Hacker News Reader

Comment by cluoma | Hacker News Reader

Maybe it's just my inner-millenial but I really dislike office Christmas parties. This year my company rented out a large theatre with a buffet of goose and free beer/cocktails/wine all evening. It started at 6pm and most of the attendees were gone by 10pm, and we are a young company with many in their 20s.

I feel like it was really a party for a few outgoing people and those in HR. A Christmas bonus would have been a much nicer way to say 'thank you' for the previous years work.

View on HN

Why does that have anything to do with being a millennial? I'm a millennial, and I absolutely love company parties, because we all get a long so well, and it's a nice way to have a more casual conversation with people that you don't usually work with, during week days.

I think cylinder hit the nail on the head, with his remark, about it bringing office culture to the front - if you don't enjoy working with the people at your job, it sure isn't looking bright for the Christmas party either.

Also, a Christmas bonus is waaaaaay more expensive than a (nice) Christmas/office party has to be (unless you rent a fancy venue or something like that). It would feel a bit weird to get a $30 dollar "bonus", at least I would rather pool that together and make some enjoyable memories with people.

FWIW, they probably spent more than 30/person on just food and drink, but regardless I agree anything under a couple hundred dollars wouldn't feel genuine.

Thanks, I'm trying to institutionalize this and was wondering what would be a good Christmas bonus. 250$ was my ballpark.

Probably depends on your industry and implementation. I'm new to the workforce so I don't have a lot of experience with it, but I've seen some comments on reddit over the years with people getting piddly little bonuses (tens of dollars) and having management tell them they should be happy they got anything. The workers would have preferred getting nothing and it was a morale killer.

I don't know what good levels are. Maybe think of it in terms of % of salary for the median employee? $30 wouldn't feel genuine to anybody, especially if it looks like people at the top aren't cutting back. $250 for a developer making $175,000/year makes a much smaller difference than for support staff earning $40,000/year.

Another thing to consider - if things are tight and you don't already have a holiday bonus, a certificate to get a ham, turkey, or meat and cheese tray at a nearby grocery store would seem more genuine than a piddly $30 cash bonus. Of course switching from ~250/year bonus to a ham will be a morale killer.

The major telco I work for (starts with a B in Canada), people in my group complained when they got a $300 raise and said they would rather not have got it.. so they cut the raises for the 3 years straight due to this "comment". Funny thing, that person would be ahead by ~1k a year at the base salary. Fortunately I am part of a different compensation package. I would always take any money, that 300 is ~180ish after tax, enough for 2 months of parking..

Sounds like "the company to escape from if at all possible". Not only disrespecting the workers but also silencing complaints by force.

I agree 100%

Maybe we can all be so lucky and get a jelly of the month club.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QNVe9Hbhwc

Don't forget that a bonus (or a gift above a certain monetary value) is a taxable benefit to workers while an office party is not.

I used to think so but my office party (100 employees) this year was really good and a great icebreaker. We're all friendlier at the office now.

I think it just brings your office culture to the forefront. If there's tension and negative vibes already present, your party will be unpleasant.

I can't imagine one party for a huge corporation (like 1000 people). That's just awkward. It should be broken down to divisions if so.

It is not your inner-millenial, there are many people that feel this way. Christmas parties in general give me the creeps. I would also prefer a Christmas bonus instead of needing to talk to colleagues that slowly (sometimes not so slowly) get inebriated and make some form of fools of themselves.

Christmas parties feel forced to me. A legacy of time gone by that people cling to for some reason.

Legacy? They were always contrived lol

My company does the holiday party during the work day so we all get the day off. I'm pretty sure I would be upset if it started at 6:00 PM and attendance was mandatory.

As party to one of the organizers, the dollars per head runs slightly above a wedding. Thus expect $120/plate/head.

Not a great bonus.

Add ons that were cut as the budget was cut; Open Bar: (paid at end, but think cocktail rates $11-$20 per drink), "white glove hors d'oeuvre" $13/person.

Absolutely this. At a place I worked previously, due to a tight budget, instead of doing the sensible thing and not having a party (or letting teams organise their own smaller bashes), the company cheaped out and rented a basement somewhere into which we barely all fitted. It was cramped, noisy and expensive. One employee got drunk and had a fist fight with the restaurant management after knocking down the sliding wall between us and the next room of 'revellers'. It was totally grim, but all in the name of being the kind of company that has Christmas parties. I handed in my notice the next day iirc.

It seems odd that you would forget whether or not this event precipitated you quitting a job.

He was the one that knocked down the partition.

a cheesy venue prompted your resignation?

It was the cherry on the cake of terrible culture.

I worked at a bank and that place was full of people that really enjoyed that kind of parties. Those parties were really kind of legendary in all kinds of regards, there were always a few people that had to be fired because of their behavior at the New Year's Party. But I did get swept up in the atmosphere even if I didn't like the music or even generically spoken bank people.

The IT companies I worked for were always notorious for the same 20 people going to every event and the usual 100 no shows. If they know there's a lot of the kind of people that don't like social events where you stand around with a drink in your hand and loud music just go to the local bowling alley and mix the teams up a bit. If you didn't talk to people at least you had some fun.

We have terrific parties at Relativity. Venues like Union Station, Museum of Natural History, Museum of Science and Industry. The whole place is rented, and food is provided, drinks as well, usually dance music. Loud dance music.

And bonuses are after the first of the year and based on company and individual performance.

Usually, there is also an after-party, and on some occasions, an after-after party.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com