Your office mates and your boss think that giving you a cake on your birthday will make you feel special and appreciated. In some offices, they believe that celebrating birthdays creates a family environment. Some offices might pay for the cake right out of the company account. In other offices, a designated employee - usually the receptionist or HR coordinator -comes around with a little tin-can, asking you to chip a couple of dollars each month toward the office birthday fund. I have a good reason to believe that celebrating my birthday in the office does not create a family environment, especially if I am asked to contribute financially toward the cause. Actually, I have several reasons:
- my parents never asked me to help pay for my brother’s birthday cake
- it was okay to tell my parents I didn’t like the cake, or that I preferred not to have cake at all - this did not offend them
- when I blew out the candles at home, I was not left standing in the afterglow of overhead fluorescent lighting
- my family did not secretly pass around a birthday card to the neighbors who barely knew me to sign a heartfelt message
- at home, I never felt that having birthday cake with my family provided a quick break from the daily routine
According to the founder and director of an executive coaching firm (
see full article in the Baltimore Business Journal), “for quite a few companies, it’s part of a program for employee retention.” Well, I’ll be damned. What a brilliant idea! How absolutely right. My boss doesn’t need to give me a raise or give me the corner office to entice me to stick around. Birthday cake will do the trick! (Or even a handful of company pens your boss received from yesterday's corporate lunch meeting he went to. Who can't delight in receiving a free, promotional corporate pen?)
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