With Christmas creeping up on us once again, thoughts are turning to holidays and, of course, the office Christmas party. However, a new survey by the Society for Human Resource Management has found that fewer companies will be throwing office Christmas parties this year.
A survey of 385 HR professionals found that 30 percent of people claimed their organisations do not usually have an end-of-year holiday party, almost double that of 2012, when the figure stood at 17 percent.
65 percent showed some Christmas spirit and said that their organisation will have a Christmas party, at least for this year.
Perhaps because it is easier logistically, it is the smaller companies that were found most likely to have a party and most (80 percent) said that the 2015 budget was about the same as the 2014 one. Almost half (45 percent) indicated their budget was larger this year. A majority of the parties will be held offsite (67 percent), which is probably a good thing, because every Christmas party should entail a break from the office.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
As this survey is by the Society for Human Resource Management, presume it’s North American? Can’t find any mention of it on their website. But 30% of companies not having any Christmas party doesn’t resonate with what’s happening over here – maybe we Brits are more enthusiastic about celebrating Christmas at work and letting our hair down?