‘I don’t even like them’: How much should you give to office gift collections?

Junior workers can often face the biggest dilemma. Felicity, now mid-career, remembers one horror story from her first job as a teenager.

Working at a car garage aged 17, she was suddenly thrust an envelope to give money for a mechanic who was retiring. The team was small and tight-knit, so everyone was expected to contribute.

“Not only did I not really know anyone at that stage, but I also had no money to give – I was still living at home and being paid hardly anything.

“As it was after lunch, I’d used my notes. In a panic I threw in all the spare change I had left, basically a load of coppers.”

She says: “I thought I’d got away with it until the person collecting shouted ‘who on earth put in all this change’. Everyone laughed and I couldn’t ever admit it was me.”

Today, Felicity usually gives between £5 and £10 but goes up to £20 for a close work friend or long-time colleague.