CELEBRATIONS—Office Parties Scaled Back This Holiday

Remember last year’s holiday office party? A nationwide economic recession had yet to be declared. There was no anthrax scare to contend with. Employees in satellite offices out of state weren’t afraid to fly in for the company bash, nor were budget constraints keeping them from doing so. And it was perfectly OK to break out the champagne and dress accordingly, even if you were soon to become one of the many walking wounded out there searching for a cure for the dot.com hangover. Well, things are going to be a little different this year. Executives at companies large and small say they are rethinking their company party plans, focusing instead on throwing family related events as opposed to big social bashes with open bars; substituting subdued lunch settings for posh evening soirees, and looking for ways to do it all on a tighter budget. Employees at one San Fernando Valley company have voted to donate their party funds to a relief organization for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Others are simply canceling their plans altogether because the idea of throwing a party just doesn’t fit the mood of the country right now not when joy has been replaced by jitters and many are being forced to strategize over formulas for economic recovery and can’t seem to justify the expense. “We have clearly had to scale back our plans this year,” said Lisa Haines, spokesperson for Health Net Inc. in Woodland Hills. “And it’s linked as much to the economy as it is to the overall mood of the country since the attacks on the East Coast.” For the last five years Health Net has thrown a daylong charity event at a local hotel to benefit underprivileged children. The company’s annual “Celebration of Children” holiday party, which always included all 2,000 Health Net employees based in the Valley, will be replaced by a company-wide toy drive this year. “It used to be a big event,” said Haines. “We’d rent out a big ballroom, and it would be a great party for about 1,000 kids. But we are really reacting to the current state of the economy right now and, of course, we are also trying to balance our desire to have an event with what’s going on around the country.” Haines said she’s already heard the sighs of disappointment. “I can say talking to several people who have volunteered to help organize this event in years past that there is certainly disappointment,” she said. The company will be providing toys for roughly the same number of recipients as last year, and, in addition to the toy drive, employees will also be sponsoring an adopt-a-family program to benefit 50 families across Los Angeles, Haines said. Robert Goodman, chief executive officer for Box Brothers in Woodland Hills, said he was still on the fence but economic factors will weigh in heavily when making the decision on whether to hold the annual office party, for which he usually allocates about $5,000. “Right now it’s all on hold,” said Goodman. “We typically do a pretty nice party with a full bar, nice buffet, lot’s of music. But this year I’m still not sure if I can justify it.” If Goodman cancels the event it will be the first year in 16 that the company hasn’t thrown a holiday party. He said he’s fully aware of the effect canceling would have on the morale of the roughly 50 employees based here, not to mention what it means for the service businesses that count on the holiday period to carry them through the fourth quarter. “I know people want you out there spending right now,” said Goodman. “But it just doesn’t seem like a good time to throw a party, and the truth is, I’d rather not have a Christmas party than lay anybody off.” “It’s tough everywhere, but certainly on the East Coast in the last few weeks it’s been difficult,” said Goodman. Andrea Michaels, owner of Extraordinary Events in Sherman Oaks, which organizes large-scale corporate events, conceded many of her clients are scaling back this year. She said her company is trying to combat the shift in attitudes by convincing her clients not to cancel their plans altogether, but rather to change the style of the event to fit both their budgets and the nation’s disposition. Michaels is pushing parties with patriotic themes (think U.S.O. bands and lots of flags) instead of big Hollywood-style productions; motivational speakers in lieu of the stand-up-comics, and family-style get-togethers at company headquarters instead of black-tie affairs in rented ballrooms. “The priorities are somewhat different this year, no question,” said Michaels. “But we are trying to come up with alternatives for them other than (saying) no. We are finding that people still want to have a nice event to reward their employees, but they just don’t want it to look too celebratory. ” Kathy Shepard, a spokeswoman for Hilton Hotel Corp. in Beverly Hills, said there has been a marked decline in large-scale holiday bookings for the Glendale Hilton Hotel, particularly on weekdays throughout the month of December. “It’s definitely a little soft compared to last year,” said Shepard. “What we are seeing is business groups are cutting back. They are not doing elaborate events, but having buffets instead of sit down dinners, and many are not including spouses to those events this year either.” Shepard added that even the traditional black-tie affair the corporate offices typically organize for her company has been nixed this year. It’s the cost factor, but it’s also the mood: It’s not a good time to be flamboyant when all this bad stuff is happening around the country and the world.” At least one Valley company has made the collective decision to donate party funds to help those who have been most affected by the recent disasters. The employees at the West Coast regional offices of Cigna Health Care in Glendale took a vote and decided to donate the $15,000 the company planned to spend on its holiday party to the United Way’s Sept. 11 Fund. The money would have paid for parties for all 450 Glendale employees, as well as workers in the company’s Seattle and Oakland offices. “We usually start planning our party in late September,” said company spokesman Jim Harris. “But we decided to send out an e-mail this year and ask our employees what they preferred to do. And overwhelmingly the response was to donate the money.” In keeping with company policy, Harris said that $15,000 donation was matched by corporate headquarters in Philadelphia for a combined contribution of $30,000. “That’s not a party for us, but it certainly leaves our employees with a good feeling,” said Harris. Last year Cigna workers were treated to a daylong celebration at the Glendale Hilton. Linda Scott, director of catering at the Sportsmen’s Lodge Restaurant and Special Events Center in Studio City said her sales and catering staff is grappling with their first year with no increase in holiday bookings. “We are very spoiled,” said Scott. “We haven’t had any increases in holiday bookings over last year and we are used to seeing one of between 10 and 12 percent every year.” The good news is bookings are on par with 2000 figures, said Scott. But the indication so far is that those events likely won’t include as many people, and certainly won’t call for as much fanfare.