Where are the modern day Scrooges this Christmas?

Employers who turn down the heating even though there are still staff working, take home presents sent in for staff or refuse to allow the decorations to go up are just a few examples published by the TUC today of the many modern day Scrooges to be found in the UK’s offices and factories.

Last year when the TUC asked the nation’s workers to email in their stories of stingy bosses at Christmas, the most common complaints were about mean employers who forced staff who would normally be in work on the day on which Christmas Day falls, either to lose pay or make up the time at a later date.

Equally common were gripes from staff whose penny pinching employers made them use a day from their statutory annual leave to cover the days off over the festive break. But thankfully, says the TUC, this could be the last year that employees have to take the Christmas bank holidays from their annual leave.

The Government has promised to change the law so that full time employees get the UK’s eight bank holidays in addition to the statutory minimum of 20 day’s leave. (At the moment there is no legal right to bank holidays and staff whose bosses count Christmas leave as part of this can end up with as little as 12 day’s holiday a year.)

Now, in an attempt to spread some festive cheer even in those workplaces where employers are doing their level best to keep the Christmas spirit out, the TUC has developed a special secret Santa generator on workSMART, its working life website.

workSMART has made life easier for the people who are usually charged with organising this popular festive office pastime, where everyone in the team buys a gift for someone else, and no-one knows who it was that bought the present they receive.

Simply by inputting all the emails of everyone in the office onto the website, workSMART will anonymously pair everyone and then email them to tell them who to buy for.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: It would be nice to think that over the past year the ghosts from Dickens’ ’A Christmas Carol’ have been to see some of our modern day Ebenezer Scrooges to try to persuade them to be a little more generous to their staff at Christmas. But I fear that few of last year’s worst examples will have truly mended their ways.

Christmas should be the time when bosses show a bit of gratitude for all the hard work their staff put in all year round and spread some Christmas cheer in their workplaces. Sadly this show of goodwill is beyond a minority of employers, but even in those workplaces devoid of any festive spirit, staff can at the very least create their own with our easy-to-use secret Santa.

Examples of Christmas scroogery that the UK’s workers emailed to the TUC last Christmas include employers who:

Turn the heating off to save money when only a skeleton staff are working over the Christmas break Force staff who are usually at work the day that Christmas or New Year’s Day falls to make up the time or lose a day’s pay Count the Christmas bank holidays as part of their employees’ four weeks’ of statutory leave Threaten staff who take a day off ill with the loss of their Christmas bonus Refuse to allow Christmas decorations to go up, cancelling the office party and not allowing staff any time to attend the office Christmas lunch Only pay staff at work over the Christmas bank holiday the same hourly rate that they earn the rest of the year Shred Christmas cards sent to staff and take home any presents received for themselves Give presents to permanent employees but nothing to long-serving agency workers. Employees who are keen to tell the TUC about their 2005 experiences of Ebenezer Scrooge and other Dickensian workplace practices can do so anonymously at: