Recession.... companies making excuses!

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

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I just spoke to my housemate who works for HP. They have cancelled all of their Christmas parties due to the current economic slowdown.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7736289.stm

Considering their considerable profits, it's pretty discusting that a company can cheap out on their staff who helped generate such profits.

So has anybody else had a similar problem :confused:
 
My wife works for AIG, her Xmas party (normally held at the Hilton) has been cancelled.
 
We have had our christmas party cancelled at work too - DSGi.

Even though HP is making a profit - it doesnt mean they are making as much as they should do and are more than likely down from the figures of last year.

What would your mate prefer - a fantastic christmas party or potentially be on the receiving end of a cutback of staff sometime next year? Its not companies being tight, its them being extra cautious on their outgoings - with christmas parties not being high up on their list.
 
I was working for a company until recently who cancelled their Christmas party (and didn't re-employ any temps either although that may or may not have been related) which seems awfully tightfisted in comparison to what it costs. It seems to me that a bit of worker morale is going to be worth more than the £XX thousand they'd spend on a Christmas party - that's not even micturating in the wind compared to what they spend on a daily basis for operational costs so it would appear a false economy.
 
JBod said:
My wife works for AIG, her Xmas party (normally held at the Hilton) has been cancelled.
Click to expand...

Well given that AIG have just taken billions in a taxpayer funded bailout, it would be bad for PR to splash some of that cash on luxuries like posh Christmas parties no?

Likewise HP are making thousands of redundancies, so not really appropriate to go out celebrating as a bleak Christmas sets in for their former workers.

We've been told we can have Christmas parties, but they have to be a bit more "discrete" than in previous years.
 
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I must admit, I'm lucky. I work in insurance and we are largely unnaffected and still hiring as normal. Our party will be as big as it alwayshas been.
 
Our Xmas dinner in work was cancelled.

We calculated it to cost about £6,000 for the whole place - 1400 staff (over 2 days, four shifts and day staff)


One of the board members came to visit us last week to tell us we had to tighten our belts. His 1st class flight cost £4000 - His total 3 day trip/stopovers would be around £40,000. More than 90% of staff earn in a year.

He stayed for 45 mins.

Enough said.
 
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That, and say for HP, even if you say they have considerable profits, would you not rather prefer they were more prudent on spending now, rather than if/when their sales take a downturn?

Like saving your money for a rainy day?
 
They are axing our department in Financial IT due to the "Credit Crunch" :( Christmas party tomorrow night though, lets see how much damage we can do
 
Our Christmas party is still going ahead a week tomorrow, at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair. In fact, our parent company is having their Christmas party the day before but I'm giving it a miss so I'm fresh enough for our one :)
 
Our Christmas party is still going ahead! We pay for it ourselves, putting into a fund throughout the year.
 
Company's spending the same as last year about 10k for £240 people. The executives rooms are in that price, everyone else pays. ;)
 
Our company has never never done anything like that anyway, not even a card. I think all they intend to do this year is bully us into taking a shift premium cut and extend our working hours due to the recession....
 
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