One in four staff dread Christmas parties

IT SEEMS not everyone is as merry about attending their office Christmas party as one might expect — even when the boss is paying.

According to a survey carried out by RecruitIreland.com — almost one in four office workers dread making an appearance at the annual Christmas party, while a further 14% said they avoid the party completely and never attend.

This is despite the fact that four out of five bosses foot the bill for the festive celebrations according to the statistics, although to varying degrees.

The majority of office workers claim their employers spend between €50 and €70 a worker, with 23% of employees claiming they are given limitless amounts of drink, compared with 18% who receive between five and 10 free drinks.

Is it any wonder that one in three workers admit to having done something embarrassing at last year’s Christmas get-together. Forty-one percent revealed they had engaged in a romantic encounter with a fellow workmate at the party. An alarming 5% of respondents said that employees had been dismissed after misbehaving at the festivities.

Commenting on the Christmas party antics, Emma Henry of RecruitIreland.com says that Christmas parties are a great time to relieve stress, but workers must also remember to behave themselves.

“The Christmas party is a great time to relax and forget about all the stress of the weeks leading up to Christmas. But employees need to remember that they will have to face their colleagues and more importantly their boss again the next day, so keep the merriment within reason,” is Ms Henry’s advice.

It also appears that a number of workers have their eyes fixed firmly on greener pastures for the new year with 67% of workers secretly planning to look for a new job.

Some people appear unable to wait that long, however, with 3% of respondents actually resigning at the office Christmas party itself.

www.recruitireland.com