Is it time to scrap Secret Santa?

Festive findings

In November 2023 a survey conducted by UK Money Bloggers revealed that:

• £167 million is spent on workplace Secret Santa gifts annually
• the average Secret Santa gift costs £15.50; and
• nearly a third of the annual spend, i.e. £60 million, is wasted as 36% of Secret Santa participants end up not keeping the gift that they’ve received, i.e. they throw or give it away or donate it to charity.

Too much pressure

The research also found that Secret Santa causes headaches for staff with:

• 72% of employees wanting to see changes to Secret Santa purely because of cost of living pressures
• 31% of employees wanting to see a strict spending limit introduced; and
• 18% of employees feeling that the Secret Santa tradition brings an additional stress which they don’t need.

Pointless tradition

On top of this, of those questioned:

• 30% stated that they would prefer not to participate in their employer’s workplace Secret Santa at all
• 29% said that they dislike opening gifts in front of colleagues
• 24% had purchased a gift for a colleague that they’d never spoken to; and
• 22% would prefer to make a donation to charity instead of buying a Secret Santa gift.

Ditch the tradition?

These findings suggest that Secret Santa has had its day and it’s time to ditch this festive tradition. This is, of course, entirely up to you and you don’t have to ask staff for their permission if you want to consign Secret Santa to history.

Tip. If you don’t want to go quite that far unilaterally, you could ask staff for their views and if they would like to try alternative options to your usual Secret Santa which could include: setting a spending limit; having a lucky dip instead of purchasing a gift for a particular colleague; or holding a voluntary collection for a nominated or popular charity.

Take a poll

It’s also worth asking staff for their views on Secret Santa and if they want to keep the tradition going or change it.

If the majority of your employees wish to keep Secret Santa - either with or without any changes - you should make participation voluntary and prohibit any gifts which may be inappropriate or offensive. The latter is important because inappropriate or offensive Secret Santa gifts could lead to allegations of bullying, harassment and/or discrimination.

Tip. An alternative to Secret Santa is a charity food and/or clothing bank donation, e.g. rather than buying gifts for colleagues new and second-hand items are donated to a local good cause. This will take a little organising, but may be far more welcome than the traditional Secret Santa.