1. SHRM Poll: 2011Holiday Parties
December 1, 2011

2. Key Findings
 Do organizations plan to have a 2011 end-of-year or holiday party? More than half (68%) of
organizations will hold a 2011 end-of-year or holiday party for their employees. The percentage
of organizations holding parties in 2011 has increased slightly compared with 2010 and 2009.
 Will organizations plan to have a end-of-year/holiday party on-site or off-site? Of the
organizations that are planning to hold an end-of-year or holiday party, 61% of them will have it
off-site—an increase from 2009, when 50% of organizations planned to hold their party off-site.
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
2

3. Is your organization planning to hold an end-of-year or holiday party for
employees?
68% 24% 8%
2011 (n = 404)
61% 26% 12%
2010 (n = 382)
61% 19% 20%
2009 (n = 386)
Yes No, we do not have such practice No, we had to cut back due to financial challenges
Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
3

4. Is your organization planning to hold its end-of-year/holiday party on-site or off-
site?
61%
Off-site (our normal 60%
practice) 50%
24%
On-site (our normal 29%
practice) 27%
9%
On-site to save money 10%
15% 2011 (n = 273)
2010 (n = 232)
2009 (n = 386)
On-site and off-site 0%
3%
Off-site but scaled down 0%
2%
6%
Other 1%
3%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations will hold an end-of-year/holiday party were asked this question. In 2011, respondents were not
provided the “on-site and off-site” and “off-site but scaled down” options.
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
4

5. Demographics: Organization Industry
Industry Percentage
Manufacturing 20%
Health care and social assistance 13%
Professional, scientific and technical services 12%
Other services except public administration 11%
Educational services 9%
Finance and insurance 9%
Public administration 5%
Transportation and warehousing 5%
Retail trade 5%
Utilities 3%
Religious, grant-making, civic, professional and similar organizations 3%
Accommodation and food services 3%
Note: n = 457. Percentages may not equal 100% due to multiple response options.
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
5

6. Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)
Industry Percentage
Construction of buildings, heavy and civil engineering construction, specialty trade contractors 3%
Real estate and rental and leasing 3%
Wholesale trade 3%
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services 2%
Arts, entertainment and recreation 2%
Information, publishing industries 2%
Repair and maintenance 1%
Mining 1%
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting *
Management of companies and enterprises *
Personal and laundry services *
Private households *
Note: n = 457. Percentages may not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates < 1%.
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
6

7. Demographics: Organization Sector
Privately owned for-profit 50%
organization
Publicly owned for-profit 19%
organization
Nonprofit organization 19%
Government sector
8%
Other 4%
n = 456
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
7

8. Demographics: Organization Staff Size
32%
27%
18% 18%
5%
1 to 99 employees 100 to 499 500 to 2499 2500 to 24999 25000 or more
employees employees employees employees
n = 448
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
8

9. Demographics: Other
Does your organization have U.S.-based operations Is your organization a single-unit company or a multi-unit
(business units) only or does it operate company?
multinationally?
Single-unit company: A company in which the
36%
U.S.-based operations only 75% location and the company are one and the same.
Multi-unit company: A company that has more
Multinational operations 25% 64%
than one location.
n = 465 n = 470
Are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit
corporate headquarters, by each work location or both?
Corporate (companywide) 52%
Business unit/division 44%
Facility/location 4%
n = 312
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
9

10. SHRM Poll: 2011 Holiday Parties
Methodology
 Response rate = 16%
 Sample composed of 481 randomly selected HR professionals
 Margin of error is +/- 5%
 Survey fielded October 12-November 4, 2011
For more poll findings, visit: www.shrm.org/surveys
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SHRM_Research
2011 Holiday Parties ©SHRM 2011
10