From the boss' perspective: Christmas gifts from employees

[ZipTheWonder]

I think you should switch to end-of-year cash bonuses instead.  I really doubt you will see your employees giving you a cash Christmas gift.  And although I don't approve of employees gifting employers, I think it is even weirder to exchange food gift baskets with you.  If someone gave me one, I wouldn't give them one in return.  It just seems odd.  Why are they doing this?

Your post reminded me of a t-shirt I saw in Target last week.  It was green and had the recycling arrow symbol on it and it said "Regift Responsibly."  Normally, I am not in favor of regifting, but in your case.......I am going to make an exception!

[LuckyDucky]

My boss buys me a gift every year.  He flat out refused to accept gifts from me, telling me from day 1 that i was under strict instructions never to buy him or anyone else in the company presents. He pays for the gifts out of the company account as an employee related expense.  As i would be paying for the gift out of my own pocket, he didn't want me stretching myself thin over christmas.

i was going to suggest telling your employees this (Please don't buy us anything as the business pays for your gifts and we would feel bad about you spending your money on us during the holiday season).  But then i read that you pay for them out of your own pocket, and telling them otherwise is a lie and lies are naughty, so i would have to agree with everyone and say that gift cards might be the way to go if you want to give them something. Gift Cards feel like cash, so they would be accepted more as a bonus than a gift. 

[JudiAU]

I am in a similiar situation-- I give the people who work for me gifts and they keep trying to give me gifts in  return. I really wish they wouldn't-- but as long as the gifts remain on the small side I don't take any action. I've found that giving cash seems to be more effective then giving a gift, even though we both know that is coming out of my pocket.

[Peaches737]

I buy tokens for my supervisees.  However, (even though they ignore me), I told them this year, as I did last year, that "bosses buy for their collegues, not the other way around, because we make more money."  I told the students that we terribly appreciate the fact that they work for us for free all year, during their internships, and not to buy anything.

To OP--you can send the Harry and David's my way, but I can appreciate the gluttony of pears.  My dad (a dentist) was always sent appreciative gift baskets by both patients and collegues. 

I usually, (and so did he) take it to the office to share.