Press Release to Employer Holiday Practices 2009
"Employers of Choice" Treat Holiday Celebration with Respect & Appreciation!Kathy Bergstrom of The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee contacted HRS for source information regarding employer trends for holiday 2009 celebration. We provided her general data and resources toward her article along with agreement to invite participation from our employer base to go “on record” with details. The response from our employer base was quick and overwhelming, reinforcing the timely popularity of this topic. As Kathy’s September 2009 article with HRS had received nationwide Business Journal front page attention and global syndication to include Worldnews.com, we invited employers from our nationwide base to comment. We are always enthusiastic to collaborate in Kathy’s outstanding news pieces. The following press release was compiled and invitations closed as soon as we learned the article was “going to press” with deadline set. We send hearty thanks to the “employers of choice” who so quickly responded with newsworthy detail. Link to Article. Summary follows.HRS Press ReleaseHRS research demonstrates a wide range of employer responses to the complex Holiday 2009 environment. Employers are struggling with economic concerns, varying degrees of economic rebound, tradition vs. progressive change, employee morale, cost-cutting, alcohol/substance liabilities, potential harassment heightened in any company-sanctioned social event, and respecting religion as an essential protected class. This is undoubtedly a balancing act, and we're seeing some extremely creative and other comforting traditional employer responses. We advocate and see successful businesses considering their overall culture and change posture when formulating this decision. That is, those seeking to return to "the way things were" may be well-suited by embracing tradition. Those posturing on progressive change are well-suited by a new approach to the holiday season.Employees appreciate being valued, but do not wish to see fiscally wasteful extravaganzas, especially if they are in work/pay reduction or freeze modes. Employees who have been asked to "do more for less" are especially displeased by the events designed to please the boss rather than to please the employees. Employers flaunting or pretending affluence are likely to bring about negative attention (potentially even from their customers who'd rather see a price break), yet the right amount of respectful appreciation, confidence and decompression opportunity needs to surface. Community give backs are proven morale boosters. In the order of response, a few specific employer “on record” comments follow along with contact information should you desire additional discussion... (detailed contact information omitted for website publication) CG Schmidt...“CG Schmidt, like other companies, is undergoing some budget cuts and looking at all areas of spending for consideration. The holiday party was one of the areas impacted; however we felt that it was an important gathering to show our appreciation to our employees. As a construction company with field sites throughout the state and into northern Illinois, we felt it was an important event to continue as it is one of the few times each year that we are able to bring all of our employees together. As has been tradition, we hold our holiday celebration on the first Sunday after the New Year. This not only improves attendance as there are fewer conflicts after the official holiday, but also affords our employees something to look forward to after the hustle and bustle of Christmas-time and allows us some price breaks by moving it to a time that is in less demand. This year we also moved the holiday celebration, which has typically consisted of a cocktail/appetizer hour and full sit down dinner and program, to a brunch. By doing so, we’ve been able to retain what was important for the event while still being cost conscience to meet our budget constraints. We are looking forward to a great event!”Sinclair Broadcast Group...“At WCGV My 24 and WVTV CW 18 Television we will be having a Holiday Pot Luck prior to the end of the year. This features employees bringing in a dish and everybody sharing. At the same time, we will be raising food for the Hunger Task Force and clothing for SDC. After the first of the year, we will have an off site Holiday Party. We find that having this in January it is less hectic for employee schedules and that establishments are able to provide more value in January when there is less demand for these events. It also gives us something to look forward to after the holidays!In these ways, we try to find the balance between prudence, appreciation and morale as well as focusing on others who are in need and not just ourselves.”Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce...“Recognizing that these are challenging times, the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce staff has chosen not to have an employee party this year but would engage in team activities in support of some of our non-profit members. Whether collecting food for St. Mary’s Food Bank or decorating cookies with developmentally disabled adults from STARS, the Chamber staff is about building morale by giving back this year. We will, of course, sample each others’ talents through a potluck lunch where we give a little of ourselves to each other.”Rick Kidder, CEO, Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce
Spreenkler, LLC..."Yes, we are planning an employee holiday party this year. We do indeed face all of the challenges you listed, and in addition, we're a year one startup. Even though cash flow is being managed tightly, we would not have had the moderate success were it not for the focus, determination and commitment of our team. The holiday party will be a great way to recognize and thank them for the effort. To be efficient, though, we are combining our employee party with our client and prospective client holiday party. They believe and have invested in us and so we will thank them for this. The venue we've selected is the beautiful, new back room at Transfer Pizzeria. They're already equipped with presentation media and have a delicious menu with many options. Our gift to our clients at our holiday event will be a personalized, bound photo book that provides highlights the achievements of our partnership over the past year. One other thing. We are a creative services firm (design, interactive, social/mobile media) that hires college students. Our company cause is to provide these students with a path to opportunity. To help them launch their career by working with real companies and on real projects. They are not interns, they are employees. They do not assist on projects, they lead them. So through our holiday party we will show them the importance of thanking people for their hard work and demonstrating sincere appreciation to clients for their business.”Cary Francis Group…“Here at Cary Francis Group we feel it is important, even in these difficult economic times, to take time to celebrate and enjoy the spirit of the holiday season. This year we plan to have a very nice catered brunch on December 18th where all employees will be able to relax for a while and savor traditional holiday eats. We have invited the remote sales staff into the Franklin corporate office for the day so everyone can participate (we find that employees always enjoy and appreciate a “food event”!). We will also take time as a management team to thank all employees for their continued commitment and support as we face the current business challenges and all look forward to the economic upturn. This is in contrast to previous CFG holiday parties that have included evening dinner/theater events in downtown Milwaukee, complete with overnight hotel stays. Hopefully those opportunities will come again before too long but now it’s the time to be prudent and socially responsible (and our employees understand and respect that position). Also, with January 26, 2010 being the 10th Anniversary for Cary Francis Group as a company, we are planning some events around that time, and throughout the year, that will continue the “celebration and thank you” theme.”Eddie Long, CFO, Cary Francis Group, Inc.
Midwest Sign & Screen…“Midwest has renamed it’s holiday party to “New Berlin Awards Celebration”. We will gather for dinner and celebrate our tenured employees, starting with 1 year. All the way up to 25 years. Celebrate our drivers for safe driving, and celebrate the successes of 2009 through the teamwork of all employees. It will be held in late January, after all of the holidays. we start out our new year by recognizing their contributions to our success.”Len Losiniecki, Warehouse Manager, Midwest Sign & Screen
Serigraph Inc…“With all the economic stress and reduced profits, we as many other companies have trimmed and/or cut many benefits and pay. My department struggled with ideas to help everyone get in the mood and we came up with several drives to inspire our workers. We started with a Thanksgiving food drive in the office areas. Near and dear to most everyone’s heart is the ability to wear jeans or true casual clothes to work. For contributions of food to the local food pantry, donors “earned” the right to wear their casual gear all of Thanksgiving week. We had our graphics department develop small stickers that looked like turkeys for everyone who donated to wear and just about everyone got in the act. Starting with the first week of December, we expanded the drive to include toys, household items and cash and based on the level of donation, the donors could dress down for the entire month. They receive a snowman sticker to wear to show they have contributed to the drive. To allow the production areas to get involved we started up a small competition between departments based on the number of items given to the various charitable causes. The winning department on each shift will get a free pizza or sub lunch in January. Finally, the last workday before Christmas we will still be holding our traditional “Christmas Feast”. It is a combination of potluck, main dish provided by the company, and lots of snacking all day. Everyone loves it and gets into the holiday spirit along with their ‘work family’. “Linda Buntrock, Sr. VP of Human Resources, Serigraph Inc.
New Resources Consulting…“We have chosen to scale back our holiday celebration event for the past two years due to economic conditions. Traditionally we would host a formal event around the holidays and now we celebrate by getting together at a local pub. We feel the most important thing is to spend time with our employees and significant others and that can be accomplished without a large spend.”Mark Grosskopf, CEO, New Resources Consulting
Additional top employers who came forth with volunteered participation and comment include RedPrairie, Marquette University, Midland Video Productions, Clearwing Productions Inc., Hau & Associates SC, Don Rice & Associates LLC and Props Unlimited LLC. |