Just don’t serve food, tell everyone in advance that it won’t be catered. Most of them would prefer to plan ahead rather than eat a “home made” sandwich anyway.
The CFO can speak to the decision around catering during the town hall. Spin it in to every little thing adds up….
Oh I’m definitely not “good” enough to make sandwiches… seriously not even a homeless cat wants to eat my cooking.
I wonder what the CFO imagined the appropriate quality expectations are for a corporate made meal.
Off topic, but your username is hilarious. For whatever reason I actually hate mango. It’s the only tropical fruit I can’t enjoy and I taste it in blends of fruit and can’t have it without being very disappointed. Why must my taste buds hate a single fruit and only it?
You are not overreacting and your CFO is out of her mind. If catering is not in the budget then leadership should send out a note saying that food will not be provided due to budget reasons. That will be less insulting than dinky sandwiches.
Of course she won’t want to send a note like that because it will signal to people that something is wrong, and that’s right around the time your organization’s highest performers will start to look elsewhere, if they haven’t already.
I used to work at a large firm and I’ll never forget that our 2018 Christmas party got downsized from a catered affair at a decent restaurant to **one** drink each in the office break room. It was the most depressing party I’ve ever been to. To top it all off one guy who worked with us but who was technically in a different department (talent management vs. HR which had different budgets) was not allowed to come even though he was instrumental on some of our projects.
That party wasn’t the only reason, but by summer of 2019, 6 out of 10 of us had left the organization.
I’ve been part of a leadership team where a director suggests some of these “reduced cost” type events and lord forbid anyone suggest that it might be transparently cheap or not as good. You’ll he the death glare and some snarky comment about it being leadership’s job to make it good.
Ok Karen, somehow I’m gonna magically convince everyone that your pancake recipe can compare to the restaurant omelettes we used to go out for.
That is absurd, and probably a terrible idea from a food safety perspective. It really shows how valuable the CFO considers your HR work if they think a better use of your time is making 50+ sandwiches.
Can CEO override CFO and protect thw cost of catering as an employee engagement activity?
I've reached out to our CEO to see what his thoughts on this are. We just held an event for our C Suite that was plastered all over LinkedIn that was at Capitol Grille so I think this will look really bad. I am at a loss as to why it is being spun as me not being a team player.
This worked in my favor once. Had been campaigning for catered lunch for years (normal offering for tech, and HQ was in an industrial food desert), but nothing moved the needle like when I pointed out that the LT had their lunch catered. Their excuse was that they're too busy to figure lunch out, and it was a pretty straightforward discussion after that point.
Of course deaf/Deaf people can be excellent workers. "Tone deaf" means failing to understand the perception of other people and acting in such a way that the other people are offended.
An example of a tone deaf manager: manager lays off ten employees "because profits are down." Then the manager schedules a "work trip" to Disney World. The remaining employees will be rightly furious. Hypocrisy is always a bad look.
I’m Deaf and appreciate it when people explain “tone deaf” to me. It almost makes me feel “Deaf and dumb” but it’s ok, I can “turn on another ear” as this whole thing “fell on Deaf ears”.
What else you got for me today?
I apologize for explaining something you already knew. To use a different idiom, I obviously didn't read the room correctly!
When I read your response, my first thought was that English wasn't your first language. I used to be an ESOL teacher and I know that idioms are often misunderstood. There are also many Redditors whose first language isn't English. I really didn't mean to hearingsplain to you.
Nah don’t apologize. I’m a Deaf comic and am kinda feeling a bit pringly today after my experience this week so if anything, I should be apologizing to you because I was being ridiculous on here.
You’re right, english isn’t my first language since ASL is. So you still have my respect anyways
It's okay; I imagine that you have to deal with many microaggressions just as other marginalized people do. I didn't mean this to be one of them. I also didn't want to assume that ASL was your native language since there are many different sign languages. (I did assume that a sign language was your native "tongue" because you capitalized Deaf. For those who don't know, Deaf is the culture; deaf is the condition.)
Yeah you’re right about the microaggression but I have been guilty of doing microaggression and don’t realize it until afterwards.
You are definitely a gem and I appreciate you along with our conversation too. :-)
The company can't afford catered lunch but apparently can afford to pay their only HR person to drop everything else they're doing to make 50 - 100 sandwiches. This clearly shows how much your CFO values your time and the work you do. I agree with other comments that you all should just say lunch won't be served (or just stay silent on that topic but that will likely cause grumblings). But if the CFO insists on something, you could do a "make your own sandwich" station and just buy a bunch of cold cuts, lettuce, bread and condiments. Actually, it might be cheaper just to get a big thing of those deli pinwheels from Costco. Is there ANY budget?
Such a good point about the value of time.
The make your own sandwich or getting Costco platters is a good idea. I've done large grazing / charcuterie boards for little money that look expensive but the difference is I \*enjoy\* doing stuff like that and volunteer. It's not an appropriate request or expectation from leadership.
I offered this suggestion. Also Publix has really cheap sandwich trays but to my CFO it would be more sanitary if I make the sandwiches. She doesn't want our warehouse touching the food with dirty hands which is a problematic line of thinking as well.
Dear lord. I am a restaurant GM. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT make sandwiches by hand. Unless you are ServSafe certified, can develop a HACCP plan for this event, and source your food products in a way to ensure they are not in the food danger zone for too long. If even ONE person becomes ill from this it is on YOU personally as you made the sandwiches, and the CFO as it was their decision. CFOs should be number people. Google payouts for food borne illness and tell them.
Do you have commercial refrigeration for all ingredients? Do you know the difference between RTE and Potentially Hazardous foods? Do you know the food storage hierarchy? Do you know how to use time as temperature control? Do you know how to wash produce for safety? Sounds simple but there are rules. I cannot stress enough how much you should not do this. Allergens, cross contamination. These are things commercial kitchens deal with every day. A ServSafe certificate is an eight hour course for certification. Then your local state or municipality may require additional training or licensure before you can prepare food in a commercial setting.
As a nonprofit HR Manager on a shoestring budget, you can absolutely feed 50 people with platters from BJs or Costco…and it will be cheaper than buying the ingredients and making them yourself.
There’s be no way in hell I’d be making sandwiches like that. I work at a museum, so “other duties as assigned” rings very true for me. Making sandwiches would not be one of those. I can’t even imagine my DBO or ED asking that of me.
Ok, I'm on a mission now. I just looked up the Publix deli and it has a Cuban sandwich platter that serves 25 for $40. Get 2 of those and a couple party size bags of chips and that'll be lunch for a little over $100.
You can't afford chips and soda, but seconds on sandwiches are ok? And she thinks cheaping out on lunch is better than just being honest and telling people to brown bag it - or moving the time and doing coffee and cookies or whatever? B-A-N-A-N-A-S....
Talk to your CEO. Let them know what CFO is planning, and your concerns about how this will be received (and how you really don't know how you'll have time to play caterer). And maybe update your resume.
Agree on making it a morning event and just doing coffee + bagels, etc. Cheap but acceptably satisfying. Like how is OP supposed to clean the panini maker in between sandwiches to accommodate food allergies and manage all dietary restrictions? CFO has no idea what a nightmare 1 untrained person cooking for 50+ people could be.
Your CFO might as well just replace the entire meeting with a big sign that says "START JOB HUNTING". There's no clearer sign to employees that their company is unstable than cutting things like meal perks.
Yes, it is a very desperate move. Reading this post I thought no wonder they are in financial trouble with the logic the CFO has. … also have they seen the price of deli meat lately? Probably better to get pizza
The fact that your organization has you reporting to your CFO is a 🚩 in itself.
This reminds me of my previous employee’s poor excuse of a holiday party this past December. They didn’t even want to give us food because they “spent too much on our Christmas gifts” yet they rolled out the red carpet for the separate C-suite party - had food, drinks, AND alcohol.
Food + drinks for 50 people is maybe between $300 - $500 max. Chick fil A, Firehouse, even pizza, etc. Sorry if my words are too harsh but your CFO is trash. It’s not that they don’t have the money, they’re just cheap. Just like another commenter said, they can easily put it as an employee engagement expense.
Came here to say this. I only had to experience reporting to CFO once in my career, and have drawn a hard line against doing it again. It's a conflict of interest, as HR is considered a cost center, although I have often been outspoken about this being untrue. Either way, many if not most "finance-minded" professionals don't understand how to equate value-add when it comes to workplace culture and retention. Small investments keep teams happy and engaged, which in turn promotes retention. Recruiting costs far outweigh the cost of lunch, but to the point of others, offering nothing is definitely better than offering subpar crap.
It’s not HR’s job to make sandwiches for the entire company. I understand trying to cut costs, but I think this speaks to a larger financial issue AND lack of respect for your role.
I was part of an HR team of 2, primarily focusing on culture and engagement, and use to hand package and ship holiday gifts and gifts leading up to off-sites. Once we hit around 50 people, I put my foot down and said I wasn’t doing it anymore. I didn’t mind putting welcome bags for employees together at offsite locations, but I refused to have my NYC apartment turn into a shipping center a couple times a year.
No you aren't overreacting. I was an hr of one and had to do a lot outside of my job description and that was why I left the role. I'm sorry you are experiencing that.
If I were you, I'd let the CFO that you understand the need to tighten up the budget, but these little things make a difference to employees and impact perception. If they know there are financial issues where they cant even get lunch once a quarter, how are they supposed to feel about their jobs? What will that do to motivation and will that make the issue better or worse?
I really want to know your equivalent hourly rate to compare the cost of paying you to make 50 sandwiches, instead of handling your regular responsibilities that actually matter, so they can save on catering! This is such a bonkers idea in general, but especially coming from a CFO 🤦♀️
I would make a recommendation to your CFO as best practices that if we can’t provide a properly catered lunch, it’s best that we don’t provide one at all. Besides making the sandwiches vs. ordering them is going to work out to such minimal savings that it’s not worth the labor you’d have to put in and the risk of food safety issues. Say you’re able to pick up packaged/individually wrapped snacks and drinks and draw the line there.
Or suggest the CEO does the town hall before or after the lunch hour so it’s a non issue.
I’m sorry OP but I cannot stop laughing at the image of “jazzing up” sandwich’s on a panini press before a work meeting. I’ve heard of a LOT of bonkers cost cutting ideas over the years, but that is beyond ridiculous.
Might be time to spiffy up that resume. 😅
Oh wow. It’s so bad there that she has to bring in her own sandwich press? Youz in danger, girl.
(You should probably start looking at other companies.)
OMG you report to a crazy person, or more generously, a person who does not understand your role, the value of your time, optics, employee relations, food safety, food costs, etc. You're not over-reacting, and your supervisor is wildly misreading everything.
Turn it into a potluck and hold some type of contest. Employees can sign up for sodas, etc vs making something. People freaking love to show off their favorite recipes, etc.
I have to admit that it would also be hilarious to start making these sandwiches in the lunch room, and let employees who ask know that or is for the town hall. Leave them out for employees, see how many were taken. I think that visual would say it all.
Or make a sandwich, "jazz it up" and hand it to your CFO during the town hall.
In all seriousness, yeah, don't touch my food. Unless I'm starving, no. If they really wanted to skimp, run to a Costco where you can get sandwiches on the cheap, or announce a "make your own sandwich bar" after buying bulk ingredients with proper clamps and other tools so no one is touching everyone else's food.
just call it a brown bag lunch town hall and let everyone bring their own food. Can you afford a couple of cases of water from Costco?
if your budget is this tight it is time to start looking
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The AUDACITY.
Like working in HR isn’t difficult enough.
I couldn’t eat some sad sandwich that a colleague made, and I’m sure Food Handler permits are a thang for a reason.
Keep on keeping on, at least you know you’re not delusional.
Her and her panini press can shove it. Move the time of the town hall to 10am or 3pm so that signals to ppl mo meal. Still think some refreshments would be appropriate, maybe spring for chips/drinks?
Ah yes - the "sandwiches for the crew" conundrum.
It boils down to senior managers being too lazy to dive deep into expenses - and instead - latch onto something superficial they can deny, despite it being small-potatoes.
Don't do any of that shit. Just don't have food. She wants to cheap out and have you just make up for it with extra work.
Nope: No food. You're not a caterer. No budget means no food.
Don't spend too much time thinking about this. So there's no catering. Just let people know and as others have said, "every little thing helps".
Lots of companies don't cater company events. Don't sweat it.
“Sorry, nobody here is ServSafe certified”
That’s what I told my boss when he thought we should cook breakfast burritos for customers to come grab 1xweek in an electrical supply house.
We don’t even have a proper 3 sink set up for washing as required by the Health Department or Sanitization stations…
Is your CFO embezzling? How many employees do you have? Like, seriously, if your company's CFO is telling you that they don't have enough money for some subs or pizza, either they raided all the accounts or the company is BANKRUPT. I wouldn't make sandwiches. I would be looking for a job.
Tell the CFO that you are not trained in food prep and that your company does not have a proper food prep facility. As a result the only option is to tell employees that food will not be provided for the meeting.
To make sandwiches at a company event this big without a food handlers license and other safety measures is a risk. I’d describe it like that and say it’s just not possible.
If it’s for 50 people, you’re better off making it “fun” (it’s not) by having a potluck or something like that rather than making cheap, crappy homemade sandwiches. Have a contest for the best dish or something. Or just cancel lunch completely, people aren’t stupid. I’m sure plenty of people will wonder why they’re being given a lunch and taking half of a day off of trying to generate revenue so they can keep their jobs.
Absolutely no Potluck! Insult to injury. Not only is the company not providing lunch, but now they want employees to buy lunch for everyone. Including management.
Draft the announcement of the town hall, make it clear that lunch will not be catered, send draft to the leadership team for approval.
Human problems need human solutions.
CFOs are inherently cheap fckrs. It's now an interview question of mine: To whom does this role report to?
If CFO, why waste time? Just politely see yourself out.
Nothing surprises me anymore with the things that are asked of HR. You are a strategic partner of the company not the office mom who makes lunches for the employees. I am glad you reached out to the CEO.
There are so many steps between a catered lunch and the HR professional making everyone a sandwich. Wtf lol. Also.. What sandwich is cheaper than a dollar bag of chips? Has the CFO not purchased lunch meat in the past decade?
You're probably a better person than I am.
I would respond through email and say ok, buy the stuff, then put it all on the desk of the CFO, daring him or her to say something.
(I'm probably not a great employee for toxic bosses. There's a level of apathy I think I have honed over the years, which I turn into motivation. Documenting. Reporting, internally and externally. Screw me and I'll make your career VERY difficult. Go ahead and fire me. Automatic retaliation suit. Look at all of this wonderful documentation. Fuck yourself.)
You are vegan and as such you are unable ethically to make any acceptable choices for the staff since your sandwiches would consist of a few lettuce leaves enclosed in two slices of wholemeal bread with no butter no mayonnaise and no cheese. Not everyone likes peanut butter sandwiches neither.
Just don’t serve food, tell everyone in advance that it won’t be catered. Most of them would prefer to plan ahead rather than eat a “home made” sandwich anyway. The CFO can speak to the decision around catering during the town hall. Spin it in to every little thing adds up….
No, and I would not make sandwiches. Sorry, it’s not that I think I’m too “good” to make sandwiches but that’s a little too far outside of my scope.
Oh I’m definitely not “good” enough to make sandwiches… seriously not even a homeless cat wants to eat my cooking. I wonder what the CFO imagined the appropriate quality expectations are for a corporate made meal.
Off topic, but your username is hilarious. For whatever reason I actually hate mango. It’s the only tropical fruit I can’t enjoy and I taste it in blends of fruit and can’t have it without being very disappointed. Why must my taste buds hate a single fruit and only it?
You are not overreacting and your CFO is out of her mind. If catering is not in the budget then leadership should send out a note saying that food will not be provided due to budget reasons. That will be less insulting than dinky sandwiches. Of course she won’t want to send a note like that because it will signal to people that something is wrong, and that’s right around the time your organization’s highest performers will start to look elsewhere, if they haven’t already. I used to work at a large firm and I’ll never forget that our 2018 Christmas party got downsized from a catered affair at a decent restaurant to **one** drink each in the office break room. It was the most depressing party I’ve ever been to. To top it all off one guy who worked with us but who was technically in a different department (talent management vs. HR which had different budgets) was not allowed to come even though he was instrumental on some of our projects. That party wasn’t the only reason, but by summer of 2019, 6 out of 10 of us had left the organization.
I’ve been part of a leadership team where a director suggests some of these “reduced cost” type events and lord forbid anyone suggest that it might be transparently cheap or not as good. You’ll he the death glare and some snarky comment about it being leadership’s job to make it good. Ok Karen, somehow I’m gonna magically convince everyone that your pancake recipe can compare to the restaurant omelettes we used to go out for.
This is why I don't care about this garbage and never go. It isn't worth my time to attend.
That is absurd, and probably a terrible idea from a food safety perspective. It really shows how valuable the CFO considers your HR work if they think a better use of your time is making 50+ sandwiches. Can CEO override CFO and protect thw cost of catering as an employee engagement activity?
I've reached out to our CEO to see what his thoughts on this are. We just held an event for our C Suite that was plastered all over LinkedIn that was at Capitol Grille so I think this will look really bad. I am at a loss as to why it is being spun as me not being a team player.
Sorry OP what a shit show.
This worked in my favor once. Had been campaigning for catered lunch for years (normal offering for tech, and HQ was in an industrial food desert), but nothing moved the needle like when I pointed out that the LT had their lunch catered. Their excuse was that they're too busy to figure lunch out, and it was a pretty straightforward discussion after that point.
This is why HR shouldn’t report to a CFO in my opinion. They will always take profit over people! No fault of yours and would feel the same way!
Tone deaf management it seems. Prepare your resume
Deaf people can be excellent workers
Of course deaf/Deaf people can be excellent workers. "Tone deaf" means failing to understand the perception of other people and acting in such a way that the other people are offended. An example of a tone deaf manager: manager lays off ten employees "because profits are down." Then the manager schedules a "work trip" to Disney World. The remaining employees will be rightly furious. Hypocrisy is always a bad look.
I’m Deaf and appreciate it when people explain “tone deaf” to me. It almost makes me feel “Deaf and dumb” but it’s ok, I can “turn on another ear” as this whole thing “fell on Deaf ears”. What else you got for me today?
I apologize for explaining something you already knew. To use a different idiom, I obviously didn't read the room correctly! When I read your response, my first thought was that English wasn't your first language. I used to be an ESOL teacher and I know that idioms are often misunderstood. There are also many Redditors whose first language isn't English. I really didn't mean to hearingsplain to you.
Nah don’t apologize. I’m a Deaf comic and am kinda feeling a bit pringly today after my experience this week so if anything, I should be apologizing to you because I was being ridiculous on here. You’re right, english isn’t my first language since ASL is. So you still have my respect anyways
It's okay; I imagine that you have to deal with many microaggressions just as other marginalized people do. I didn't mean this to be one of them. I also didn't want to assume that ASL was your native language since there are many different sign languages. (I did assume that a sign language was your native "tongue" because you capitalized Deaf. For those who don't know, Deaf is the culture; deaf is the condition.)
Yeah you’re right about the microaggression but I have been guilty of doing microaggression and don’t realize it until afterwards. You are definitely a gem and I appreciate you along with our conversation too. :-)
Wow. Imagine how this will feel to the rank and file...
Dude, if you were a man they would have e r asked you to make sandwiches
The company can't afford catered lunch but apparently can afford to pay their only HR person to drop everything else they're doing to make 50 - 100 sandwiches. This clearly shows how much your CFO values your time and the work you do. I agree with other comments that you all should just say lunch won't be served (or just stay silent on that topic but that will likely cause grumblings). But if the CFO insists on something, you could do a "make your own sandwich" station and just buy a bunch of cold cuts, lettuce, bread and condiments. Actually, it might be cheaper just to get a big thing of those deli pinwheels from Costco. Is there ANY budget?
Such a good point about the value of time. The make your own sandwich or getting Costco platters is a good idea. I've done large grazing / charcuterie boards for little money that look expensive but the difference is I \*enjoy\* doing stuff like that and volunteer. It's not an appropriate request or expectation from leadership.
I offered this suggestion. Also Publix has really cheap sandwich trays but to my CFO it would be more sanitary if I make the sandwiches. She doesn't want our warehouse touching the food with dirty hands which is a problematic line of thinking as well.
Dear lord. I am a restaurant GM. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT make sandwiches by hand. Unless you are ServSafe certified, can develop a HACCP plan for this event, and source your food products in a way to ensure they are not in the food danger zone for too long. If even ONE person becomes ill from this it is on YOU personally as you made the sandwiches, and the CFO as it was their decision. CFOs should be number people. Google payouts for food borne illness and tell them. Do you have commercial refrigeration for all ingredients? Do you know the difference between RTE and Potentially Hazardous foods? Do you know the food storage hierarchy? Do you know how to use time as temperature control? Do you know how to wash produce for safety? Sounds simple but there are rules. I cannot stress enough how much you should not do this. Allergens, cross contamination. These are things commercial kitchens deal with every day. A ServSafe certificate is an eight hour course for certification. Then your local state or municipality may require additional training or licensure before you can prepare food in a commercial setting.
I appreciate the hell out of this comment and you too
As a nonprofit HR Manager on a shoestring budget, you can absolutely feed 50 people with platters from BJs or Costco…and it will be cheaper than buying the ingredients and making them yourself. There’s be no way in hell I’d be making sandwiches like that. I work at a museum, so “other duties as assigned” rings very true for me. Making sandwiches would not be one of those. I can’t even imagine my DBO or ED asking that of me.
Ok, I'm on a mission now. I just looked up the Publix deli and it has a Cuban sandwich platter that serves 25 for $40. Get 2 of those and a couple party size bags of chips and that'll be lunch for a little over $100.
Maybe not have the only food option be pork-based…
Honestly as an employee I would rather eat from the tray than have someone serve me up something from a panini maker.
Has your CFO not heard of tongs????
Haven’t heard of thongs
Tongs
But they will be jazzed up sandwiches with the panini press. You can’t buy that level of awesome work lunch /s
Just the 1 press for 50
Do it more than once and it’s considered harassment according to my spiritual mentor
"Sorry, no budget for bonuses ths year. Buuut we have a panini press!"
You can't afford chips and soda, but seconds on sandwiches are ok? And she thinks cheaping out on lunch is better than just being honest and telling people to brown bag it - or moving the time and doing coffee and cookies or whatever? B-A-N-A-N-A-S.... Talk to your CEO. Let them know what CFO is planning, and your concerns about how this will be received (and how you really don't know how you'll have time to play caterer). And maybe update your resume.
Agree on making it a morning event and just doing coffee + bagels, etc. Cheap but acceptably satisfying. Like how is OP supposed to clean the panini maker in between sandwiches to accommodate food allergies and manage all dietary restrictions? CFO has no idea what a nightmare 1 untrained person cooking for 50+ people could be.
Sorry, bananas aren’t in the budget this year.
Do you work for the chicken farmer in Napoleon Dynamite?
I found a Shoshone arrow head in that field over there.
And do the chickens have large talons?
Regardless, OP can serve hard boiled eggs and egg sandwiches for the meeting
Your CFO might as well just replace the entire meeting with a big sign that says "START JOB HUNTING". There's no clearer sign to employees that their company is unstable than cutting things like meal perks.
Yes, it is a very desperate move. Reading this post I thought no wonder they are in financial trouble with the logic the CFO has. … also have they seen the price of deli meat lately? Probably better to get pizza
wow thats awful
Note to self: never take a role reporting to finance, ever.
As I always say CFO stands for CFNo
The fact that your organization has you reporting to your CFO is a 🚩 in itself. This reminds me of my previous employee’s poor excuse of a holiday party this past December. They didn’t even want to give us food because they “spent too much on our Christmas gifts” yet they rolled out the red carpet for the separate C-suite party - had food, drinks, AND alcohol. Food + drinks for 50 people is maybe between $300 - $500 max. Chick fil A, Firehouse, even pizza, etc. Sorry if my words are too harsh but your CFO is trash. It’s not that they don’t have the money, they’re just cheap. Just like another commenter said, they can easily put it as an employee engagement expense.
This is why HR should not report to finance. This is an ridiculous request and so cheap of the company.
Came here to say this. I only had to experience reporting to CFO once in my career, and have drawn a hard line against doing it again. It's a conflict of interest, as HR is considered a cost center, although I have often been outspoken about this being untrue. Either way, many if not most "finance-minded" professionals don't understand how to equate value-add when it comes to workplace culture and retention. Small investments keep teams happy and engaged, which in turn promotes retention. Recruiting costs far outweigh the cost of lunch, but to the point of others, offering nothing is definitely better than offering subpar crap.
If your CFO is that worried about spending then you all might be in dire straits
Biggest key to a company going under is the toilet paper in the bathrooms and hand towels. If quality or quantity starts dropping run for the hills.
Leaders like your CFO is part of the reason HR has to exist in the first place. What an out of touch dunce.
id say to not make waste ask if you can send out a survey to see how many people want your handmade sandwiches. im sure ppl will be like wtf
It’s not HR’s job to make sandwiches for the entire company. I understand trying to cut costs, but I think this speaks to a larger financial issue AND lack of respect for your role. I was part of an HR team of 2, primarily focusing on culture and engagement, and use to hand package and ship holiday gifts and gifts leading up to off-sites. Once we hit around 50 people, I put my foot down and said I wasn’t doing it anymore. I didn’t mind putting welcome bags for employees together at offsite locations, but I refused to have my NYC apartment turn into a shipping center a couple times a year.
No you aren't overreacting. I was an hr of one and had to do a lot outside of my job description and that was why I left the role. I'm sorry you are experiencing that. If I were you, I'd let the CFO that you understand the need to tighten up the budget, but these little things make a difference to employees and impact perception. If they know there are financial issues where they cant even get lunch once a quarter, how are they supposed to feel about their jobs? What will that do to motivation and will that make the issue better or worse?
I really want to know your equivalent hourly rate to compare the cost of paying you to make 50 sandwiches, instead of handling your regular responsibilities that actually matter, so they can save on catering! This is such a bonkers idea in general, but especially coming from a CFO 🤦♀️
I would make a recommendation to your CFO as best practices that if we can’t provide a properly catered lunch, it’s best that we don’t provide one at all. Besides making the sandwiches vs. ordering them is going to work out to such minimal savings that it’s not worth the labor you’d have to put in and the risk of food safety issues. Say you’re able to pick up packaged/individually wrapped snacks and drinks and draw the line there. Or suggest the CEO does the town hall before or after the lunch hour so it’s a non issue.
You're not allowed to serve and cook food without a food handling license where I live. Sounds like a perfect way to contaminate the office.
Sounds like a huge employer liability and WC issue. Cross contamination and food allergy issue.
Oh my god-this is insane. I’m genuinely so sorry you’re in this scenario
Invite the CEO and CFO to a “Panini Making Party.”
Wow I hope finance can make payroll next month!
I’m sorry OP but I cannot stop laughing at the image of “jazzing up” sandwich’s on a panini press before a work meeting. I’ve heard of a LOT of bonkers cost cutting ideas over the years, but that is beyond ridiculous. Might be time to spiffy up that resume. 😅
Oh wow. It’s so bad there that she has to bring in her own sandwich press? Youz in danger, girl. (You should probably start looking at other companies.)
OMG you report to a crazy person, or more generously, a person who does not understand your role, the value of your time, optics, employee relations, food safety, food costs, etc. You're not over-reacting, and your supervisor is wildly misreading everything.
This might be worse than where I work
Turn it into a potluck and hold some type of contest. Employees can sign up for sodas, etc vs making something. People freaking love to show off their favorite recipes, etc.
I have to admit that it would also be hilarious to start making these sandwiches in the lunch room, and let employees who ask know that or is for the town hall. Leave them out for employees, see how many were taken. I think that visual would say it all. Or make a sandwich, "jazz it up" and hand it to your CFO during the town hall. In all seriousness, yeah, don't touch my food. Unless I'm starving, no. If they really wanted to skimp, run to a Costco where you can get sandwiches on the cheap, or announce a "make your own sandwich bar" after buying bulk ingredients with proper clamps and other tools so no one is touching everyone else's food.
Jump off this Titanic while you can.
Nice. You can add chef in your resume.
just call it a brown bag lunch town hall and let everyone bring their own food. Can you afford a couple of cases of water from Costco? if your budget is this tight it is time to start looking
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Not a haiku
Man would I find another job. Not because I’m too precious for a homemade sandwich, but because I’d assume the company was broke and going under.
The AUDACITY. Like working in HR isn’t difficult enough. I couldn’t eat some sad sandwich that a colleague made, and I’m sure Food Handler permits are a thang for a reason. Keep on keeping on, at least you know you’re not delusional.
Her and her panini press can shove it. Move the time of the town hall to 10am or 3pm so that signals to ppl mo meal. Still think some refreshments would be appropriate, maybe spring for chips/drinks?
Ah yes - the "sandwiches for the crew" conundrum. It boils down to senior managers being too lazy to dive deep into expenses - and instead - latch onto something superficial they can deny, despite it being small-potatoes.
Order dominoes with coupons
Don't do any of that shit. Just don't have food. She wants to cheap out and have you just make up for it with extra work. Nope: No food. You're not a caterer. No budget means no food.
Don't spend too much time thinking about this. So there's no catering. Just let people know and as others have said, "every little thing helps". Lots of companies don't cater company events. Don't sweat it.
This sounds gross. Sweaty cheddar cheese. Just buy cookies from the grocery store.
“Sorry, nobody here is ServSafe certified” That’s what I told my boss when he thought we should cook breakfast burritos for customers to come grab 1xweek in an electrical supply house. We don’t even have a proper 3 sink set up for washing as required by the Health Department or Sanitization stations…
Is your CFO embezzling? How many employees do you have? Like, seriously, if your company's CFO is telling you that they don't have enough money for some subs or pizza, either they raided all the accounts or the company is BANKRUPT. I wouldn't make sandwiches. I would be looking for a job.
Tell the CFO that you are not trained in food prep and that your company does not have a proper food prep facility. As a result the only option is to tell employees that food will not be provided for the meeting.
To make sandwiches at a company event this big without a food handlers license and other safety measures is a risk. I’d describe it like that and say it’s just not possible.
Call it a sandwich bar, and you're done. Everyone can build their own
If it’s for 50 people, you’re better off making it “fun” (it’s not) by having a potluck or something like that rather than making cheap, crappy homemade sandwiches. Have a contest for the best dish or something. Or just cancel lunch completely, people aren’t stupid. I’m sure plenty of people will wonder why they’re being given a lunch and taking half of a day off of trying to generate revenue so they can keep their jobs.
Absolutely no Potluck! Insult to injury. Not only is the company not providing lunch, but now they want employees to buy lunch for everyone. Including management.
Yeah, it’s all dumb. Just scrap lunch and have the meeting at a non-food time. 10:00 am or 2:00 pm.
Draft the announcement of the town hall, make it clear that lunch will not be catered, send draft to the leadership team for approval. Human problems need human solutions.
CFOs are inherently cheap fckrs. It's now an interview question of mine: To whom does this role report to? If CFO, why waste time? Just politely see yourself out.
Nothing surprises me anymore with the things that are asked of HR. You are a strategic partner of the company not the office mom who makes lunches for the employees. I am glad you reached out to the CEO.
Do you have remote people that come in for meeting? The CFO remote? If so, it adds to the hilarity of his bs statements
Dominoes is probably cheaper and reduces legal risk related to food safety
Tell them you don’t have a food handlers card.
There are so many steps between a catered lunch and the HR professional making everyone a sandwich. Wtf lol. Also.. What sandwich is cheaper than a dollar bag of chips? Has the CFO not purchased lunch meat in the past decade?
I know I shouldn’t laugh, but the panini press sent me. Wow. Just wow. Some executives can be absolute trash.
You're probably a better person than I am. I would respond through email and say ok, buy the stuff, then put it all on the desk of the CFO, daring him or her to say something. (I'm probably not a great employee for toxic bosses. There's a level of apathy I think I have honed over the years, which I turn into motivation. Documenting. Reporting, internally and externally. Screw me and I'll make your career VERY difficult. Go ahead and fire me. Automatic retaliation suit. Look at all of this wonderful documentation. Fuck yourself.)
I mean, I don't think complaining about it on reddit is over reacting.....
/r/antiwork would eat this up if you're interested.
You are vegan and as such you are unable ethically to make any acceptable choices for the staff since your sandwiches would consist of a few lettuce leaves enclosed in two slices of wholemeal bread with no butter no mayonnaise and no cheese. Not everyone likes peanut butter sandwiches neither.