How Can I Encourage Employees to Contribute to Birthday Celebrations Amid Budget Cuts?

Dear Seniors,

In my organization, we celebrate employees' birthdays on the last day of the month. Due to financial crises, management is unable to bear the cost of such celebrations. Therefore, as the HR representative for the organization, I would like to encourage employees to contribute Rs. 50-100 to the employee fund. The amount will be directly deducted from their salary. Could anyone assist me in drafting an email to all employees that motivates them and encourages them to contribute to the celebration?

Thanks,

Ankita

Hello Ankita,

Such types of celebrations should be left to the teams. Let every single team decide how they want to celebrate the birthday of their colleague. The contribution can vary based on the size of the team. In the email, you can mention this informal activity and also seek employees' views.

Hi,

It would be better to let the team decide whether they are going to contribute or not. You can't force them to shell out 50-100 bucks.

Do not opt for salary deduction; instead, you can request all employees for their voluntary contribution.

Saurabh

Hello Ankita,

If it is a trend in your organization, then you can continue it with some good and new ideas. For example, on the birthday celebration day, you can organize a quiz competition involving activities such as singing, debating, dancing, etc. Additionally, providing gifts to the employees will encourage them to contribute more in terms of their efforts.

I hope you understand my idea, and it will definitely help you.

Hi Ankita,

I am not sure if you can deduct this amount from the employee's salary. Alternatively, you can ask them to contribute this amount in the last week.

For birthday celebrations, contributions should not be taken from employees. Also, they should not be forced to do so. If there is a financial crisis, stop celebrating altogether or simply give a card.

Seeking a contribution to substitute what was the organization's policy earlier may not be a good idea, as it reflects the organization in a poor light. Moreover, it starts pinching many employees for a variety of reasons.

Be more creative and ask team members to wish by email in maybe:
- Poem form - couplets
- Humorous form - joke
- Remembering a memorable birthday of oneself

We touch the emotions of an employee by celebrating occasions like his birthday. You can still make him feel important on that day by being creative.

Warm Regards,
Manish Mohan
Chief Consultant - T&D
Seed Learning Solutions (P) Ltd.
seedlearningsolutions@gmail.com

Here it goes!!!Ankita, this is a mail which i had sent to my employees when planned for a similar think..

Dear All,

Would like to share an exciting initiative with you all.

As we all knew that we have been celebrating team birthdays with own/team contributions. We thought of involving each and every employee in contributing towards such celebrations to make the moments a memorable one. Lets contribute Rs.50/- (Rupees fifty only) each per month for celebrating special occasions such as birthdays,

get-togethers, Outings, buying wedding gifts etc.

This is an initiative to bring in excitement and joy by celebrating every moment of our life and please treat this as optional for employee and there is no restriction on contribution, however, by joining hands together we can do wonders.

Mmmmm… thinking of an appropriate name for this fund?

Let's name it… share a suitable name with us.

Importantly, account of expenditure will be maintained for the amount collected and would be available for team access at all times.

Your valuable suggestions and Ideas are highly appreciated.

Dear VIJAYASINBOX,

I am requesting you to please check out the Grammar and English usage PowerPoint presentations available on this site. I appreciate your good work in helping Ankita, but the English that you have used for your note is poor. Not only are there spelling mistakes, but there is also a lack of consistency in tenses.

As a friend, I suggest that you review your mistakes. All the best.

Dear VIJAYASINBOX,

Kindly check your reply posted here for gross mistakes - both in spellings and tenses. Please refer to the grammar and good English resources on this site - cite HR. All the best! This is just a friendly suggestion and not a critical remark.

It has to be voluntary and team based, not mandatory and companywide. In the companies I worked in the past, each team or a particular director's organization, did (and probably still do) celebrate employees' birthdays. The funds came from the manager's or Director's discretionary (operational) budget. However, there have been occasions when the team members contributed towards such a celebration (especially when the company was aiming to reduce operational expense).
As an employee and a team member, I don't mind spending $10 a month to celebrate my colleagues' birthdays. As a manager, I don't have any problem selling that idea to my staff either. However, it would be a real hard buy for me as an employee to have $10 deducted from my salary every month to celebrate the birthday of someone I don't know, I never met, and I don't work with, on day to day basis. As a manager, it is really hard for me to sell that idea as well.
If the company takes a stand saying, we won't be paying for such celebrations as a cost-cutting measure, I can live with that. As an HR person, if you still want to have that celebration to motivate employees, then you could make a suggestion to the managers (or Directors and ask them to cascade it down to their managerial staff) that it is a good idea to organize such a celebration within their own teams and ask their staff to contribute towards that voluntarily.
If you mandate a salary deduction, the result would be the exact opposite of what you want, and could create a backlash among your employees.
Good luck implementing that J

--Som G

Ankita, what you can do for employees to motivate them to celebrate birthdays is to simply design a birthday card or a wish with birthday quotes and colorful themes, and take a colored printout to paste it somewhere in the respective department. Notice boards would serve this purpose well. By doing this, you will not only fulfill your responsibility as an HR representative with a positive attitude towards birthdays but also influence and encourage team members to celebrate their colleagues' birthdays.

You can also talk to department heads to help you take an initiative and discuss with management the idea of contributing a small amount each month to help retain employees in the long term.

According to me:

1. Birthday celebrations in corporates should be funded by the management.

2. Employees should not be required to contribute, as they may question why they have to spend money on others.

3. In case of financial constraints, birthdays can be celebrated by giving cards to respective employees, signed by all other staff members.

Don't force employees with terms like 'Salary Deduction', etc. Ask them for a voluntary contribution. Show your practical side here, dear.

Sathya

Such types of deductions from the salary without the employee's permission may land you in problems. It would be better if they contribute voluntarily.

With regards,
Ashwin Patil

My dear,

Please send a circular with the office boy for collection as mentioned below, and whatever amount is collected, that amount can be used to arrange the birthday celebration.

[VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS ONLY]
Consent to collect voluntary contributions towards Birthday celebrations.

S.No / Name of the Employee / Designation / Amount / Signature / Remarks