Companies worried over Christmas Party behaviour

Survey Conducted online with 750 respondents in December 2007.

An MSI Legal & Accounting annual survey of more than 750 Australian and New Zealand businesses conducted in the first week of December shows that companies have become increasingly worried about the potential for inappropriate behaviour at office Christmas parties with more than half now providing a written reminder as to what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.

Underlining the state of unease, almost 70% of respondents confirmed their 2007 events were being held during the day in 2007, up from 50% of respondents in 2006.

MSI Legal & Accounting spokesperson Charles Hornor commented that: “companies we talked to said that day-time events see more responsible consumption of alcohol, reducing the likelihood of inappropriate behaviour.” Hornor went on to add that “a written reminder before the event aims to sound a friendly warning but is also an important legal consideration for many companies. If something does go wrong, the company needs to be able to point to the fact it did remind all staff about personal boundaries and limits.”

Key findings of the 2007 MSI Legal & Accounting Christmas Functions Survey included the fact that:

• 68% of businesses will hold a daytime function against 50% of businesses in 2006
• Only 4% of businesses pointed to ‘Budget Availability’ as a factor influencing their decisions to hold Christmas functions in 2007 down from 9% in 2006 – representing a fall of over 50%.
• 24% of businesses will spend $10,000 or more in 2007, up from 16% in 2006
• 66% of businesses will spend $5,000 or less in 2007, matching the 2006 result
  65% of businesses state that staff ‘expect’ a Christmas function against 59% in 2006
• 41% of businesses have invited team members’ partners to attend functions against 50% in 2006
• 86% of businesses will fund their Christmas functions entirely with team members not being asked to contribute at all

Please click here for the Xmas Spending Survey 2007 results.