How much should you give to the office whip-round? - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat Business New Tech Economy Technology of Business Artificial Intelligence Africa Business Paths to Success Stingy bosses and spare change: How much should you give to the office whip-round? Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Office collections for colleagues are a tradition but can raise awkward questions By Alex Taylor BBC News reporter , Reporting from London Published 3 September 2026 Love them, hate them or barely know them, it's a colleague's birthday, wedding or leaving do and there's a collection to mark the occasion. So how much should you give? And if you're the person organising the collection, how do you chase without feeling like a loan shark or exposing unspoken team dynamics? 'It depends if I like you' The politics of the office whip-round are so sensitive that everyone the BBC spoke to asked us not to use their real name. For those on a tight budget, the rule is simple: only give to colleagues you've worked with directly. Lucy, a senior therapist in healthcare, says: "If we haven't worked together, my purse is staying shut." There's a blunter unspoken truth beneath the surface. "It also depends on if I like you," she admits. "One colleague's whole demeanor annoyed me, so when she moved roles, I wanted to celebrate with my own drink - not give her money." What information do we collect from this quiz? Former music journalist Layla is similar, only contributing if she "really likes" the person. Yet she often avoids office collections on principle, not personality, disliking how impersonal they can feel.