Holiday Gift Giving Demands Clear HR Policies

Gift swaps, secret Santa programs, and other holiday gift-giving traditions can be festive, but they also invite unforeseen and unwelcome consequences into the workplace—unless HR lays down some basic ground rules.

As the young clinician opened her gift at the hospital's Secret Santa gift exchange, a look of disgust crossed her face. Removing the wrapping paper revealed the package's contents were candy cane-flavored edible underwear that proclaimed "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" across the backside, bringing what had been a lovely, light-hearted party among coworkers to a screeching halt.

Who would give such a gauche gift?

They figured it out "through process of elimination," says Laura Palmer, now senior industry affairs fellow with the Medical Group Management Association, remembering the incident from her days as a healthcare administrator in the southwest. "The guy thought it was a gag, and that it would be funny… he just used poor judgement."

Because the employee had never had any run-ins with HR, the organization's leadership simply decided it was a social gaffe made by someone who didn't know what to give a colleague he was not well-acquainted with.

But holiday-related missteps are common. "Invariably, someone does this. As they group gets larger, the potential for more than one gift in poor taste increases," says Palmer.

Gift giving is a holiday activity associated with great potential for hurt feelings, confusion, or awkwardness if guidelines and ground rules are not properly communicated. HR can help prevent sticky situations around the holidays by setting policies around holiday gifts, communicating them, and enforcing them.

Opting Out
It's important to acknowledge that the holiday season has different meanings for everyone, and for some, no meaning at all.

People who follow religions or come from cultures that do not celebrate Christmas, may not feel comfortable participating in Christmas-related activities or gift exchanges. The safest course of action is to skip an organized holiday gift exchange—although that doesn't necessarily mean avoiding gift giving completely.

"Rather than do [a workplace gift exchange], departments might decide to do something good,like adopt a needy family," says David Twitchell, a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's special expertise panel and vice president of HR at Catholic Charities of New Hampshire. Twitchell has worked in hospital HR departments throughout the northeast.

"A hospital I worked for decided that rather than a gift exchange, we would adopt a family. We went through the local Salvation Army," he says. Other options might include throwing holiday parties for children in foster homes, creating gift bags for military personnel on deployment, or having a canned food drive.

These activities alone may not be enough for some hospitals. For them, the holiday season just isn't the same without a workplace gift exchange. HR must set clear guidelines: "It's important to ask employees to opt into the gift exchange, rather than asking them to opt out," says Palmer. Make sure everyone understands that gift exchanges are voluntary, and not an expectation.

Secret Santa SNAFUs
Make clear what gifts are not acceptable from the start.

"No alcohol, nothing too personal, and no gag gifts," Palmer says you should convey to employees. "And don't even think about gifts that refer to flatulence, weight issues, or anything that says 'you so ugly.'"

Find a price point for gifts that employees will be comfortable with and make sure they stick with it. Palmer's suggestion is to put up a chalkboard or poster in the employee lounge asking employees to anonymously indicate how much they're willing to spend on a Secret Santa gift. Take the lowest number and go with that. The $10 to $15 range is common.

One way Palmer has kept the gift exchange fun and festive while avoiding potential awkwardness is by creating themed exchanges. She's seen healthcare organizations exchange funny socks, homemade cookies, bobbleheads, and old Christmas CDs from bargain bins.

"I thought people would just think it was funny, but some people really did want that old Perry Como or Jackson 5 Christmas CD!" she says. Other "safe" gifts for gift exchange include, gift cards to coffee shops, coffee mugs, lottery tickets, and hospital-branded items.

Proper Giving
Some people enjoy giving gifts so much that they want to give them to everyone in their lives, from the nurse who treated them at the hospital to their boss. It's helpful to staff and patients to have a hospital policy outlining how these situations should be handled.

Employees giving managers gifts is tricky business with little consensus, says Palmer. "The advice columns seem to recommend that if you're a new employee, check to see what the going tradition is in the organization. In many organizations, they frown upon it and would prefer not."

Palmer says she has seen organizations with a policy against gift giving—but it's a tough policy to enforce. Twitchell agrees. "How can you tell someone they can't give something to someone? The most important thing is to make sure there are no strings attached, and that it's done in spirit of giving."

Gifts to managers should be small—Christmas ornaments, baked goods, or a coffee card are typical gifts for the boss, says Palmer.

She cautions that some health systems have a policy against giving gifts to physicians or administrators who work at the hospital. "The exception on that is probably food items. Bringing in cookies or something that everyone can share is probably more common."

Another sticky situation is when a patient wants to give a gift to a doctor, nurse, or department. "Employees should not be accepting gifts from patients, residents, or family members. If [the patient] insist[s], the gift should be shared by everybody," says Twitchell.

Palmer agrees. "Explain to the patient why you cannot accept gift, and that it will be donated to the hospital." If a patient tries to give a book, for example, it should be donated to the waiting room; if they send flowers, the arrangement should be placed in a high-traffic area where everyone can see and enjoy it.

When appropriate, a patient or family may be asked to consider making a charitable contribution to the hospital's foundation. [This practice itself is a topic of debate and merits its own policy.] Most foundations do allow for donations to be made to a specific resource, such as the hospital chapel, the patient waiting area or the pediatric ward, says Palmer.

"It's very straightforward with patients—you don't accept gifts of any kind," says Twitchell. "The purpose of working in healthcare is to give service."

With a little wisdom and guidance from leadership, the giving season can be less confusing—and we can get back to enjoying the spirit of the season.