One-fifth of companies do not plan employee parties in December

A fifth of Czech companies do not plan to hold Christmas parties for their employees in December this year. They are mostly set up by small and medium sized businesses. This follows a survey of 125 employers by Ipsos for Sodexo Benefits, which provides employee benefits. Among businesses that don’t organize parties, 31 percent said they couldn’t afford them this year for financial reasons, and 37 percent haven’t organized them at all since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Research has shown that more than three-quarters of companies with up to 250 employees plan birthday parties. About a third of companies said they were increasing Christmas party budgets through inflation to keep them at the same level as in the past. Only eight percent of companies want to spend a lot more money than before. More than half of companies do not intend to increase their budget, and almost a fifth of companies want to spend less than in previous years.

According to the director of Sodexo, Martina Macová, it is understood that a large part of companies plan to hold parties, because these events had to be postponed for a long time due to the coronavirus pandemic. She added, “I think sooner or later we’re all going to have to come to terms with the fact that what’s happening right now is probably the new normal.”

The survey also revealed that 86 percent of companies plan some Christmas gifts for their employees. Most often, these are material gifts that 56 percent of companies want to give people. 23 percent of companies want to give employee bonuses.

Among companies that plan Christmas gifts for their employees, 23 percent would like to give them just to each other as a reward. Only ten percent of companies with more than 500 employees give gifts to all people. Only three percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees plan to do so. Small businesses of up to about 100 employees tend to plan for generic gifts.

Macová added that companies’ budgets are now tight, so there is not much money left to buy gifts. 26 percent of companies regardless of size count on gifts of up to 500 CZK, and 24 percent of employers said they would give gifts worth up to 1,000 CZK.