Aussie boss under fire for ridiculous request of staff ahead of Christmas party

An Australian business boss has come under fire for asking staff to contribute to help fund their upcoming work Christmas party.

An employee claimed that the unnamed company, which reportedly made $500 million last fiscal year, made the bizarre request to employees earlier this week.

“I’ve never come across this before, but my new workplace is asking employees to take money out of their wages to pay for the work Christmas party,” they wrote.

‘Is this normal in large companies? I’ve always worked in small companies that pulled out all the stops and paid, so I was confused.

‘They also encourage people to bring their partners, but if they can’t afford a party, why not just stick with your own staff?’

The employee later clarified in 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’s definitely an unspoken push for everyone to go,” she added.

“For some reason I seem to be the only one who thinks this is weird too, the rest I’ve talked to don’t care.”

Hundreds of commenters assured the employee that they were legitimately concerned about the request.

‘Not just weird, but downright insulting. Work pays for the office party,” one person wrote.

Another added: ‘I’m honestly absolutely shocked on your behalf. I would probably personally take that to HR as a formal complaint.”

‘Every major company party I’ve ever been to was free for the staff. Smaller corporate events have also been free, and sometimes with partners,” wrote another.

“What a joke,” said another.

Workplace culture and leadership expert Tammy Tansley agreed that charging employees for a Christmas party is “fairly unusual” but suspected it could be an attempt to distance the company from any misconduct during the event.

“Drunken behavior, intimidation/assault, stupidity leading to Monday morning regrets,” Ms. Tansley said Yahoo.

‘[But] they may have difficulty claiming it’s not a corporate event if they don’t actually pay for it.”

Hundreds of commenters called the boss’s request unusual and ‘downright insulting’

She added that smaller companies could ask their employees to pay their own costs or compensate partners or family members.

“If it’s a family event, sometimes the company can subsidize the tickets or food/catering and there can still be an expectation that employees 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 unlikely to be realistic or reasonable to ask the company to fund them all . ‘