Work Christmas functions are in full swing - how are New Zealand's top companies celebrating? Photo / 123RF
Work Christmas functions are in full swing - how are New Zealand's top companies celebrating? Photo / 123RF
Self-funded lunches and family-focused events are on the Christmas party menu for big corporates this year, while extravagant, alcohol-fuelled parties have fallen out of favour in the tough economic climate.
The Herald asked the top 10 NZX-listed companies how they would be celebrating Christmas for staff this year.
Their repliesvaried in enthusiasm and scale, from team gatherings and barbecues to full-fledged family events.
Some said they would be hosting self-funded team lunches alongside broader corporate functions.
However, many appeared to be conscious about appearing to celebrate too heartily as other sectors (namely the public sector) face scaled-back celebrations or none at all.
Many companies this year are downsizing Christmas parties, opting to let individual teams celebrate in their own ways. Heather Shaw of The Events Group believes the culture around festivities has permanently changed.
Telecommunications company Spark confirmed its staff will be celebrating Christmas within its teams this year, with events ranging from team lunches to barbecues or secret Santas.
A Spark spokeswoman also said the company will provide a budget for its people to enjoy team celebrations.
New Zealand’s busiest airport, Auckland Airport, said its end-of-year celebration is focused on families.
A spokeswoman for the airport said staff have organised a family fun afternoon, timed to allow as many of its rostered shift teams to join in, along with their families.
Mainfreight’s group managing director Don Braid echoed the sentiment, saying it was all about the children.
“Every year no matter the economic environment we have run special Christmas parties for the children and parents of the Mainfreight team in most of the main centres where we are located. Each venue catering for the other branches close by,” Braid said.
He said Mainfreight’s Auckland event would be held at a South Auckland sports park and feature fairground-type entertainment, including farm animals, the local fire brigade, truck rides, face painters and lots of healthy food for the children and their parents.
The event is expected to cater for about 1800 people.
“It is all arranged and run by a dedicated team of Mainfreight people who do a marvellous job.”
Mainfrieght managing director Don Braid said Christmas is all about family and that the company will host Christmas functions in the regions, including a fun-fair event in Auckland.
One NZ also said it would be hosting Christmas parties at its three offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, providing food and drink for staff.
A spokesman said it would also provide an allowance for its retail teams to celebrate in similar fashion.
For Fletcher Building, with over 20 NZ businesses and over 9000 staff, it’s a bit more complicated.
A spokeswoman said there isn’t a particular Fletcher Building Christmas celebration, rather, its businesses have the discretion to plan their own festive gatherings that reflect their workplace culture and circumstances.
“We do think it’s important for our teams to take some time out together to celebrate their hard work and achievements over what has been a tough year,” the spokeswoman said.
She also said the company or relevant business would likely contribute to the festivities.
A spokesman for Genesis Energy said it was hosting end-of-year functions to recognise the effort and achievements of its teams throughout the year.
He said it was hosting the events and all staff were welcome to attend.
The Herald contacted Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a2 Milk, Meridian, Infratil and Ryman Healthcare about what they are doing, but received no responses.
Different culture
Director of The Events Group, Heather Shaw, believes the time of big corporate events is over, and said interest in events is definitely lower.
“Some of our regulars have gone ahead and done things as they normally would, but in many cases, the optics of holding a staff function is not great when that organisation may well have gone through a restructure or something like that and people are hurting,” Shaw said.
As someone with over 20 years of experience in the event industry, Shaw believes that over the last decade there has been a swing away from large events focused on drinking.
Part of this she puts down to the generational outlook towards alcohol, as younger generations steer away from heavy drinking in favour of experiences such as Amazing Race events or trips to the zoo.
She believes big functions that can come with notoriety are no longer the norm, referencing Vodafone (now One NZ) and its famous parties from the early 2000s, notably one that featured an elephant.
“What we did find was a lot of clients were investing in family days rather than evening events with a lot of drinking,” Shaw added.
“I’ve had this business for 21 years and I think that what you see, and the benefit to company culture, is that including the families makes a big difference in how the staff member views the company.”
As for next year, Shaw expects to see an increase in events in general but on a smaller scale.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.
