Bosses splash the cash at X-Mas Party

82% of respondents say boss pays for work X-Mas Party
10% of employees say they work 50 hours or more per week
Beware! 42% admit to an embarrassing episode at their X-Mas party with 2% even admitting to resigning

10th December 2006 With the party season in full swing a new survey conducted by RecruitIreland.com has revealed that Irelandís bosses are splashing the cash and paying for work X-Mas parties. They are also giving an X-Mas bonus to employees but the employees must work harder to reach their bonus targets. The pressure is also often too much and many workers admit to telling their boss what they really think of them at the party!

1288 respondents to the RecruitIreland.com survey answered questions relating to the festive season and the general work environment with some surprising insights. Far from being ëScroogeí, Irish bosses are becoming more generous with over 44% of employees receiving an X-Mas bonus compared to only 33% who received a bonus last year. The bonuses range from a percentage of salary to in excess of a whopping Ä10,000. Broken down further, 67% said they got bonuses of under Ä1,000. A further 29% said they got between Ä2,000- Ä5,000. But Santa Claus has definitely arrived early for some employees with almost 5% receiving between Ä5,000 - Ä10,000 or more.

However, employees are now working harder for their bonuses. The majority, 59%, work in excess of 40 hours or more per week. And 5% work 60 hours or more per week. While most employees wonít be working over the festive season, spare a thought for the 7% of respondents who said they had to work Christmas Day and St. Stephenís Day. For the 63% of respondents who do not have to work at all over the Christmas period, itís party time with late nights and even later mornings.

While 82% have said that the boss pays for the work X-Mas party there are some organisations where the workers themselves fund the staff X-Mas party. Among respondents who do pay toward their work party, some 38% were paying between Ä10 and Ä30 with 36% saying they paid between Ä30 and Ä50 and the balance paying more than that. It is also interesting to note that while 66% of respondents enjoy their X-Mas party, 24% stated that they dread the thought of it and 10% never ever go to the work X-Mas party.

And of course what would the Work X-Mas festivities be without a little embarrassment. Some 42% of respondents revealed that they had done something embarrassing at the Christmas party. Of those that did embarrass themselves; 71% said they consumed too much alcohol. And it would seem that love is increasingly in the air at this time of year 41% saying they had a romantic interlude with a colleague as opposed to only 36% last year and almost one in five respondents told the boss what they really thought of them. Amazingly 2% of respondents said they resigned at the office party.

The Work Party season gets off to a start with the party gear. 18% of respondents say they will spend between Ä100 and Ä200 on an outfit especially for the office party. Some 30% spend between Ä50 and Ä100 with most people (50%) spending a more modest sum of less than Ä50.

With all these festivities and parties itís no surprise that respondents indicated that one of the most popular New Years resolutions was to quit drinking alcohol. Other popular New Year resolutions were, get a new job, get fit, quit smoking and lose weight. However, only more than half said they intended to make a resolution, with 40% using the excuse that they know they will not keep them. Respondents do expect a bright and merry New Year with 80% saying that they expect an increase in salary, 68% expect the economy to perform better and 59% expect to work shorter hours.

Commenting on the results Aoife Curtin, Marketing Manager of RecruitIreland.com said: îAs it is the giving time of year it is obviously positive that companies are rewarding their staff for the hard work put in during the year. The fact that bonuses are increasingly a part of employment terms is also an indicator of the need to incentivise staff above and beyond the traditional salary arrangements. This is possibly a reflection of the competition for high quality staff that employers are facing.î