Spherion: Most American workers don’t exchange holiday gifts

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A majority of American workers don’t plan to give gifts to their co-workers (56 percent), boss (59 percent) or other colleagues (61 percent).

Americans turn into Grinches when it comes to holiday gift giving at the office, according to survey from Atlanta employment agency Spherion.

A majority of American workers don't plan to give gifts to their co-workers (56 percent), boss (59 percent) or other colleagues (61 percent).

Nearly half of workers who aren't planning to buy gifts for anyone at work for reasons other than money (43 percent) don't want to because they feel they would have to buy something for everyone and they consider that to be "too much."

More than a quarter of these workers (28 percent) say they don't know their co-workers well enough to buy them gifts.

And, 23 percent report they don't plan to buy gifts for others because they don't want to appear as though they are trying to gain favoritism.

But when workers plan to buy gifts for others in the workplace, they plan to spend big. Workers who plan to buy holiday gifts this year will spend an average of $67 to buy gifts for their co-workers/peers.

Workers with direct reports will spend an average of $66 on them, and workers plan to spend an average of $54 on their boss's gifts and $50 on other colleagues.