It's worth saving up at least one day's holiday for Christmas to avoid the photoshoot for the company card

The corporate Christmas card. One of the most sincere company gestures of all time. Usually a naff illustrated cartoon that is about as funny as a Jim Davidson one liner.

Building magazine xmas card

But if your employer is going to town, you may be really lucky and have to pose for a ‘hilarious’ company photograph that will grace the front of the card. You’ll then have to sign a card offering your heart-felt Christmas greetings, which will then be printed and posted to clients throughout the world. Yeuch.

You can always spice things up a little by signing as someone else (preferably someone famous) – and seeing if you can get away with it. As it’s usually organised by some bod from HR, chances are that you will.

But if your employer has opted to send e-cards instead this year (for “greener reasons” read “cheaper”), you may only have to suffer the humiliation of emailing it to your contacts.