Benefits December 12, 2003
Employers Find Ways to Offer Holiday Cheer
No one can accuse employers participating in a
recent survey of being Mr. Scrooge. Knowing that the holiday
season can put their workers under boatloads of extra stress,
many organizations are trying to do their part to bring a
little "ho ho ho" into the workplace.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
The survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that this holiday season, employers are doing everything from putting out egg nog and cookies to declaring casual dress days.
Specifically, respondents said they would:
- schedule holiday events during normal business hours – 51%
- remind employees of employee assistance program – 39%
- show appreciation for employees who work during holiday – 33%
- allow casual dress for holiday parties – 32%
- provide holiday food – 30%
- provide an early bonus for holiday shopping – 23%
- offer floating days for holiday worked – 20%
- allow reduced hours for errands – 14%
- encourage volunteer opportunities on company time – 13%
- offer extra shifts for holiday money – 8%
- offer child care for errands – 1%
- other – 15%.
SHRM c onducted the survey from November 11 to 18, 2003, among 369 randomly selected human resource professionals. For more information, go to www. shrm.org .
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