Benchmarking Christmas and New Year working arrangements 2010/2011
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Employment law considerations often take a back seat when employers plan their Christmas and New Year working arrangements, latest HR & Compliance Centre Benchmarking research reveals. The HR & Compliance Centre Benchmarking survey of Christmas and New Year working arrangements - conducted in October 2010 - is based on responses from 111 organisations. Subscribers to HR & Compliance Centre Benchmarking can drill down into the complete benchmarking data from the survey. |
The HR & Compliance Centre survey finds that a majority of organisations are failing to put behaviour policies in place for seasonal celebrations. And still more employers are not acting in accordance with legislation to prevent religious discrimination:
- Nearly nine in 10 respondents say they do not make formal provision for those who do not celebrate Christmas to opt out of celebrations.
- Three-quarters do not make provision for members of faiths other than Christianity to mark special religious festivals.
Other key findings on workplace Christmas celebrations include the following:
- The most common way to celebrate Christmas at work is the company-wide party, followed by departmental lunches and departmental parties.
- Christmas-related spending (such as on parties, lunches, gifts and bonuses) is down when compared with last year.
- Although the majority of work Christmas celebrations pass without incident, 7% of employers say problems did arise at their last work Christmas party or meal, indicating the need for a behaviour policy.
Other key findings on workplace Christmas celebrations include the following:
- More than one-third (38.7%) of respondents require some employees to be available for call-out over the Christmas and New Year Bank Holidays.
- A further three in 10 (30.6%) require some staff to be on standby over this period.
The unique interactive features of HR & Compliance Centre Benchmarking can be applied to each question from this survey, to create bespoke reports that you can download and use.
Michael Carty, benchmarking editor
