It’s that time of year again: office holiday parties, Secret Santas, and (let’s hope) end of the year bonuses. And here’s an important etiquette question: should you get your boss a gift?
Maybe your office is really small and the kind of place where you can’t omit one person from your gift list without being really obvious. Maybe you pulled his name in the Secret Santa pool. Or maybe you actually kind of like your boss. (Ha, just kidding.)
First thing, do some reasearch. Find out if he got a gift from an employee last year and, if so, what it was. That will help you set some guidelines in terms of what’s appropriate and how much to spend. You should also try to find out if he got anyone a gift last year. If he tends to stiff his assistants, there’s no point trying to buy his love.
Even if you know your boss is the world’s biggest Lynrd Skynrd fan, it’s probably smart not to buy him some kind of Skynrd memorabilia. Your boss is not your brother or your best friend. Our general rule of thumb: get your boss something that would be appropriate to give to a client you don’t know very well. Think a bag of gourmet coffee or a nice bottle of wine, not concert tickets or a book. A lot of assistants spend so much time dealing with their boss’ personal matters that they think they know everything about him. But we say…let his family get him more personalized presents.
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I guess it would be inappropriate to give your boss a stocking filled with coal despite the fact that he/she has earned it.