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#Post#: 6134--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Chez Miriam Date: June 20, 2018, 10:13 am
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When I was a temp, I was pressurised to contribute to a leaving
gift for a higher-up I'd never met/spoken with - that really
didn't make me happy, but I liked the place/needed the job, so I
put the 'brown' change [ie no gold/silver-coloured coins] from
my purse into the envelope...
Can't have been the only one, as the [s]enforcer[/s] collection
taker was counting out the money later, and there was a lot of
copper in there.
I wasn't going to make a fuss, but I couldn't afford to take the
tube both ways to work, so why should I contribute for someone
who has a company car and their own chauffeur? I did learn that
places where they told me "you're only a temp", that works both
ways: don't give me job security, sick pay, gym membership,
bonuses = fine, but don't expect me to contribute to
maternity/leaving gifts, etc. If I'm not part of the team for
the "good stuff", I'm not going to be part of it for the handing
over of my hard-earned funds.
For people I worked with/liked? Yeah, no problem with that!
#Post#: 6139--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: bopper Date: June 20, 2018, 10:23 am
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Do you know this person?
Do you like this person?
If so, then contribute what you are comfortable with even if it
is $2.
If not, then "I will just sign the card"
#Post#: 6157--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Hmmm Date: June 20, 2018, 11:50 am
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[quote author=Moose link=topic=400.msg6133#msg6133
date=1529507502]
[quote author=Rose Red link=topic=400.msg6118#msg6118
date=1529505033]
Doesn't bother me. Just because someone earns more money or are
super rich, they don't deserve gifts? I've gotten farewell gifts
so why shouldn't a senior person? If you know and like them, at
least.
To me, a gift is about the thought. If I like the person well
enough, I'd be glad to put in a few bucks or go off on my own to
give them a box of chocolate or a plant. Not too expensive but
still get across I think fondly of them.
I remember contributing only around $5 once to a higher up and
the total ended up being enough for a Coach wallet. I also gave
my direct boss flowers for her retirement. We also contribute
for our boss's birthday and Christmas if we want to. So unless
they are asking for $$$, I'm OK with it.
[/quote]
I agree with this. Just yesterday we gave a potluck and gift
card to a supervisor who is leaving. She was well liked and
very sweet to work with and we are all going to miss her. Even
though she was technically our superior, she still deserved the
send off she got and I didn't mind contributing. HOWEVER, with
that said, any sort of collection or contribution to stuff like
that is purely voluntary here and no one keeps count of who gave
and who didn't.
[/quote]
I think it's how it is presented and how well I know the person.
If it is someone I liked and I felt they had been a good boss,
I'd probably be happy to give.
Years ago when a Manager was leaving for a new job, her other 2
direct reports and I pooled our money and bought her a token
gift and took her to lunch. However, I would not have asked our
direct reports to contribute to the gift as they had very little
engagement with her.
About 20 years ago, I was leaving a company and was surprised to
get a send off by my staff that included a small gift and a
happy hour with about 30 of my reports and theirs attending on
their own money.
About 10 years ago, I did a short term international assignment
for my company and the staff gave me a collection of gifts.
Again I was surprised because I was actually sent in to do a
re-organization of their teams and work processes... so not
really liked for about the first 2 months. And I'm pretty sure
there were a few in the group who did not contribute to that
gift.
#Post#: 6162--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: jpcher Date: June 20, 2018, 12:01 pm
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[quote author=Pattycake link=topic=400.msg6127#msg6127
date=1529506392]
I think it's okay to send around the envelope, as long as people
aren't pressured to contribute. Depending on how much
interaction there was between me and the senior person would
depend on how much or whether I contributed.
[/quote]
Others have mentioned close to the same thing. It doesn't really
matter how much the leaving person makes, what matters is how
close you are to the person that is leaving.
I wouldn't feel obligated to contributing for a gift if the
leaving person (LP) is someone that I rarely or never have
contact with. There's no personal connection there. Even signing
a card? LP doesn't even know who I am, so I wouldn't bother
myself about it.
If you deal with LP on a daily/personal contact level? Then
maybe even a $5 contribution would be acceptable.
#Post#: 6164--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: dani321 Date: June 20, 2018, 12:04 pm
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If you just wanted to give this person a gift, then of course it
really shouldn't matter what their income is. However, that's
not the case here, OP isn't making a Christmas list and giving
based on perceived need. Someone is quitting their job for
another job, and in my opinion, that doesn't really require a
gift to be given. Obviously, if the company wanted to give a
gift - paid for by the company - to thank the employee for their
years of service, that's great. If the person leaving was well
liked enough that coworkers and/or subordinates wanted to get
together to throw a "Going Away" party or give a gift, I think
that's very nice too. The problem is going to come with asking
everyone else for donations towards the gift and/or party,
because it puts people like OP in a position of having to either
give towards a gift they don't really feel is merited, or
possibly looking unkind/uncooperative depending on their office
culture.
And to be honest, the relative income is going to come into play
as well, because at this point the gift isn't being given out of
generosity, but out of peer pressure. It's one thing to decide
you'd like to give a gift to someone, for example I get my boss
something for Christmas every year, because I've known him and
worked for him my entire adult life. Of course he makes much
more than I do, and he could easily buy anything I may give to
him, but it's the thought that counts and it's my way of saying
I appreciate him. On the other hand, we used to take a
collection from all of the employees to buy a gift with, but
over the years I stopped coordinating that, for this reason:
none of the employees should feel pressured in any way to give
towards a gift for their boss, even if they can contribute any
amount they want or don't really have to contribute at all. I
can totally understand someone having a hard time contributing
towards a gift for someone who makes a lot more money than they
do, especially if they feel that the contribution was expected
or that there may be negative consequences for refusing to
contribute.
TL;DR I think asking for donations in a workplace situation
should be done very delicately, and very rarely, and the
emphasis should always be that contributions are voluntary and
anonymous.
Also - I'm mostly speaking to workplace gift-giving situations
here. I definitely don't think it would be appropriate to say,
go to a wedding, but refuse to give any gift at all because the
couple is more well-off than you, etc.
#Post#: 6169--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Sycorax Date: June 20, 2018, 12:22 pm
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Does *everyone* get some sort of farewell gift when they leave
the company like that? If not, and it's only high-profile
employees, I wouldn't be that excited to contribute. I'd be
happy enough to sign a card, though.
#Post#: 6204--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Lula Date: June 20, 2018, 2:23 pm
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Gifts are a show of appreciation, not an act of charity or a
response to need, so, no, I wouldn't be upset at being invited
(not pressured!) to contribute to a farewell gift to someone in
a senior position to mine.
#Post#: 6225--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Soop Date: June 20, 2018, 4:23 pm
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So glad my company doesn't get too much into the gifts. If
someone is retiring or going on maternity leave (or in one case
leaving the country to get married), we do cake in the boardroom
with a very nice gift bought with company funds (and there is an
envelope passed around if anyone wants to add money with
absolutely no pressure).
If someone is leaving to go work somewhere else, there's a card
and the person's direct team will probably do lunch...the
attitude is that we genuinely wish you well and will miss you,
but why would we celebrate having to fill your position.
Happily, we also don't do birthdays (unless it's work friends
going for lunch).
#Post#: 6226--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: Hmmm Date: June 20, 2018, 5:01 pm
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[quote author=dani321 link=topic=400.msg6164#msg6164
date=1529514260]
snip
And to be honest, the relative income is going to come into play
as well, because at this point the gift isn't being given out of
generosity, but out of peer pressure. It's one thing to decide
you'd like to give a gift to someone, for example I get my boss
something for Christmas every year, because I've known him and
worked for him my entire adult life. Of course he makes much
more than I do, and he could easily buy anything I may give to
him, but it's the thought that counts and it's my way of saying
I appreciate him. On the other hand, we used to take a
collection from all of the employees to buy a gift with, but
over the years I stopped coordinating that, for this reason:
none of the employees should feel pressured in any way to give
towards a gift for their boss, even if they can contribute any
amount they want or don't really have to contribute at all. I
can totally understand someone having a hard time contributing
towards a gift for someone who makes a lot more money than they
do, especially if they feel that the contribution was expected
or that there may be negative consequences for refusing to
contribute.
TL;DR I think asking for donations in a workplace situation
should be done very delicately, and very rarely, and the
emphasis should always be that contributions are voluntary and
anonymous.
Also - I'm mostly speaking to workplace gift-giving situations
here. I definitely don't think it would be appropriate to say,
go to a wedding, but refuse to give any gift at all because the
couple is more well-off than you, etc.
[/quote]
We don't know if the OP is feeling pressured nor do we know how
the request was made. It could have been a an email saying "Hi,
we are collecting money for a gift for Boss. If you'd like to
contribute, drop off something at Mary's desk."
I agree that no one at work should ever feel pressured to give a
gift. I know that in my 30 years in corporate America, I've
never felt pressured or if someone was tracking if or how much I
was adding to the envelope being passed around.
The OP only stated she felt it inappropriate to collect for a
gift because it was a senior person leaving. That would imply to
me that she would be ok to contribute and not feel pressured if
it was a more junior person receiving the gift.
#Post#: 6227--------------------------------------------------
Re: 'I'm taking up a contribution' - for someone who earns way m
ore than you
By: lakey Date: June 20, 2018, 5:14 pm
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[quote]A VERY senior person in my organisation is leaving. They
are leaving for a new role at another place which is also vey
senior position. I was asked the other day for a contribution
for a farewell gift. [/quote]
The difference in income isn't mentioned. It may be what OP was
thinking, but there is another way to look at it. The person
leaving, for another job, not retiring, is VERY senior.
Do they do this for all employees who leave the job? If they
don't normally do it for other employees, then do it for a high
level employee, that would bother me.
I do think that employers should have policies about these
things. I would feel the same way about retirements, baby
showers, and wedding showers. Either do it for everyone or don't
do it at work. Personally I would be fine with not having any
gift giving at work.
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