Birthday Employee list with year born

All employees via e mail received an employee birthday list which included the year born. I think the year should not have been included on the list.

I agree. It's an invitation to issues with age discrimination.

"I didn't realize Bob was that old. He must be thinking about retirement. We better think about moving some of his customers to someone younger."

Or...

"Mary Jane is only 24 years old!?!? Good grief, I have shoes older than that. Good thing I found that out before I considered her for that promotion. Whew. We'll hire someone older from outside the company instead."

Or...

You may also run a risk of inadvertently offending someone; some religions do not advocate celebrating of birthdays. Jehovah's witnesses, for example, and some literal-bible-based churches declare celebrating birthdays as a celebration of "self" and therefore tied to the sin of pride. So... inviting others to note the date and mark the birthday occasion for those co-workers may make them very uncomfortable. We have such a situation here.

Does it break any rule, law or regulation - probably not.

In poor taste? Definitely.

Mine is undoubtedly the minority position, but you may have employees who agree with me: I work here because they pay me, not because I am looking for a social circle.

Distributing this information as "official" communication suggests people are supposed to do something about it. I would not want the people who work for me to feel like they had no choice but to spontaneously put on a little celebration every year.

I don't think the list should be circulated at all...

Oh, yeah: Bah, humbug!

No Ken I am on the same page as you. The b-day celebrations are presented in such a manner that you feel pressured to attend. Usually an AM get together to sing and have cake. Everyone brings a card too. I do not like this at all!!!!

AMEN KEN! One day I am going to get back all of the Christmas Wrapping Paper, Girl Scout Cookie, Baby Shower, and Birthday contributions I have given over the years....

employees birthdays are posted on our intranet page...with over 5,000 employees, you can imagine how many each day...fortunately, no year is listed...there is no offical or unofficial mandates to attend any party or function...some departments host celebrations for their staff, others do nothing...i try and take my managers out to lunch on their birthday, or close to it...

i don't like people making a fuss about mine, i don;t want anyone thinking it is mandatory they do something for me...i normally remind my managers ahead of time to not do anything

Our employees birthdays are sent in the monthly newsletter. However, the birth year is not included. I don't even know if people really pay any attention to it. The only ones I look at are for the people in my department.

An individual's full date of birth is one of the essential personal ID items of information. It can be used along with other gleanings from the Internet and elsewhere to steal the individual's identity. I would hardly call an employee newsletter, whether paper or electronic, a secure communication.

Social niceties aside, it's a poor, risky business practice.

Risky? Birth dates are public record, that is not risky. Just to prove a point, I will email your birthdate and where you were born, let me know if I'm right (I won't post it here because it does not appear you would be pleased with that info posted in a public forum).

There are websites you can easily search for these public records.

BTB is right, and he found my birthday (just as many others can) in a quick public records search). And my age isn't something I hide. But I do think that it's poor taste at minimum to share that info with employees without (date I say it?) an opt-in.

Our department celebrates birthdays quarterly, and if you don't attend you're considered to not be a team player--how do the gurus feel about that?

I'm not a guru, but I wonder why you would have a problem with that. Unless you have a religious issue with celebrating birthdays, just go and enjoy the cake. And smile. You might have a good time.

I do. It was a satyr comment to Ken & Welsh, who said they were not looking for a social circle at work. I love out birthday parties--in fact I have one coming up in a couple of weeks. If it weren't for our parties, I probably would forget it was my birthday!

judging from the photos, i would say most of the gurus have no issues eating cake

okay, now to the serious side, i don't think they have an issue with a small, quick celebration. I believe they have an issue with teh "Bank" sending this information, including the birth year, in official communication to all staff...giving the impression that the bank is somehow endorsing some type of celebration

That's right Happy Gilmore.

Also, it is rude of the bank to send out a list with year of birth. That is not needed for a birthday celebration and no one's business.

The notion that whether or not I attend a party is any indication of whether I'm a team player is not just a ridiculous stretch, it's offensive. I think any onus on whether an employee choses to participate in work sponsored but not work related affairs is abhorable. What I do with my free time as well as what I chose to celebrate is totally up to me.

Here, birthdays and employment anniversarys are recognized in a daily email from the HR dept. to the entire bank. Those of us who know the employee well enough often send a personal wish too. But that's it.

also moving his desk and taking away his Swingline stapler

Personally speaking, I could not care less if that happened.

Professionally speaking, it may not be the best thing to do.

get well get well soon, we hope you get well soon

There are many organizations that make no separation between business and pleasure, and while no one may ever say anything to the employee, tick marks are being added to the names of those who don't attend these small functions. Some say it means someone isn't a team player. Others may see it as someone thinks their better than anyone else. Still others may have another negative thought about why someone isn't there.

Does that make it right? Of course not. Business should be about business. But anyone who has bee in the real world more than 6 months knows this isn't the case, and score is always kept by someone. Sometimes it doesn't matter who the scorekeeper is, other times it matters very much. Anyone who thinks otherwise is very naive.

If the scorekeeper is your boss who gave you a tight deadline to meet, you'd better not be at that party, IMHO. Breaks are great, when you can afford them.

Sometimes attending some of these gatherings is a show of respect. That is not to say that not attending is disrespectful, just that a little congratulations is nice once in awhile. I hope y'all come by for my party in a few weeks.

Andy, please let us know in advance the type fo cake that will be served...that often dictates my availability.

Ditto. It would be a pure indicator that I was working for people who simply were not very smart. I would be looking elsewhere long before my repeat absences were noted.

There are religions that do not celebrate birthdays or any holidays.