Milliennials say that “Secret Santa” gift exchanges in the workplace cause anxiety because they are worried about being too much of a Grinch with gift-giving, according to a report.
The recent report from the UK job board Jobsite said that 26 percent of younger workers feel pressured to contribute more to office celebrations to the point where they are going into debt or dipping into their hard-earned savings to put on an image at work.
About 17 percent said their coworkers judged them based on the gift they picked, and 73 percent of millennials felt they over-contributed to an office party gift compared with 58 percent of the workforce in the United Kingdom, according to the report.
“Secret Santa” gift exchanges typically happen when someone draws a name and gives an anonymous gift to the person whose name is drawn.
But nearly one in three millennials would like to see the tradition banned.
Dr. Ashley Weinberg, a workplace psychology expert at the University of Salford in Manchester, said the gift exchange has become an anxiety trigger for young people who fear they will be humiliated if a present is not well-liked.
Weinburg told the Telegraph that workplaces could ease anxiety by establishing spending limits on gifts.