These are the worst Christmas presents and bonuses bosses are giving their staff from $5 gift cards to a ‘digital cake’

Australian workers are sharing the worst Christmas gifts and bonuses they've ever received from their employers.

While there are a lucky few who receive generous gifts and cash bonuses from their bosses, others say their workplace shouldn't have bothered to call their gifts “thoughtless” and “offensive.”

Many people said they received Christmas hams and turkeys, while others received $10 Starbucks vouchers, a cup of hot chocolate or a “digital cake,” despite working at multi-million dollar companies.

“What cheap/terrible holiday bonuses are people getting from work this year?” someone asked in a Reddit thread.

A sales executive said that their team was given a book on sales by their boss, which they then had to study.

Many people received Christmas hams and turkeys: 'They were delivered to your desk halfway through the day. There wasn't enough room in our fridge to store them all,” said one

“We are supposed to read this book during our downtime (whenever that is) and then management wants to go through the book chapter by chapter during our weekly team meetings,” they said.

Another worked in a store that sold cheesecakes. The staff got a cheesecake from another cheap supermarket.

'We have a digital cake. As in a fragment that is included in an email as a thank you. There's a grocery store right across the street,” one woman said.

“IT thought it would be good to run a phishing email test that looked like the company was giving everyone a $50 Amazon card. To say people were angry is an understatement,” another recalled.

'We'll get a pinata at the party. This way we can crawl around on the ground for treats while the boss watches. Nice,” wrote a third.

One employee said they expected a $1,000 to $5,000 bonus around Christmas because their company had doubled sales in the past year, but were very disappointed.

“My owner was super excited to hand me a thick, padded envelope with my bonus inside before he and his wife left for Aruba for a month,” he explained.

“I opened it in my car before I went home, and there was a Shun Folding Steak Knife inside. Apparently it was so I could bring my own steak knife to all the fancy restaurant dinners I was going to.”

One man expected a bonus of up to $5,000 but instead got a steak knife for 'all the fancy steak dinners,' his boos said he'd get after company sales grew

Someone said they had to donate $25 for a mandatory Christmas party, while another received nothing but a cup of hot chocolate from a well-known and wealthy car company.

Many reported receiving hams and turkeys as well as Starbucks gift cards with barely enough to buy one cup of coffee, while others were sadly fired from their jobs.

'My husband has been fired. So considering he was the sole income provider for our family of four, I'd say that's pretty terrible,” one woman responded.

'Everyone bought a ham for a year's work. It didn't matter if you couldn't eat ham. They were delivered to your desk mid-day. There wasn't enough room in our fridge to store them all,” a second replied.

“A ham and a Starbucks gift card, the rest of the managers get cash bonuses,” a third added.

Someone said they had to donate $25 for a mandatory Christmas party, while others were even sadly fired

'We have not received anything in recent years. Other than a veiled threat that we should be grateful to be employed,” said a fourth.

A man said his wife was given a QR code to purchase a company item such as a water bottle or sweatshirt.

“Only the payment link is broken, so she can't actually order anything,” he added.

Another was given an extra day off, but there were strict conditions.

“It has to be approved three weeks in advance, it can't be between December 20 and January 10, it can't be on a Friday or a weekend, and we should come when requested,” they said. .

“The CEO took vacation for the entire month of December and January.”

And finally, a worker said, “We were told we weren't getting anything. And management's excuse was, 'Well, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so that wouldn't be fair.'

“My colleague hit the nail on the head: 'I've never heard of diversity being weaponized until I heard that.'”