Fewer firms to throw office holiday parties this year

With Christmas just round the corner, one question bound to be on your employees' minds is, will there be an office holiday party?

Unfortunately, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, fewer companies will be throwing office holiday parties this year.

Polling 385 HR professionals, the survey found that 30% of respondents indicated that their organisations do not usually have an end-of-year holiday party, almost double that of 2012 (17%).

Thankfully, 65% had indicated that their organisation will have an end-year/holiday party open to all employees, at least for 2015.

Surprisingly, it is the smaller organisations (1 to 99 employees) that are more likely to have a party than the larger organisations (2,500 to 24,999 employees).

Of those who have indicated that there will be a party, 83% divulged there is a budget for the event with most (80%) indicating that the 2015 budget was about the same as the 2014 one.

Almost half (45%) indicated their budget was larger in 2015 compared to five years ago (2010) and only 22% indicated having a smaller budget to work with.

A majority of the parties will be held offsite (67%) while just over a quarter (27%) will be held onsite.

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Slightly more than half of the parties will include gift exchanges, with 43% conducting them within departments, 7% company-wide, and 3% both within departments and company-wide.

To prepare for this gift-giving season, 55% of HR professionals indicated their organisations will allow employees to shop online at work during lunch and breaks.

Sadly, about one-third (32%) indicated their organisations frown upon the idea and will not allow personal online shopping at any time.

Additionally, though slightly less than that of 2013 (32%), 23% of HR professionals indicated their organisations will give non- performance-based gifts to all employees at the end of the year.

On to one of the most important questions - will there be alcohol?

And it seems like the answer is mostly yes.

More than half (59%) of HR professionals indicated their organisations plan to serve alcohol at their party. Of those planning to serve alcohol, 47% plan to regulate alcohol consumption at the event with the most popular method being to drink tickets or having a drinks maximum (71%).

In the spirit of giving, a majority of HR professionals (82%) revealed that their organisations are participating in charitable donations/drives during this joyous season, an increase from 2012 (74%).

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