October 29, 2008
Guru was dismayed this morning to receive notice from employment law firm Peninsula that 83% of employers were planning to cancel their Christmas party.
Yep Yours Truly was gutted to see the survey in the news today - as he put a tenner on in January that it would appear on 3 November.
Guru should have known it would be even earlier than that this year. He wonders why employment law firm Peninsula doesn't just stick next year's version out in January under an 11-month embargo. It gets more irritating every year that these same meaningless statistics are trotted out with such mock horror.
At least in 2003, Peninsula - when on Earth do they find time to practice law among all these surveys? - had the decency to wait until mid-November before breaking the seismic news that 69% of employers would not be financing a company Christmas party.
Another particularly noteworthy year was 2005, when we all held the front page on 31 October as employment law firm Peninsula told us that 83% of employers questioned had cancelled their Christmas party.
Now here we are in 2008, and our old friends are telling us that the credit crunch is to blame as - yep - 83% of 3,277 managers surveyed are planning to cancel the Christmas party.
The funny thing is, maybe Guru was just lucky, but he has attended a Christmas party every year for the last five - and he doesn't even have a fixed employer.
Still, here's Peter Done, managing director of employment law firm Peninsula, with some grim news.
"The economic downturn has forced a lot of companies to cull their Christmas celebrations. With the economic conditions the way they are, firms just can not warrant spending money on a Christmas party," he said.
Guru is off to photocopy his backside and get off with the married woman in accounts before Peter Done can say another meaningless, soul-destroying word.
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Comments (2)
I read an article about bosses planning on cancelling staff celebration this Christmas and wrote about it here:
http://michaelashworth.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/short-sighted-bosses-cancel-christmas/
The interesting thing is that I wonder if many Companies have overlooked that they get tax breaks for staff celebrations.
I also found that a large number of Event Companies who can organise Christmas events for you neglect to mention this fact in their marketing.
I also felt that with difficult trading times ahead perhaps they ought to be investing (rather than thinking of this as a discretionary expense) money in their staff. The very people who may well be called upon to "dig deep" and help them out of difficulties.
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, Sussex, UK
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeashworth
http://michaelAshworth.wordpress.com
Posted by mike ashworth | October 29, 2008 11:27 AM
Posted on October 29, 2008 11:27
I couldn't resist having a go about this one too.
http://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/crying-wolf-about-a-cancelled-christmas/
Posted by Rick | November 7, 2008 10:46 AM
Posted on November 7, 2008 10:46