Companies in Australia to Cancel Christmas Parties

Australia's The Daily Telegraph perhaps prematurely reports that the death of Australian Christmas parties in their article, Financial crisis kills the office Christmas party.
Luckily, Australia has Monash University psychology lecturer Dr Simon Moss to stop the madness.

"The awful irony is that when organisations don't promote networking opportunities then individuals become less efficient and ultimately that costs the company more. It can be very counterproductive... It implies that the situation is dire and the consequence is that their endeavours and ideas won't be fulfilled."

That's what she said. Actually that's what I said in my September press release, The Company Christmas Party - Another Casualty of a Tough Economy:

"For a company with a history of lavish year-end celebrations, the first impulse during a downturn is to cut the company party altogether," reports Weaver. "This is a mistake. It sends a strong message that the company isn't doing well. Your top performers may already be doing their own year-end introspection. By cutting the celebration, you may be sending a signal that it's time to start sending out résumés."

But I'm not hatin'. Go ahead, Doctor...

"People work best when there is a sense of familiarity and cutting out the Christmas party undermines that.'' Dr Moss also said that if there was no alternative but to cancel the party, managers should replace it with something else.

The good doctor is right. Instead of cancelling the Christmas party, try these cost-cutting ideas and use funny employee awards to bring some much-need laughter into the workplace.
It's what Dr. Moss would want.