It is that time of the year when gift-hampers fly all over as part of the Christmas celebrations. This is usually delivered from family and friends to loved ones and amongst corporate institutions especially as a way of deepening business relationships. JOY BUSINESS “Christmas-Market” series has however revealed some interesting developments in recent times regarding this annual ritual. The delivery of hampers is usually witnessed across Corporate Ghana during the Christmas season. Offices are usually inundated with hampers from the middle of December. This however seems to have not only delayed this year but also seen drastic decline in number and frequency. Several reasons are being conjectured and this includes assertions that the practice could be losing relevance in these times and/or the need for companies to cut down on such secondary expenses. JOY BUSINESS checks have however revealed some companies are rather moving away from the traditional hampers of a basket of items all packaged in the attractive Christmas wrappers. They are now giving out long-lasting gifts of much more value to both the recipient and the company – as an innovative way of expressing appreciation to their clients in the festive season. This includes mainly fine art-works as well as sculptures. One such company is CDH Financial Holdings and the Group Head of Communications, Eric Addae told JOY BUSINESS this has reduced by more than fifty percent, their expenditure for gift-hampers this year. According to him, this is only coming as a fringe benefit – contrary to assertions companies may be deliberately cutting down on their hamper expenditure. He added they have had to also implement more cost-effective measures this year. “We are not outsourcing but using internal staff to produce our hampers and we also import or buy the drinks ourselves to cut down on the budget”. JOY BUSINESS checks have also revealed a number of corporate entities especially the British multinationals are now obliged to implement a policy that is somewhat accounting for the downward trend witnessed in Hamper deliveries this year. This is the UK Anti Bribery and Corruption Law which places restrictions on activities that have the potential of unduly influencing a business decision.This took effect in July this year and binds not only the UK-based companies and their subsidiaries here in Ghana but also companies in Ghana whose parent companies have their subsidiaries in the UK. The UK law bars the companies from offering certain kinds of gifts to clients as well as also taking from them. One of the companies in question is Barclays Bank, Ghana. The Managing Director, Benjamin Dabrah explains to JOY BUSINESS their general business operations have seen several changes since the law took effect. “We’ve put up notices in all our branches since July that read “THANK YOU IS THE ONLY REWARD THAT WE ENDORSE”. “Last year as a bank we gave out a lot of hampers but this year we’re being a bit more cautious about that because of the new law and that we’d probably give out no hampers this year” he noted. Guinness Ghana by virtue of the identity of its parent company, Diageo PLC as a British multinational is also obliged to do same. The Corporate Relations Director, Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta told JOY BUSINESS the law has strengthened their already existing internal code of business conduct which prohibits gifts to and from clients. “It was in 2008 Guinness decided hampers would be received centrally and shared out amongst staff. This however proved not to have yielded the desired results. We’ve therefore concluded that we do not accept and/or offer hampers. So this year for instance, if one sent a hamper to any staff or even in the name of the company, it would be refused at the entrance”. We have a protocol list and if we decide to give a gift, there would be pre-approval but would still have to be reasonable and booked” she concluded emphatically. So perhaps if you are a stakeholder of any of the British multinationals in the country, notably in the banking sector as well as the telecoms and other sectors you’re better off not expecting any hamper again. Instead, branded items and souvenirs among others are now the order of the day.