My company's CEO seems to be making up for lost time when it comes to this year's holiday events.

Anonymous

December 9,2022 at 2:12PM UTC

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My company's CEO seems to be making up for lost time when it comes to this year's holiday events. He scheduled three within a one-week timeframe and provided very short notice of the events during this busy time of year. One is scheduled to start during work hours (but based on past experience, will run well after work hours), and the other two are after-hours events. Plus ones are not invited. Due to my role at the company, I've been on the receiving end of grumblings about how people expect/understand attendance at one work holiday party, but three? We are also in an area where COVID and other illnesses are on the rise, so people are worried about getting sick the week before Christmas. The company employs a couple hundred people, so absence of certain individuals, but probably not all, will definitely be noticed by higher ups. Are multiple events the new norm? Are people really expected to attend all? While none of the decision-making was in my control, I would be in the position to provide feedback to the CEO. HR was not consulted before announcements were made.

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AnonymousDecember 10,2022 at 4:27AM UTC
Feedback should not be necessary. No need to state the obvious. It's a lot but it's the holidays.
AnonymousJanuary 4,2023 at 6:49PM UTC
How did you deal with the holidays parties? What was the overall turnout for each one? Did your HR intervene? This raises too many questions, I know ??.
AnonymousJanuary 4,2023 at 7:48PM UTC
At the end of the day, just rode the wave. Turnout was mixed. The during-work-hours event was much more well-attended than the others because he made it mandatory attendance or use PTO at the last minute (likely because RSVPs were very low). It looks like the company lost money on at least one of the after-hours events due to poor attendance, as the venue required a paid-for-in-advance headcount which wasn't close to being met. HR wasn't successful intervening; not much to do after invites had gone out. Concerns fell on deaf ears, and since it's a privately held company, CEO has final say. A shame to see wasted $ when everyone probably would've appreciated a bonus or raise instead.