Because Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day fall on weekends this year, employees are getting somewhat shortchanged for the holidays.
But it's to be hoped that they don't go all wild and crazy at the office holiday party, which, according to a Bloomberg BNA report, will be provided by 77 percent of employers this year, whether it's a companywide event or departmental gathering.
The smaller the company, though, the better the odds of a party, with 84 percent of smaller organizations (those under 1,000 employees) sponsoring a party, compared with just 61 percent of larger enterprises. And that's despite the potential for misbehaving by drinking too much (69 percent of companies will serve alcoholic drinks), offending a colleague or supervisor or engaging in inappropriately flirtatious behavior.
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By the way, of those alcohol-powered parties, 81 percent will be employing tactics to keep employees from drinking too much. Good luck with that.
Now back to paid time off. Since the holidays fall on weekends, aside from the Mondays following Christmas and New Year's, employers are most likely to provide the Fridays preceding Christmas (38 percent) and New Year's (22 percent) as paid days off. In comparison, when the holidays fell on a Friday last year, 57 percent of employers provided three or more paid days off.
And, as with the holiday parties, manufacturers and small businesses are the most generous with paid time off, with 69 percent of manufacturers providing three or more paid days off during the season, compared with 40 percent of non-manufacturers and nonbusiness organizations.
Some workers will, of course, be stuck in the office despite the holidays; 31 percent of businesses will have at least a few folks working for one or both holidays. Those most likely to have to work on Christmas or New Year's are public safety and security personnel (at 16 percent of employers) and service and maintenance workers (13 percent).
What about remuneration? Eighty-three percent of employers will fork over extra compensation for holiday work, with 33 percent being on the hook for time-and-a-half; 22 percent for double-time; 10 percent providing both extra pay and compensatory time; and 8 percent just regular pay combined with comp time.
When it comes to gifts, 41 percent of organizations — down one percent from last year — intend to give employees gift items or bonuses. Employers are still more likely to cut checks rather than hand out actual gift items; bonuses and cash awards remain about three times more common than merchandise, gift cards or food items. Not that they're going to be huge; the median estimated expenditure per employee for gifts is $50 and the median cash award $500.
In the spirit of the brave gents who approached Scrooge on Christmas Eve seeking donations "to buy the poor some meat and drink," 63 percent of companies will also sponsor community or charitable activities during the holidays, with food drives and toy collections the most popular. Both are in place at over two in five companies, while three out of ten 10 employers will participate in "adoption" programs, through which toys, food or clothes are provided directly to local families. And pets aren't forgotten, since some respondents indicated such humane causes as "animal rescue" and "toys for dogs."
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