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HOLIDAY PARTYING LOOKING
UP AT COMPANIES
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Source: The international outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., Northbrook, IL.
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Employers
feel better about the future and will budget holiday
parties slightly more toward steak than chicken.
According to a recent survey by Challenger, Gray &
Christmas, Inc., Northbrook, IL, companies will spend
more money on holiday parties this year than they did in
the previous two years when terrorist attacks and major
cost containment policies kept holiday partying to a
minimum. Released in November, the national survey
includes responses from 100 hotels, caterers and
employers.
"It is possible that even those companies that have
not quite felt the recovery are going to find a way to
stretch their budgets in order to demonstrate how much
they appreciate their employees’ hard work over the
last two-and-a-half years,” says John A. Challenger,
chief executive officer, Challenger, Gray &
Christmas.
After two years of cutting holiday party costs by 30
percent, Plymouth, WI-based Sargento Foods Inc. is
returning to its pre-recession budget. For its 1,150
employees, this means a sit-down dinner followed by
dancing and refreshments.
Allen’s Catering, Chicago, IL, which saw 11
cancellations in the week following September 11, is also
experiencing a return to pre-recession party budgets.
Owner Ingvar Wikstrom says that bookings are up 20
percent over last year at this time and that companies
will spend 18-22 percent more. He notes that the
preference for poultry is no longer a budgetary issue,
but is a result of dietary concerns of an increasingly
health-conscious workforce. More companies are giving
their employees a selection by arranging buffet dinners,
which, in the end, are less expensive than sit-down
meals.
Gary W. Marr, senior director of catering, the Hyatt
Regency, Chicago, IL, says that after a drop-off in
business immediately following September 11, business
quickly returned to normal among their clientele. He
observed a decline in big extravaganzas, but says it is
due to the fact that companies are more in touch with
what their employees want, and most do not want big
elaborate parties.
"There’s been a management shift in recent
years. Industry leaders are saying ‘we have to do
the right thing for employees.’ As a result,
companies may be cutting in many areas of business, but
they are staying with the holiday party as a way of
acknowledging their employees,” Marr says.
"We may never again return to the extravagant
parties that became common during the high-flying bubble
years of the late 1990s,” says Challenger. Companies
also indicate that smaller, more personal affairs are
growing in popularity among employees. A manufacturer of
engine parts with facilities throughout the U.S. notes
that each location and, in some cases, departments make
the decisions regarding holiday parties. He says that
some smaller departments may even hold a function at an
employee’s house—not for budgetary concerns,
but because they prefer an intimate gathering.
Not everyone is upbeat about holiday party spending,
illustrating the frailty of the economy, region by
region. Representatives from the Grand Hyatt, San
Francisco, CA, say, while they are lucky to have Fridays
and Saturdays booked through the holidays, revenues are
not as high as they used to be. Before the survey’s
release, Popolo Restaurant, also in San Francisco, had
booked just one event for the holiday season. One of the
restaurant/caterer’s long-time annual customers may
decide to drop its Christmas party. According to the vice
president of human resources for a MI-based automotive
equipment company, rising health care costs is one reason
the company’s holiday party budget will remain below
normal this year.
A CA-based sporting goods company cut costs the last two
years by holding its annual holiday party during
lunchtime at the firm’s headquarters versus an
offsite location, as they had done in previous years. At
the time of the interview, the human resources director
was uncertain about this year’s plans, but believed
the party will once again involve an onsite luncheon.
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