Survey: Christmas bonuses suffer amid recession, but parties still planned

A new survey has indicated that only 8% of Irish employers will be cancelling the annual Christmas party, despite the tough economic climate and prevalence of cost-cutting measures.

The survey of 300 employers and HR managers carried out by RecruitIreland.com indicated that 88% of respondents traditionally pay in full for the Christmas party.

Of those, just over 70% of those will be continuing to pay for the outing in 2009 although half will be scaling back on previous years. Some 20% are still unsure what they will do while 8% have decided to cancel the celebrations.

Christmas bonuses, on the other hand, have been culled.

Some 65% of respondents indicated that seasonal bonuses were a part of their company benefits package and 52% of those stated that the Christmas bonus has been cancelled.

On the plus side the remainder indicated that they will still be paying a bonus, albeit, in most cases, lower then previous years.

However the survey indicated some light at the end of the tunnel. Over 60% of those surveyed believe that things will improve in 2010, and 20% saw themselves giving pay increases in 2010.

“It's disappointing but not surprising that Christmas bonuses have been badly affected by the downturn,” commented Emma Henry of RecruitIreland.com.

“But it's good to see that Christmas parties are still going ahead, it's important for employees to get a chance to let their hair down and ring out the year that was 2009."