An Overachiever’s Guide to Bringing Vacation Treats Back to the Office
Treating co-workers to goodies from your vacation can be a career-enhancing move. It can also backfire. Coming back to the office with souvenirs and treats from summer travels is as much a rite of the season as taking the vacation itself.
Done the right way, giving gifts at work can be a light-touch—and often chocolate-coated—way to bolster office relationships and impress your boss, business etiquette coaches say. Yet gifts can go wrong, and those that are too personal or expensive can land awkwardly or give you a reputation as a kiss-up. Sweta Regmi, 43 years old, gave cigars to two bosses at the bank where she worked after traveling to Cuba a few years ago.
One manager loved his. The other told her he had asthma. She made up for the faux pas by bringing the asthmatic boss a homemade lunch, Regmi says.
When she was laid off in a round of job cuts later that year, both managers strongly recommended her in her job hunt. The gifts from Cuba helped solidify the rapport, she says. “No gift would climb me up the ladder," says Regmi, who has gone onto supervisor roles herself and now gives immigrants career and resume advice in Greater Sudbury, Ontario.
Yet “when you do it genuinely, authentically, the relationship lasts forever." Rule No. 1: Keep gifts inexpensive and low-stakes, such as saltwater taffy from that week in Cape Cod or chocolates from your Paris getaway. If you want to personalize it, say, for the boss, add a short, handwritten note.
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