How most NJ companies are handling holiday parties this year

More New Jersey companies are holding some kind of in-person holiday party for their employees this month than they did last December.

A study by the global business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas finds 56.9% of businesses are having a holiday gathering, which is up from 26.6% last year.

Michele Siekerka, the president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association said while pandemic concerns have receded “some companies are a bit squeamish right now given the higher rate of flu, RSV, COVID, the triple threat as everyone is talking about.”

She pointed out many employees continue to work part-time from their home offices “and I’m saying come to a party instead of spending 2 hours with your family one night during the holiday season, it might not go over as well as when we were mandated to be in the office.”

Things are different now

Siekerka said a lot of businesses are looking at the holiday party tradition differently than they used to.

“Some are going to be very conservative in their thinking of pulling people together just for the sake of having a party if they are not already together in the office that day.”

The study finds when it comes to spending, 37% of companies are maintaining their party budgets, 16% are spending more, and 6% reported they are spending less this year.

Siekerka said she believes the impacts on business today “relative to inflation and all of the cost factors certainly are going to have an impact on what we’re spending on holiday parties.”

A breakfast party?

She noted a lot of companies are having a breakfast or luncheon for workers, not a full-fledged after-hours celebration.

The study finds about 2% of businesses are holding some kind of a virtual party, down from 7% last year and 17% in 2020.

Only 5.3% of businesses held an in-person holiday party in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.

In December 2019, a few months before COVID appeared in the U.S., 75% of companies had some kind of in-person holiday party for workers.

David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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