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A disability worker has labelled their company ‘un-Australian’ after asking staff to pay $50 a head to attend an office Christmas party, sparking a heated online debate.
The Melbourne worker posted on Tuesday that they had received an email to pay $50 each for Christmas lunch, plus the cost of whatever drinks they ordered.
‘Recieved a work email today for the Staff Christmas party. They are wanting all staff to pay $50 each for lunch and to buy your own drinks. It’s un-Australian,’ they wrote.
Thousands of people responded to the comment on the Melbourne Reddit page, with many urging the original poster ‘don’t go!’.
A Victorian worker has labelled their company ‘un-Australian’ after asking staff to pay $50 a head to attend an office Christmas party, sparking a wild online debate. Pictured is a stock image of a boss
The online discussion showed a clear division between government and private companies on policies about paid Christmas parties and lunches
‘I’m not, I only used to go for the free food,’ they wrote.
One person pointed out a Christmas party ‘is meant to be a thank you gift from the company to its employees’.
‘Staff get a much bigger boost to their morale when they don’t have to pay for it’.
The post sparked hundreds commenting on vastly different experiences of their employer’s generosity or stinginess.
Several people posted about the generosity of their company at Christmas time.
‘[My] boss is pretty sweet. Usually, we get a three-course meal, unlimited bar tab including spirits, then after party at a bar or wherever we end up. Plus, we get reimbursed for taxis, Uber, etc, and everyone gets slabs of beer and wine for Xmas.’
A worker in allied healthcare (which is usually private) said their company ‘takes us out to a fancy dinner and drinks’ plus ‘killer presents’ for staff.
One man said it was only fair that once a year government workers be allowed to get drunk on taxpayer dollars
The Melbourne disability worker posted on Tuesday that they had received an email telling them to pay $50 each for Christmas lunch, plus the cost of whatever drinks they order
‘One year we got Chanel jewellery, or another year we got embroidered Burberry scarves.’
Burberry scarves current retail online in Australia for between $860 and $1,650.
Another said their company flew staff in helicopters to Yarra Valley, where they did a winery tour in stretched hummers.
One Telstra employee said the policy in many of the phone giant’s departments is ‘free finger food and drinks until 8 pm when an exec puts the corp card on the bar just for drinks until closing/kicked out’.
Another disability worker said their boss ‘gets off on celebrating birthdays, Christmas, Easter’.
‘My boss is the business owner, and she is very generous… my Easter present was a box of chocolates with 6 $50 notes.’
Many respondents said government organisations don’t provide free Christmas parties at all.
‘This is fairly common in government work. For some reason the public goes apes*** if government departments spend money on food and drink for their staff.’
Several teachers agreed.
‘I’m a teacher. We always have to pay for our staff party. We also contribute to staffroom milk, tea and coffee.’
Another teacher said their Christmas parties are usually ‘a BYO plate to share, then do your own dishes and vacuum before you go home’.
However, their current workplace was different because of an exceptional manager.
‘Our manager sets aside her wages to take everyone to a nice restaurant at the end of the year,’ they said.
‘The way she says it “I’m approaching 70, and the whole point of never having kids was having money to burn, so eat up and for f***s sake and check your emails sometime before February please”‘.
One commenter claimed their company flew staff to a Yarra Valley wine tour by helicopter at Christmas
One person claimed their company paid for a stretch Hummer to take staff on a tour as part of their free Christmas party
One man said his corporate job provided free coffee pods, fresh croissants for ‘team wins’ and monthly beers and bbq meals said his wife, who works in emergency health only gets cheap coffee.
‘My wife? Saving lives on night shift with International roast only.’
‘International Roast!? Pure Luxury!’ one person replied.
‘I’m a federal public servant, we don’t get tea or coffee. Have to pay for it ourselves via a staff club!’
‘Working for the public service was so f***ing weird,’ another agreed. ‘We couldn’t have milk or sugar for staff coffee.’
One person said the best work Christmas party he’d had was when bosses gave staff the choice of how to spend $80 a head by saying ‘do you want us to organise something or give you the cash?’
‘We all got the cash then went out eating and drinking without the bosses anyway.’
Several people had opinions about why Christmas parties are often not free – because the employer cannot usually claim them as a work expense.
‘No accountant or book keeper will let you claim entertainment as a tax deduction.
‘You can not claim a Christmas party as a tax deduction or claim GST unless you have to pay fringe benefit tax (FBT).
‘If the value is over $300 per person, the company must pay FBT.’
Also, some commented that public organisations are worried that paying for staff parties can end up as ‘a bad look’.
But others felt it was only fair that public organisations reward their staff the same as private firms.
‘I think once a year guvvy workers should be allowed to get p***ed on the public dollar.’
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