1. SHRM Poll: Holiday Parties in 2010?
November 12, 2010

2. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Key Findings
• Can employees expect some holiday cheer at the end of 2010? 61% of organizations report planning to
hold an end-of-year/holiday party for their employees this year. The percentage of companies that
reported planning a year-end holiday party in 2009 was also 61%.
• Are more companies foregoing year-end holiday parties? Compared with 2009, fewer companies in 2010
reported not having parties due to the financial challenges, yet more companies have reported that their
organization does not have such a practice in 2010 compared with 2009. It could be that some companies
that stopped having parties due to financial challenges are not planning to reinstate these events.
2

3. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Is your organization planning to hold an end-of-
year/holiday party for employees this year?
2009 (n = 386)
2010 (n = 382)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
20%
12%
19%
26%
61%
61%
No, we had to cut back due to financial challenges
No, we do not have such practice (i.e., we usually do not have an end-of-year/holiday party)
Yes
3
Note: “Not sure” responses were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to
rounding.

4. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Is your organization planning to hold its end-of-
year/holiday party on-site or off-site?
Other
Off-site but scaled down
On-site and off-site
On-site to save cost
On-site (our normal practice)
Off-site (our normal practice)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
3%
2%
3%
15%
27%
50%
1%
0%
0%
10%
29%
60%
2010 (n = 232) 2009 (n = 386)
4
Note: “Not sure” responses were excluded from this analysis.

5. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Demographics: Organization Industry
Industry
Manufacturing –other 13%
Health care, social assistance (e.g., hospitals, clinics) 13%
Services –professional, scientific, technical, legal 9%
Financial services (e.g., banking) 8%
Educational services/education 8%
Retail/wholesale trade 6%
Government/public administration—federal, state/local, tribal 5%
Insurance 5%
Other services (e.g., other nonprofit, church/religious organizations) 4%
5
Note: n = 443. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

6. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)
Industry
Transportation, warehousing (e.g., distribution) 3%
High-tech 3%
Consulting 3%
Construction, mining, oil and gas 2%
Services—accommodation, food and drinking places 2%
Utilities 2%
Publishing, broadcasting, other media 2%
Association—professional/trade 2%
Real estate, rental, leasing 1%
Manufacturing—auto/auto-related 1%
Arts, entertainment, recreation 1%
Telecommunications 1%
Pharmaceutical 1%
Biotech 1%
Other 5%
6
Note: n = 443. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

7. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Demographics: Organization Sector
6%
7%
19%
20%
48%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Other
Government sector
Publicly owned for-profit organization
Nonprofit organization
Privately owned for-profit organization
7Note: n = 443

8. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Demographics: Organization Staff Size
18%
27%
25%
20%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
1 to 99 employees 100 to 499 employees 500 to 2499 employees 2500 to 24999
employees
25000 or more
employees
8
Note: n = 277

9. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
Demographics: Other
9
Note: n = 450
U.S.-based operations 73%
Multinational operations 27%
Single-unit company: A
company in which the
location and the company
are one and the same
32%
Multi-unit company: A
company that has more than
one location
68%
Multi-unit headquarters determines
HR policies and practices
50%
Each work location determines HR
policies and practices
1%
A combination of both the work
location and the multi-unit
headquarters determine HR policies
and practices
48%
Is organization a single-unit company or a multi-
unit company?
Are HR policies and practices determined by
the multi-unit corporate headquarters, by each
work location or both?
Does the organization have U.S.-based
operations (business units) only or
does it operate multinationally?
Note: n = 432
Note: n = 316. Percentages do not total 100% due to
rounding.
• 15% of organizations indicated that
employees at their work location were
unionized.
Note: n = 443

10. Holiday Parties in 2010? | ©SHRM 2010
SHRM Poll: Holiday Parties in 2010?
• Response rate = 18%
• Sample comprised of 472 randomly selected HR
professionals randomly selected HR professionals from
SHRM’s membership
• Margin of error is +/- 5%
• Survey fielded September 30 – October 19, 2010
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Methodology
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