If you work in an office, then chances are good you will be asked to pony up some cash in the very near future, especially now that the office birthday party is back after the Great Recession. It's always somebody's birthday, or somebody else is retiring. There are second and third baby showers to celebrate, as well as Girl Scout cookie sign-up sheets being hawked by harried working parents.
By the way, do the Girl Scouts do much these days except sell cookies? While our Brownies are finger painting and making another macaroni necklace between cookie sales table appearances, our Cub Scouts are geocaching and learning useful, life-long skills so they can star in a future episode of any Discovery Channel survivalist show. Come on, Girl Scouts. Let's step it up a little bit so our girls know why they shouldn't eat red snow. Great show.
But back to the point of today's post, which is how employees feel about being asked to contribute cash at work. More than half (54%) of senior managers in a new OfficeTeam survey said that employees are being asked to shell out some money for "staff celebrations" at least once a year.
The good news? Many employees don't seem to mind being asked to contribute! Slighty more than half of employees surveyed (51%) are fine with throwing a few dollars into the pot occasionally, while one-quarter (25%) don't hesitate to part with their cash when they think it's for a good cause.
Still, there are good ways, and bad ways, to ask our colleagues to part with their hard-earned cash. Luckily, OfficeTeam donates some handy advice for asking the right way:
DON'T ask everyone to chip in; don't make it mandatory; don't put anyone on the spot; and don't overdo it with monetary requests. In other words, don't ask employees to chip in for the birthday party of someone they do not work directly with, and don't guilt trip anyone to donate. Ever.
DO ask the employees who work most closely with the co-worker being feted; do make sure these employees know financial contributions are voluntary; do allow employees to donate what they want; do ask for donations on the down low through a targeted email or sign-up sheet instead of appearing in-person, deskside; and do look for ways to combine multiple celebrations into one, grand event.
For example, you might celebrate all May birthdays at once with one, enormous sheet cake. For bonus points, celebrate a co-worker's impending new arrival with baby-themed cupcakes at the same time.
Companies might also start a general "celebration fund" employees can donate to a few times a year in any amount they works for them. Simply remind them via company-wide email. Par-tay!
OfficeTeam's survey found that 16% of employees think it's "annoying" to be asked to donate period, no matter the cause. Chances are, you know exactly who this teammate is, too. So avoid hitting up this colleague for donations in the name of workplace harmony.
Past surveys have revealed that employees, perhaps not surprisingly, tend to donate according to their salary level. Employees earning in the mid-salary range are the sweet spot for employee donations. Good luck figuring out where these co-workers lurk in your office.
I will now contribute to the ever-expanding amount of free content on the Internet by publishing this voluntary blog post.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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