Secret Santas have officially joined the list of seasonal risk factors in the Australian Public Service, with Commonwealth bureaucrats warned of the unintended consequences of festive season "fun".

As departments work on officially mandated risk profiles for their Christmas celebrations, the Public Service Commission has warned of the pitfalls of end-of-year shindigs.

Commissioner John Lloyd also highlighted the dangers of festive happy snaps causing embarrassment or even serious career damage when they surface on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook.

But the warnings come too late for, Ngoc Luan Ho Trieu, the victim of a "soul destroying" prank at the Finance Department at Christmas 2012, when a colleague's Secret Santa gift clearly implied that the economic modeller's work for the department was animal poo.

The Canberra Times was inundated with readers' responses to Mr Ngoc's story when it was reported in December 2014, with some saying Secret Santas were a form of bullying and there were even calls for a blanket ban on the tradition.

Mr Ngoc, who quit his job soon after the practical joke and has not worked since, welcomed Mr Lloyd's move, with the former finance staffer saying he hoped the warning might spare other public servants his ordeal.

Nearly three years on, the anonymous Finance Department joker, who gave Mr Ngoc the plastic reindeer which produced poo from the rear-end and was labelled "Luan's modelling kit" has still not come forward.

But Mr Lloyd's warning makes it clear that the commission is alert to the danger, warning public servants to be mindful of "buying 'Secret Santa' gifts on the assumption that everyone shares the same sense of humour".

Other dangers highlighted in the commissioner's cautionary note published in his November newsletter included: "acting in a manner that will compromise their reputation, as well as that of their agency and the APS in general, engaging in inappropriate behaviour, such as party pranks, which can potentially lead to the injury of others," and "taking photos or videos of colleagues that may cause embarrassment when circulated through social media."

Mr Ngoc told Fairfax on Tuesday that he had written to the commission about his case and welcomed official recognition of the dangers posed by Secret Santa.

"It's good that he [the commissioner] took my views into account and warned people about these kind of games," Mr Ngoc said.

"For people from a different cultural background, jokes like that can really hurt.

"People don't intentionally try to hurt but sometimes people can't take the joke."