Bdtyktl

This answer about how to reward/morale boost an employee who had worked a lot of unpaid overtime got me thinking.

Pull out a 100 dollar gift card you bought with your own funds.

That will be the best 100 dollars you ever invested. It will show that you notice and appreciate his work, you're rewarding it...

When is it appropriate that a business employee (including managers and executives) pay for things out of their own pocket?

There's plenty of times that employees to pay for things out of their own pocket, birthday, secret santa and leaving gifts come to mind, or when groups of colleagues go out for coffee and pay their own way.

On the otherhand - there are other times when the business should be footing the bill, for example a mandatory team lunch; or that it's a good business move to foot the bill, for example non-mandatory Friday night drinks.

And there are scenarios where I imagine it might be downright inappropriate for an employee to be paying for something for other employees - eg if a manager was paying one of their employees an extra $200 a week out of their own pocket, it might raise eyebrows.

But am I wrong in thinking this? When is and isn't it appropriate for employees to be paying for expenses or gifts for each other?

And specifically - is it appropriate for managers to give performance or 'thank you for a job well done' gifts to employees? What would the limits be around this?

When is an isn't it appropriate for employees to be paying for expenses or gifts for each other?

This, as we can see, is somehow of a gray area, and also depends on the specific Company and their policies... but.

• If we are talking about company expenses then the employee should not be paying for it. If they do, for any reason, then it should be payed back to them at the end of the month.




• If we are talking about personal expenses then the employee should be taking care of it. This makes sense because if it is personal there should be no reason why the company should pay that for you.




• If we are talking about gifts then that also should be payed by the employee. Nobody is forcing you to give a gift to someone, thus the company should have no reason why to pay that for you.

But, again, this depends on each company and each person. There may be someone out there that likes to pay for everything, including company expenses... but that is completely up to their discretion.

Paying for things you would otherwise not because of company business means paying with company money. Common examples include lodging, transportation and meals on trips, equipment and services as approved etc.

If you are paying for things out of pocket that solely help the company conduct business something is likely wrong. For instance, the example you included about paying employee out of pocket weekly is basically a raise that allows the business to retain the said employee. Which is just business benefit.

On the other hand, something like an appropriate gift is a mostly personal gesture. It doesn't really help the company conduct business, just makes the employee happy and feel appreciated by the gifter. Sure, it will boost their morale which might translate to improved output but that's not company business. So that would be personal money in most cases.