how you can cut back in order to afford the contributions you do need to make. For example, could you bring your lunch to save money from eating out, not buy the new clothes you wanted, or take the bus instead of driving to work?
Under the best of circumstances, budgeting can be difficult, but your goal is try to be a team player, be discrete, choose when to say “no” to multiple requests, and if necessary, volunteer your time instead of money. For example, offer to help plan the company office party if you can’t contribute to it. After all, giving of your time counts just as much as money – and in some cases, even more so!
Hallie Crawford and Terry L. Wynne
Certified Career Coaches
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