Office Christmas party a no-go, say two thirds of employees

11/12/07 17:30

Almost two thirds (63%) of office workers are not keen on attending their staff Christmas party, according to new research.

The study, compiled by Croner, a HR consultancy, surveyed over 1,200 UK employees and found that just under half (43%) said that Christmas parties were ‘ok’ but that they would rather be somewhere else. A further fifth said that office parties were ‘awful’ and that they would do anything to avoid them.

Reasons for not attending included not wanting to socialise with colleagues outside of work (41%), a reluctance to be involved in office gossip (11%) and that it costs too much (12%).

A further 12% said that they had bad experiences of office Christmas parties in the past.

“Employers have been stressing out over the last few years about the dangers of having a Christmas party, but what the survey has highlighted is the fact that few employees these days enjoy them,” said Jo Pitts, employment advisor at Croner.

“Many businesses are now culturally diverse and big bashes may not appeal to the entire workforce,” she added.

Alternatives suggested are departmental parties, or offering set amounts of money to employees – for example, £20 – so that employees could celebrate with their colleagues in a way that they wanted.

“We would suggest that employers, where possible, liaise with their employees to find out what their preference would be and then look at what options are available which meet the needs and resources of the business,” Pitts advised.