Benchmarking Christmas working arrangements in 2011

The festive spirit may be in short supply for public sector workers in 2011, XpertHR Benchmarking research suggests.  As spending cuts bite, many public sector employers have cancelled or severely scaled back Christmas celebrations. Public sector organisations are also significantly more likely to be partially open for business on Christmas day than those in the private sector.

These are some of the key findings of the XpertHR Benchmarking survey on Christmas and New Year working arrangements for 2011/2012. The survey is based on responses from 242 organisations with a combined workforce of 853,471 employees. 

Subscribers to XpertHR Benchmarking can drill down into the complete benchmarking data from the survey. 

Christmas spending in 2011: a tale of two sectors

Across the whole economy, employers report a planned median Christmas spend (comprising planned spending on Christmas parties, lunches, employee gifts and bonuses for 2011) of £31.50 per employee. The interquartile range is £15 to £67.50. 

A sectoral breakdown of planned Christmas spending for 2011 reveals a stark contrast between the private and public sectors. The median Christmas spend per head is £37 among manufacturers and £35 in services, but stands at nil in the public sector. 

While the tendency in the public sector has been to cut back on Christmas celebrations, the private sector trend is in the opposite direction. For example, one private sector employer in six is increasing its spend on company-wide Christmas parties in 2011 when compared with 2010. A further two-thirds have maintained this spend at the same level as last year. 

Planned Christmas spending for 2011 breaks down as follows:

• The median spend on company-wide Christmas parties is £50 per head. 
• The median value of Christmas gifts for employees is £10 per head. 
• Awarding a Christmas bonus is a minority practice in 2011. Around one employer in 10 (11.2%) will give out Christmas bonuses to employees in 2011, down from 17.1% one year ago. Among those awarding Christmas bonuses, the median value of Christmas bonus payments in 2011 is £307 per head. 

Diversity considerations

More than four-fifths of organisations surveyed by XpertHR do not make any formal provisions for employees who do not celebrate Christmas to opt out of Christmas celebrations. 

Just over a quarter permit employees that are members of non-Christian faiths to mark special religious festivals. 

Christmas opening times

This year, Christmas day falls on a Sunday. Public sector organisations are more than twice as likely to be partially open on Christmas day than those in the private sector. 

Across all sectors, one organisation in 40 is open on Christmas day, while one in 10 is partially open. 

Interestingly, 7.1% of retail sector respondents will be open on Christmas day. Exactly half of retailers will be open or partially open on Boxing Day. 

Across all sectors, four-fifths of respondents will be closed on New Year's Day. However, one retailer in five will be open that day. 

Covering Christmas workloads

The XpertHR Benchmarking survey also looks at Christmas and New Year leave arrangements and the cover provided over the festive period:

• Just over half of employers count days when they are closed over the Christmas and New Year period as part of the employee's basic annual leave entitlement. A further one in three counts such days as "company days" or extra-statutory days on top of basic annual leave. 
• Two-fifths of employers require some employees to be available for call-out over the Christmas/New Year period. This figure rises sharply to seven respondents in 10 in the public sector. 

You can also access XpertHR's detailed written analysis of the annual leave survey findings. 

Michael Carty, benchmarking editor

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