Bill Young |
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| Turkeys Voting for Christmas |
Sales and avoid the disapproving looks from the Accounts
Manager.
My friend, Keith, has a great way of managing the ethics of
corporate gifts. He divides them into three categories: “Yawn, not
another”, “Interesting, not bad”; and “Wow, wait till the neighbours
see this!”. To guide junior colleagues through the ethics of
Purchasing, he refuses anything with an unacceptable ’Wow!’
factor.
But what about Christmas! Isn’t it churlish to turn down a bottle (or
a case) of wine? And wouldn’t that smoked salmon hamper go to
waste otherwise? It is Christmas after all. And heck, it’s a tradition
in our house that we open the malt from Bloggins & Co after filling
the kids’ stockings on Christmas Eve. And no one could say I am
“under the influence” of the odd bottle. We are professional
buyers and immune to that sort of thing, aren’t we; no matter what
they say on the rest of the site?
Talking of which – it isn’t just Purchasing, is it? These days, the
Bloggins rep only visits my office after he has been to the stores,
the engineering department and the project management office.
Last year I had to hang around after work waiting for him to finish
his tour!
So here is an idea for managing the supply-chain Santas and the
Xmas excess.
Give it to charity! Easily said and almost as easily done. Ask an
efficient office administrator to coordinate the receipt, collection
and storage of gifts and to organise a raffle for which anybody can
buy a ticket. To coordinate, in my experience, has meant checking
the post-room and removing anything tasty before it even reached
the intended. Any box that arrived in December was scrutinized.
The bottles and hampers are collected and stored (preferably in a
locked cupboard) and a note is made of who sent them and for
whom they were intended.
Set a date for the raffle and organise a poll to decide which charity
will be the beneficiary and do it all with the maximum of publicity.
Invite a main board director to launch the raffle event and ask a
representative of the charity to attend and draw the raffle tickets.
Inform suppliers that all gifts will help a local charity and they will
get a mention at the raffle event as a sponsor. They will love it as
most find the Santa Claus role demeaning.
Now the really nice touch…
Invite every department, including the senior management team, to
take part by contributing their goodies and appointing their own
local Coordinator.
Ensure that everybody on the site is invited to buy raffle tickets and
involved in the choice of the charity that will benefit. “It’s a
wonderful solution to the problem” the CFO volunteers when
intercepted on the way to his car with a case of Beaujolais from the
auditors.
Everybody is happy.
Suppliers can give graciously, without having to discriminate as to
who gets what. Staff are not forced to choose between refusing a
gift and hiding it behind their desk until they can get it home. The
charity is happy with the donation, as well as with the publicity. And
all the staff are happy because they can win something for the
price of raffle ticket and take part in a great event.
And Purchasing is very happy. They get to host a popular event
and gain an image as social, humorous, inventive and generous –
all the things you know you are but have trouble persuading others!
Manager.
My friend, Keith, has a great way of managing the ethics of
corporate gifts. He divides them into three categories: “Yawn, not
another”, “Interesting, not bad”; and “Wow, wait till the neighbours
see this!”. To guide junior colleagues through the ethics of
Purchasing, he refuses anything with an unacceptable ’Wow!’
factor.
But what about Christmas! Isn’t it churlish to turn down a bottle (or
a case) of wine? And wouldn’t that smoked salmon hamper go to
waste otherwise? It is Christmas after all. And heck, it’s a tradition
in our house that we open the malt from Bloggins & Co after filling
the kids’ stockings on Christmas Eve. And no one could say I am
“under the influence” of the odd bottle. We are professional
buyers and immune to that sort of thing, aren’t we; no matter what
they say on the rest of the site?
Talking of which – it isn’t just Purchasing, is it? These days, the
Bloggins rep only visits my office after he has been to the stores,
the engineering department and the project management office.
Last year I had to hang around after work waiting for him to finish
his tour!
So here is an idea for managing the supply-chain Santas and the
Xmas excess.
Give it to charity! Easily said and almost as easily done. Ask an
efficient office administrator to coordinate the receipt, collection
and storage of gifts and to organise a raffle for which anybody can
buy a ticket. To coordinate, in my experience, has meant checking
the post-room and removing anything tasty before it even reached
the intended. Any box that arrived in December was scrutinized.
The bottles and hampers are collected and stored (preferably in a
locked cupboard) and a note is made of who sent them and for
whom they were intended.
Set a date for the raffle and organise a poll to decide which charity
will be the beneficiary and do it all with the maximum of publicity.
Invite a main board director to launch the raffle event and ask a
representative of the charity to attend and draw the raffle tickets.
Inform suppliers that all gifts will help a local charity and they will
get a mention at the raffle event as a sponsor. They will love it as
most find the Santa Claus role demeaning.
Now the really nice touch…
Invite every department, including the senior management team, to
take part by contributing their goodies and appointing their own
local Coordinator.
Ensure that everybody on the site is invited to buy raffle tickets and
involved in the choice of the charity that will benefit. “It’s a
wonderful solution to the problem” the CFO volunteers when
intercepted on the way to his car with a case of Beaujolais from the
auditors.
Everybody is happy.
Suppliers can give graciously, without having to discriminate as to
who gets what. Staff are not forced to choose between refusing a
gift and hiding it behind their desk until they can get it home. The
charity is happy with the donation, as well as with the publicity. And
all the staff are happy because they can win something for the
price of raffle ticket and take part in a great event.
And Purchasing is very happy. They get to host a popular event
and gain an image as social, humorous, inventive and generous –
all the things you know you are but have trouble persuading others!