Christmas Parties Cancelled Across Ireland

Ireland's largest and most popular news source, RTE News, reports that 79% of Irish employers will not be paying for Christmas parties this year because of the economic downturn.

The article, bluntly titled Employers cancel Christmas parties, goes on to state that "71% of businesses also say Christmas parties are simply a waste of company money."

O'say it ain't so!

Alan Price, Head of Peninsula Ireland, gives the pros and cons of the Christmas party:

Christmas Party Cons:

• Considerable cost to the firm.
• May seem "inappropriate" if the firm has recently made people redundant.

Christmas Party Pros:

• Effective way to encourage staff bonding.
• Noticeable positive impact on employee morale.

So what is a respectable Irish business owner to do? Why, forge ahead with the Christmas party, of course. Try these cost-cutting ideas and use funny employee awards to bring some much-need laughter into the workplace.

Now as for the article's claim that "68% of employers have received a complaint of harassment from an employee following their Christmas party..." Well, perhaps your first cost-cutting item should be the Guinness.