An Australian corporate boss has come under fire for asking staff to chip in to help fund his upcoming work Christmas party.
An employee claimed that the unnamed company, which reportedly made $500 million last year, made the strange request to employees earlier this week.
“I’ve never encountered this before, but my new workplace asks employees to take money out of their paycheck to pay for the work Christmas party,” they wrote.
‘Is this normal in large companies? I always worked in small companies, which also went all out and paid, so I was confused.
“They also encourage people to bring their partners, but if they can’t afford a party, maybe stick with their current staff?”
The worker later clarified in the comments that it was not mandatory for staff to attend the party, a request that would likely be considered illegal in Australia.
“It’s not mandatory, but there is definitely an unspoken push for everyone to go,” they added.
“For some reason I seem to be the only one who thinks this is weird too, everyone else I’ve talked to doesn’t care.”
An Australian boss was criticized for requiring employees to pay for their upcoming Christmas party with their paychecks (file image)
Hundreds of commenters assured the worker that they were right to be concerned about the request.
Not only is it weird, it’s downright insulting. “Work pays for the office party,” one wrote.
Another added: ‘Honestly, I’m absolutely shocked on his part. I would probably take it personally to HR as a formal complaint.
‘Any big corporate party I’ve attended has been free for staff. Smaller company events have also been free and sometimes partners have been included as well,” wrote another.
“What a joke,” said another.
Leadership and workplace culture expert Tammy Tansley agreed that charging employees for a Christmas party is “quite unusual,” but suspects it could be an attempt to distance the corporation from any misconduct at the event.
“Drunken behavior, harassment/assault, stupidity that leads to regrets on Monday morning,” Tansley said. yahoo.
“(But) they might have a hard time arguing that it’s not a company event if they’re not actually paying for it.”
Hundreds of commenters criticized the chief’s request as unusual and “downright insulting.”
He added that smaller companies could ask workers to pay their own expenses or compensate partners or family members.
“Sometimes if it’s a family event, the company may subsidize the tickets or food/catering and there may still be an expectation for employees to contribute in some way,” Ms Tansley said.
‘However, smaller team parties/celebrations/lunches may be a pay-as-you-go arrangement, as there are often multiple celebrations over the Christmas period, and it is probably not realistic or reasonable to ask the company to fund them all. . ‘