SHRM Poll: Holiday Parties in 2010?

November 12, 2010

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010 2

Key Findings

• Can employees expect some holiday cheer at the end of 2010? 61% of organizations report planning to hold an end-of-year/holiday party for their employees this year. The percentage of companies that reported planning a year-end holiday party in 2009 was also 61%.

• Are more companies foregoing year-end holiday parties? Compared with 2009, fewer companies in 2010 reported not having parties due to the financial challenges, yet more companies have reported that their organization does not have such a practice in 2010 compared with 2009. It could be that some companies that stopped having parties due to financial challenges are not planning to reinstate these events.

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Is your organization planning to hold an end-of-year/holiday party for employees this year?

2009 (n = 386)

2010 (n = 382)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

20%

12%

19%

26%

61%

61%

No, we had to cut back due to financial challenges

No, we do not have such practice (i.e., we usually do not have an end-of-year/holiday party)

Yes

3

Note: “Not sure” responses were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Is your organization planning to hold its end-of-year/holiday party on-site or off-site?

Other

Off-site but scaled down

On-site and off-site

On-site to save cost

On-site (our normal practice)

Off-site (our normal practice)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

3%

2%

3%

15%

27%

50%

1%

0%

0%

10%

29%

60%

2010 (n = 232) 2009 (n = 386)

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Note: “Not sure” responses were excluded from this analysis.

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Demographics: Organization Industry

IndustryManufacturing –other 13%

Health care, social assistance (e.g., hospitals, clinics) 13%

Services –professional, scientific, technical, legal 9%

Financial services (e.g., banking) 8%

Educational services/education 8%

Retail/wholesale trade 6%

Government/public administration—federal, state/local, tribal 5%

Insurance 5%

Other services (e.g., other nonprofit, church/religious organizations) 4%

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Note: n = 443. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)

IndustryTransportation, warehousing (e.g., distribution) 3%

High-tech 3%

Consulting 3%

Construction, mining, oil and gas 2%

Services—accommodation, food and drinking places 2%

Utilities 2%

Publishing, broadcasting, other media 2%

Association—professional/trade 2%

Real estate, rental, leasing 1%

Manufacturing—auto/auto-related 1%

Arts, entertainment, recreation 1%

Telecommunications 1%

Pharmaceutical 1%

Biotech 1%

Other 5%

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Note: n = 443. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Demographics: Organization Sector

Other

Government sector

Publicly owned for-profit organization

Nonprofit organization

Privately owned for-profit organization

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

6%

7%

19%

20%

48%

7Note: n = 443

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Demographics: Organization Staff Size

1 to

99

emplo

yees

100

to 4

99 e

mplo

yees

500

to 2

499

emplo

yees

2500

to 2

4999

em

ploye

es

2500

0 or

mor

e em

ploye

es

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

18%

27%25%

20%

10%

8

Note: n = 277

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

Demographics: Other

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Note: n = 450

U.S.-based operations 73%

Multinational operations 27%

Single-unit company: A company in which the location and the company are one and the same

32%

Multi-unit company: A company that has more than one location

68%

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices

50%

Each work location determines HR policies and practices

1%

A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determine HR policies and practices

48%

Is organization a single-unit company or a multi-unit company?

Are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit corporate headquarters, by each work location or both?

Does the organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only or does it operate multinationally?

Note: n = 432

Note: n = 316. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

• 15% of organizations indicated that employees at their work location were unionized.

Note: n = 443

Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010

SHRM Poll: Holiday Parties in 2010?

• Response rate = 18%• Sample comprised of 472 randomly selected HR

professionals randomly selected HR professionals from SHRM’s membership

• Margin of error is +/- 5%• Survey fielded September 30 – October 19, 2010

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Methodology

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