I once worked for a magazine where the editorial department got an incredible number of job perks. Not only were they comped for every concert, play and movie premiere in town, there was also a constant stream of free CDs, books, gadgets, toys and gizmos coming in the door. Since there were only five people in the department, they couldn’t possibly use all these goodies so they … threw them away.

At any given time, you could walk through the editorial department and see trashcans overflowing with hard-cover books and shrink-wrapped CDs and all kinds of stuff. Sometimes people would ask if they could retrieve an item, and it would be graciously proffered. Sometimes people sneaked into the department after hours but before the cleaning crew arrived and just TOOK what they wanted. The rest got thrown away.

A freebie is a terrible thing to waste. That magazine was an extreme example of the practice, but something similar has happened almost anywhere I’ve ever worked. And I bet you’ve seen it too–account executives who get lavish holiday presents from clients, even though the employee manual suggests limits of $50 on all presents; corporate bigwigs who have access to the corporate jet or the corporate condo or the corporate skybox at the local football stadium. Minimum wage employees like football too.

You may be thinking, “rank hath its privileges,” and to a certain extent, you’re right. Where’s the fun of climbing the corporate ladder if you don’t get a prize at the end? But employers need to keep an eye on the swag to make sure that employees aren’t getting resentful that there’s nothing left over for them.

“The number one reason people give when asked why they steal from their employers is that they ‘deserve’ whatever they take,” says Perry Farmer, a management consultant in Spokane. “They see their bosses walking out with a new iPod or a BlackBerry someone’s just given them and they aren’t going to think twice about grabbing that box of razor-point pens to take home, or taking a girlfriend to lunch on the corporate dime and calling it a “business consultation.”

It’s not realistic to suggest cutting off the flow of largess, but smart managers who want to avoid a crash in company morale will make sure that no one’s bragging about their booty; conspicuously consuming it on company time or in company spaces; and not simply throwing it away if unwanted. It’s easy enough to put books and dvds and other give-aways in a lunchroom or lounge and let everyone pick over the pile.

We all learned about sharing in kindergarten–there’s no reason to forget that lesson now that we’re adults.

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