A recent study by Just Eat for Business has discovered that 1 in 3 businesses will not be providing staff with an end of year bonus this year.

The Corporate Christmas Rewards Study asked key decision makers, such as CEOs and business managers at companies across the UK how they will be rewarding staff during the festive period.

The findings show that the majority of businesses base the decision on whether or not to give staff a monetary-based Christmas bonus is based on meeting sales targets (31%), company profit (30%) and whether or not employees have met their personal goals (29%).

However, the majority of businesses (81%) are choosing to give back to staff by hosting a Christmas party this year. Almost half (48%) said that this year’s Christmas party event will be bigger and better when compared to such events that took place pre-pandemic.

The study also found that 7% of UK-based businesses have decided not to host a Christmas party of any kind this year, and the remaining 12% have not yet decided if they will do so or not.

For organisations that have chosen not to host a party, main reasons include; budget issues (57%), a lack of organisation (14%), as well as having a remote workforce (14%).

When it comes to additional festive incentives and activities, other ways in which employers are planning to give back to staff this year include organising a secret santa (34%), funding a Christmas lunch (34%) and providing corporate gifts (27%).

The survey also shows that 1 in 5 businesses (20%) will be providing office catering as an end-of-year incentive, yet 41% of key decision makers at businesses admit they could be doing more to incentive staff all year round.

Rosie Hyam, People Partner, at Just Eat for Business comments on the survey findings:

“Rewarding employees is key to a good working atmosphere and ensuring that staff members feel appreciated. Giving back can also have a huge impact on staff morale and retention, especially going into the new year.

“As many businesses have a higher number of remote workers than ever before, it’s now even more vital that businesses are doing all they can to try and make staff members feel appreciated.

“Yet this can be easier said than done, especially considering that many businesses state the main reason for not incentivising staff this year is due to budget issues, but rewarding staff doesn’t have to come with big budgets.

“There are numerous ways in which employers can ensure that staff remain motivated, and a key way of doing so is to break up monotonous working routines. Understandably, during the run-up to Christmas, not all employees are willing to give up their personal time, so a good alternative can be organising events during working hours, or even during extended lunch breaks can be a good alternative.

“Staff quizzes, employee-voted employee of the month awards or even a funded lunch within the office can be ways of giving staff something to look forward to. Another survey we recently conducted found that 1 in 10 office workers wish their employer would provide more catered lunch breaks, something that employers could consider as part of a festive or regular way of rewarding staff.”