Office Parties can Still be Hearty on a Budget

Tami Goodman, branch manager for OfficeTeam in Fayetteville, said Grinch-like budgets and humbug holiday spirit have not eliminated office parties across the region. Most companies, she said, have scaled back their celebrations but determined that they’re too good of a team-building opportunity to cut out altogether.

A 2001 survey conducted by OfficeTeam, a subsidiary of staffing giant RHI Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., found that 64 percent of executives polled said their holiday office parties had lost favor among employees. Seven percent said they’d even like to axe the party completely.

“But almost every client I have talked to is planning some kind of event,” Goodman said. “The companies with 500 or more employees are typically having something catered in, and a lot of the smaller firms are having a more intimate setting. The mid-sized companies are really the ones that have looked for affordable banquet halls for parties.”

Goodman said the holiday office party is the perfect setting for a senior manager to say something reflective on the year to recognize productive employees. And techniques such as offering kind words instead of gift exchanges and keeping parties less formal can make the events enjoyable for everyone.