Company Christmas Presents

[Syxx]

Hi All,

I work for IBM - Denmark and yesterday at the office, all 800 staff were given Christmas Presents by the company. We had a choice between 2 presents, an Italian or Japanese hamper.

Italian - Pasta, 3 bottles of wines, Fresh thyme, Olives, Virgin Olive oil, etc
Japanese - Sushi rice, 3 types of soy sauce, 4 cans of Japanese beer, Wasabi, chopsticks, etc

Is this just a danish tradition, or do companies in other countries also give their staff christmas presents ?

Regards
Syxx

[Dondrei]

Which did you take? I'd go for the Italian, neither are all that useful to me though.

[Bortaz]

Hi All,

I work for IBM - Denmark and yesterday at the office, all 800 staff were given Christmas Presents by the company. We had a choice between 2 presents, an Italian or Japanese hamper.

Italian - Pasta, 3 bottles of wines, Fresh thyme, Olives, Virgin Olive oil, etc
Japanese - Sushi rice, 3 types of soy sauce, 4 cans of Japanese beer, Wasabi, chopsticks, etc

Is this just a danish tradition, or do companies in other countries also give their staff christmas presents ?

Regards
Syxx

Lots of American companies give their employees 'Christmas Bonuses'.

[skihard]

This year I'm getting a bag of cash, a 1gb flash drive with MP3 Player built in, a can of mixed nuts with white chocolate pretzels, and...


wait for it...




wait for it...




a mouse pad with the company logo

[Syxx]

Hi Dondrei,

I took the Italian, because I like my dead animal cooked before I eat it. Sushi has never been my thing ... too slimey for my taste.

Aside : Did anyone see the Jackass, where one of the guys (idiot) mixed a little soy sauce with a pile of Wasabi, to make it more liquidy... then proceeded to snort it up his nose ? Took about 4 seconds til he puked everywhere.

Regards
Syxx

[Isolde212]

Last year I got a portable DVD player from the law firm. I don't work there anymore so that sucks they always gave great gifts. This year I think our present is a Christmas party with a two drink maximum and taxi chips to get home. Boo.

[Dondrei]

I never saw any of Jackass, thank the Lord.

[rykuss]

I'll get eight hours of holiday pay. Oh and a wonderful holiday card, "Dear employee, happy holidays. Here's some helpful tips to make you a better salesman. Be sure to ask every customer if they'd like to put their purchase on *insert company name here* card today?" We don't even get a damn party.

[kobold]

I don't think I've ever received a Christmas present from a company I've worked for. It has always been cash. The previous firm I was with gave two week's pay. No idea about this year.

I think that giving gifts (while potentially cheaper), can be more personal on the company's part.

[Raena]

In Holland it's very usually to get one of these christmas packages you described. You usually can't pick though, it will just be a surprise. On top of that you will usually also get a christmas bonus on your paycheck and usually companies pay out your salary on the 20th instead of the 25th, so it's in time for the christmas shopping.

Three months ago I moved to Denmark and I just had a christmas party with my company. We don't get one of those present packages you talked about though and I don't think we will get a bonus either. But maybe that's just because it's a small company.