British Businesses Cancel Christmas

Online, December 17, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Free Conference call provider, Powwownow, has discovered that the traditional office Christmas party has been cancelled this year.

Their recent poll has revealed that over 20% of British Businesses will not be offering the traditional Christmas party, costing the Christmas party industry up to 15 million pounds. According to the BBC, Concerto, a major events organiser, has seen a 20% drop in bookings this year. 'This is a £1bn-a-year business, and there's significant money not being spent. With small businesses the knock-on effect could be quite bad,' stated Chairman Mike Kershaw. It seems that bosses keen to save costs, are cutting back the Christmas party or cancelling it altogether.

Conference call supplier Powwownow CEO, Andy Pearce comments 'I think these latest results are very depressing. As a small business owner I think it is hugely important to get the staff together and say thank you' A survey commissioned by The Chartered Institute of Management found two-thirds of managers agreed, believing that Christmas parties are important in helping to improve 'employee engagement.'

The ICM poll of over 2,000 British Businesses found that up to 20% of businesses were cancelling Christmas altogether with only a third of the businesses saying the party would go ahead as normal.

Over the last year Powwownow has conducted various surveys to reveal the working habits of Small and Medium sized Enterprise employees. The Dirty Habits Survey conducted in the final quarter of 2008 found that a whopping one in three men in SMEs had had a sexual thought about their work colleagues whilst in a meeting!

ICM surveyed over 2,000 people on behalf of conference call provider, Powwownow using an online survey.