Office parties are a way to show employees appreciation, and they can be a crucial morale booster after a particularly rough year. Photo: Freepik/Drazen Zigic
After two years of forced cheer on Zoom happy hours, an increasing number of executives in the United States are keen to get their employees back together for in-person festivities this holiday season.
Venues from New York to San Francisco are booked solid this month, a first since Omicron dashed many companies’ plans last year.
According to a survey by recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc of over 250 US-based businesses, almost 60% are planning in-person holiday parties this year. That’s up significantly from last year, though still lagging behind the 75% that threw down in 2019 just before the breakout of a global pandemic that darkened most holiday soirees for two seasons in a row.
While there are still some headwinds – inflation, recession fears, tech-industry layoffs and smaller or non-existent bonuses – many bosses see the holiday-season gatherings as too important to cancel. They present a rare opportunity for the entire staff to gather in-person, now that so many work hybrid or fully remote. They’re a way to show employees appreciation in a still-competitive labour market, and they can be a crucial morale booster after a particularly rough year.
“Leaders want to get their teams together, which makes sense from a human point of view – we crave being together,” said Caroline Walsh, vice president in the human resources practice at consulting firm Gartner.
“But it also makes sense from a performance point of view: Research shows building connections with your team in person, especially outside the office, can be really powerful.’’
Gathering together “boosts collaboration, joy, well-being – all the warm-and-fuzzies,” Walsh said.
But that doesn’t mean everyone is doing a big bash. Many companies are toning down the festivities either to rein in expenses or to show consideration for those impacted by downsizing and hiring freezes in 2022’s economic tumult.
With the tech industry laying off tens of thousands of people, Silicon Valley’s notoriously over-the-top events are getting a more modest makeover, said Melanie Zelnick, founder and chief executive officer of Glow, a San Francisco-based corporate-event planning company.
While she hasn’t had any cancellations, a couple of clients are shifting parties to their offices this year. Others are simply being mindful about details like the menu. “We’re not going to be serving caviar and champagne,” Zelnick said.
That said, themes are still popular – Glow’s organising parties with themes like “outer space”, “après-ski” and a London-inspired “Love Actually”.
For some firms, this year’s toned-down approach includes opting for small regional parties in major office hubs, saving substantial sums on venue rentals and employees’ airfare. LendingClub, a financial services firm, will host in-office celebrations this week in Boston, Salt Lake City and its San Francisco headquarters.
Monday.com, which provides collaboration and task-management software, held a Roaring ’20s-themed party at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers for its more than 200 New York employees earlier this month. The event had an open bar, music and dancers, and some employees came dressed as flappers or characters inspired by the TV show Peaky Blinders.
The company’s London and Denver offices held similar bashes, while smaller offices like Miami hosted private dinners at restaurants. Monday will also hold a virtual party this week for its 50 or so remote workers, featuring a comedian and a cocktail-making class.
For Mike Lamm, Monday.com’s vice president of people in the Americas, the decision to host big celebrations was a “no-brainer”. Bringing people together is “more important than ever”, he said. Attendance was not mandatory, but most workers came as in-person events are a “regular occurrence” at the company, Lamm said. Monday threw offsite holiday parties last year as well.
For startups whose budgets are shoestring or nonexistent, an improvised sharing economy has sprung up over the last six months for event space, according to Will Bricker, a principal at Hustle Fund, a venture capital firm with about US$90mil (about RM396.5mil) in assets.
As the enduring popularity of remote work leaves offices empty most days of the week, founders are offering their spaces up to one another for free to try to make the most of them in the midst of a formidable fundraising environment.
Last week, Hustle Fund got a loaner office from a startup called The Org to host its holiday event. The fourth-floor SoHo office was decked out with all the essentials for a festive get-together: A glowing Christmas tree with silver and gold baubles, boxes of pizza, soda and beer.
To be sure, some firms are still pulling out all the stops for their end-of-year celebrations. Event Solutions, a national event planning company, organised an island-themed year-end party for a pharmaceutical company in Los Angeles, trucking in live parrots and US$100,000 (RM440,550) worth of tropical plants.
According to Event Solution’s vice president of marketing, Amanda Masick, the client joined a trend of organisations shifting the focus away from Christmas towards more-inclusive holiday parties, or to even more general “end-of-year experiences”.
In early December, hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin paid out of pocket to fly 10,000 Citadel employees and their families – from New York, San Francisco, Paris, Zurich and other cities – to Walt Disney World for three days to enjoy the theme parks, hotels and restaurants, all expenses paid. While the excursion wasn’t a holiday party – the firm was celebrating a banner year and the 20-year anniversary of Citadel Securities – the resorts are decked out as a winter wonderland this month.
On Wall Street, however, firm-funded blowouts have been a distant memory at most big firms since the financial crisis, as most remain self-conscious about shows of excess. A common practice now is a managing director picking up the tab for drinks or dinner with a small group of direct reports, said Jessica Cadmus, a personal stylist for Wall Street executives who began her career as an associate at Goldman Sachs.
Job cuts in finance and a roughly 16% drop in the S&P 500 so far this year are only more reason to keep it simple.
“I had one of my clients, who’s very senior, say to me: ‘It’s a little tricky. But it’s been a rough year, and people just really want to be together. Whatever form that takes, I think it’s going to be appreciated,’” she said. – Bloomberg/Jo Constanz
