Gift or Bribe??
Here is an interesting article about this topic http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/33308.html.
There is a thin line between gifts and bribery.
It can be difficult to determine this line in foreign countries.
Do you know countries with special regulations regarding gifts and bribery?
What for example if you work at the purchase department and you get invited to visit a potential supplier, who pays your flight and a room in a 5star hotel?
What if he also offers you to extend your trip and relax 3 more days.....
Where do you think bribery begins?
I do also think that there is a thin line between gifts or bribery. It is often not clear what can be counted as a gift and what is already bribery. I think it also depends on the perception of a person. For someone getting a flight and a 5 star hotel sponsored is self-evident wheras for someone else this is a case of bribery.
AntwortenLöschenRegarding gifts and bribery I do know that in Austria workes are only allowed to take gifts from the employer/third parties which are minor and for example constitute to be birthday or christmas presents.
Working in the tourism field during my PTS i made some experiences regarding this topic: as Lisa said, the line between bribery and gifts is thin. Employees of the tourism agency were offered, until some years ago, cheap deals in hotels or ski lift tickets etc. from their tourism region partners... When i was working there the company received new guidelines from the headquarters where they had to sign that they will not accept any gifts from tourism partners over 50€ i think... which is of course not much, and the nice advantages the employees had before (hotel deals, and so on) are now not possible anymore. To what point this is controlled, is a whole other discussion.
AntwortenLöschenI don't know very much about any governmental regulations, but I know that there are many organizations, which have clear rules. Like Laura said it can be that they define a maximum amount of what the gift is worth, but some companies forbid their employees to take anything at all. The company I did my PTS in sent out flowers and wine to the most important customers once a quarter or so, but sometimes even the flowers were returned. I think that regulations like this will be implemented more and more in the future, so this kind of bribery will get limited. Of course there are always some ways "around". For example: pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to invite doctors for dinner anymore, however, if they offer it in the process of some kind of training, it's no problem. I guess there will always be a loophole.
AntwortenLöschenThis is a great topic! For me as a native Russian it was quite an experience to live in Finland ;) In Russia it is very traditional to give gifts - to lecturers, to co-workers, to employer and yes now you all might say "Russians are only bribing" but it is not true it is very cultural thing and we just like to make another person feel good and there is nothing behind these gifts!
AntwortenLöschenSo I was living in Finland and of course in the end of the semester I decided to give gifts to some of the professors because I appreciated their help and effort and what do you think my Finnish colleagues found it as a "russian bribery" :)
But I still gave my presents because from my perspective you can see person's intentions when he gives a gift and in the end everyone was happy!