by Obella Marie D. Ronsairo, DECEMBER 2022

Most companies have a gift policy or at least a code of conduct that provides guidance on the acceptance of gifts from vendors.  Vendors sometimes seek to express their appreciation for the company business by offering gifts, food, meals, and invitations to parties. This can especially be true during the holiday season. 

Some companies permit the staff to accept nothing, not even pens and calendars.  Some are more realistic where food items and low-value branded gifts are acceptable, usually up to a fixed value.  

Procurement personnel needs to retain their integrity and show transparency in their performance. If any supplier is offering the same, the person shall deny and clearly mention that acceptance of any gifts is against the organization’s policy. 

Nevertheless, as part of their promotional campaign , sometimes suppliers may offer Notebooks, Calendars, inexpensive ballpoint pens, and simple penholders. Normally, these are accepted and kept centrally in the organization. Again, these are distributed among all the staff members through a mechanism thus again confirming transparency. Considering the upcoming holiday season, every company should clearly communicate its gift policy to any external party that could influence every department’s behavior. This includes not only current suppliers but potential suppliers, consultants, business advisors, and other affiliates. 

As part of the company’s policy in gift giving, we can review and refresh our knowledge in gifts receiving guidelines through our Corporate Governance Information Series. 

Sources:

Purchasing and Procurement Ethics, Gifts & Gratuities (purchasing-procurement-center.com) 

https://www.procurious.com/procurement-news/how-to-manage-unwanted-supplier-gifts

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About the writer:

Obella Marie D. Ronsairo. Loves to feature life and see the beauty of every side of the stories. Have been with the newsletter team for almost two years since becoming part of the MPTSouth family. Gained a lot of fun, experience and knowledge through this growing team and helped her to develop more of her skills in writing and creativity.