According to the latest Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey conducted by Harris Interactive , 72 percent of adult workers age 50+ say it is not important to them that their employer has an annual holiday party, compared to 56 percent of workers age 18 to 29 and 62 percent of workers overall. The survey also finds that fewer employers hold any type of annual holiday party, decreasing from 58 percent in 2006 to 55 percent in 2007.


That being said, when it comes to those who attend, 23 percent of workers admit to feeling obligated to do so and women are more likely to feel this way than men (25 percent vs. 21 percent). In addition, 88 percent say they have never embarrassed themselves at an employer's annual holiday party, with a mere five percent admitting to having done so. Workers earning less than $15,000 annually are significantly more likely to have embarrassed themselves at a holiday party than any other income group, with 20 percent stating that they have done this.


"Interestingly, the challenges and obstacles resulting from four generations working side-by-side for the first time in history appears to be spilling over to even the most basic of office events, the holiday party, observed Loretta Penn, vice president and chief service excellence officer at Spherion. "Our survey indicates that annual holiday parties are far less important to older workers than to those employees in the early years of their careers. Perhaps this mindset is a result of varied expectations about holiday parties, or simply a 'been there, done that' mentality from mature workers.


Penn believes that while it is unrealistic to please everyone, employers can make an effort to satisfy desires and expectations from all generations. "Each organization's approach to holiday parties should be based on its unique situation and the overall interest level from its own employees, says Loretta. "Companies should consider creating a holiday party committee or task force that is made up of members from all four generations to ensure that all groups are represented and a collective decision can be made.


Other results from the most recent Spherion Workplace Snapshot Survey:

A large number of adult workers feel neutral about holiday party issues.

More than one quarter (29 percent) of adult workers feel neutral about their obligation to attend their employer's annual holiday party.

Nearly one quarter (24 percent) of adult workers gave a neutral response when asked about how important it is to them that their employers holding holiday parties


Female workers and higher salaried employees feel more obligated than male workers to attend annual holiday party.

One-quarter (25%) of female workers say they feel obligated to attend their employer's annual holiday party, compared to only 21 percent of male workers.

Workers earning more than $75,000 annually are the most likely income group to feel obligated to attend their employer's holiday party, with 27 percent stating reporting this.


Workers earning less than $15,000 are most likely to have embarrassed themselves at an employer's annual holiday party.

Twenty percent of workers earning $15,000 or less say they have embarrassed themselves at their employer's annual holiday party. This is more than any other income group.



Methodology

The November 2007 Spherion Workplace Snapshot is based on data from the Harris Interactive QuickQuerySM online omnibus conducted monthly by Harris Interactive on behalf of Spherion Corporation between November 6-8, 2007 among a U.S. sample of 1,455 employed adults, aged 18 years and older. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

To learn more, visit www.spherion.com.