FDs play Scrooge over Xmas party
In response to the question: 'Would you cancel the Christmas party to save the company money?', it was hard to know which was more striking - the honesty or the meanness of our country's FDs.
Link: Revenue not up for a Christmas drink
This week’s Accountancy Age/ Reed Accountancy Big Question revealed that 52% would sacrifice the Christmas office party to save cash with one party-pooper saying that ‘something has to pay for the increase in employers NIC’.
‘Call me a killjoy, but I no longer find it an enjoyable experience watching other people get slowly “steamed” so they not only become a danger to themselves, but to other people as well,’ said another FD.
Many said that they would rather use the money to prevent redundancies, while some believed office parties were a distraction from the main point of the festive season.
Bryan Armour of Parchment Housing Group said: ‘The answer is in the word “Christmas” – we are letting the creator of the event down.’
But the question polarised opinion, with almost half (45%) saying they would not throw cold water on the annual office revelry.
Richard Jones of Therm Tempered said: ‘The staff would have nothing to gossip about during January. Witnessing the MD’s disco dancing attempts is priceless in terms of staff morale.’
Morale and team building were key reasons for party supporters. John Davies of Moore and Blatch said: ‘I might be tempted to save the money, but I recall that even Scrooge realised that staff Christmas parties can be beneficial in the longer term.’
At least one FD was doing his bit to preserve party traditions. He said: ‘I’m going to my first one tonight, and will let you know what I think after the fourth next Thursday.’