Couldn't attend holiday party. Should I ask to get the gift offered to remote employees?

Question

My company hosted a nice holiday party that I would have liked to, but was unable to attend due to conflicts. I RSVP'd that I would not attend. The party has already taken place. From others accounts it was very nice: nice hotel, catering, open bar, Uber credit, etc..

They just sent out an email for remote employees in other parts of the country who were not able to attend because of the time and expense of travel to respond and receive a gift in lieu of the party. The email was sent to everyone as far as I know

I am not remote in a geographic sense, although I do work in another office and never go to the headquarters, and could have attended the party if not for prior commitments. I have not been at this company very long and I don't want to make a bad impression (I hardly ever interact with them, all interaction is through the client). Would it be bad form for me to reply to the email and explain the situation or because it is for remote employees should I drop it?

Answer 1

Depending on the "value" of the gift I'm leaning towards "just drop it" because it may come across as a little greedy.

Imagine friend A giving friend B a gift and you saying "Can I have one too?"

Ultimately, you chose not to go to the party because you had a prior commitment rather than being physically unable to attend due to a situation of your employment.

Unless the prior engagement was a company meeting etc., I'd just drop it.

Answer 2

Some perks at work have a definite, predictable, repeatable financial value and should be considered part of your overall compensation package. These are typically written into your contract. Not getting them when you should is something you should of course address.

Others are ad-hoc, right-place-right-time type deals. Sometimes you get them, other times you miss out on them.

This situation is firmly in the latter category - as a rule of thumb all social events and gifts are.

You were invited to the party, but were unable to attend due to conflicts. The fully remote workers weren't and so received a gift instead.

Nothing unfair has happened here, and implying it has absolutely will create a bad impression. There is no upside to doing so. You missed this one, but there will be other parties in future. Just drop it and move on.

Answer 3

I don't think I would ask If you qualify, ask if it was specifically just for remote workers or everyone who couldn't attend the party. I know at some companies I've worked for there was a small gift given at the party and a slightly nicer gift given to remote workers, people who couldn't attend but were local still received the normal gift. I've also seen companies fly in remote workers to attend company parties, while head-office employees had to drive 3 hours out of town to the resort hotel the party was held at,(the room was covered for two nights so that people treated it like a company assisted vacation, where driving to the hotel was not covered, but people still wanted to go.) so it entirely depends on the culture of your company.

They don't even need to invite everyone to the party if they don't want to, I've worked for companies that only did company parties for employees that have been with the company for a certain number of years, I've heard of companies that don't invite entire segments of their business because they aren't as "valued" by upper management.

Maybe reach out with something like, "Hey, This gift is just for remote employees right? Head office employees that couldn't attend are not included because they got an invite, correct?"
That way you don't sound greedy, and it gives you the plausible deniability of saying that one of your co-workers had asked you in some water-cooler chat if you were going to receive the gift even though you received the invite and you just wanted to clarify that you weren't.

They might not have even thought about people who rsvp'd No and the simple question causes them to decide to include them.