The best and the worst office christmas gift

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Christmas, like many other festivals, is about sharing and giving. The survey found that 94% of the respondents think that a gift from their employer makes them feel appreciated, and choosing the right present is important when it comes to staff satisfaction.

According to the survey, alcohol (38%), chocolates (28%), mugs (26%), stationery (4%), and make up (4%) are some safe bets as these are the top 5 Secret Santa presents voted by the respondents.

On the other hand, socks (52%), forget the present completely (26%), soap (15%), cheap wine (5%), and shower gel (3%) will among the bottom. You may be surprised by the sheer amount of people who have forgotten their presents before, but the survey found that the majority who have done it are men (21%), which makes sense as they are probably spending most of their brain cells remembering their wives’ or girlfriends' birthdays.

Some respondents also reported they didn’t appreciate the sender’s creativity. The gifts include anti-wrinkle cream (for a female colleague) and polka dot underpants (for a man).

If you want some advice on what to get for the present, you can always ask someone from the sales and marketing team as 28% of respondents said that their best gifts came from a colleague from this department. The design team (18%) has a good eye for gifts as well. You may need to think twice about the advice given by the customer services team as 22% said they give bad gifts.

Most workers are generous on their gifts with 39% spend more than the budget. 55% play by the rule and only 6% go under budget. Besides, female workers tend to spend more on the gift on average.

Senior management (48%) are more likely to go over budget, followed by HR (44%) and marketing and sales (43%).

So what exactly do employees want? 29% said gift vouchers were the most popular gifts from employers, but an early finish got almost as many votes (28.9%).  IT workers were particularly keen on an early finish, with 35% saying this as their ideal Christmas gift.

Instantprint surveyed over 1,500 office workers in the UK to help you nail the perfect present for the upcoming festivity.