CHICAGO, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The scrooge economy appears to be loosening its grip, as CareerBuilder's annual study shows companies plan to offer more perks (bonuses, parties, gifts) than last year. The national study was conducted by Harris Interactive© from August 13 to September 6, 2012 and included 2,494 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,976 workers across industries and company sizes.

Bonuses: Forty-six percent of employers expect to give their employees holiday bonuses this year, up from 40 percent last year and 33 percent in 2010.  Nearly one in five of them (19 percent) plan to provide a larger bonus than last year.

Parties: Six in ten (60 percent) employers are throwing a holiday party for their employees this year, up from 58 percent last year and 53 percent in 2010.  Forty percent of workers say they plan to attend.

Gifts: Thirty-six percent of employers plan to give holiday gifts, up from 30 percent in 2011 and 2010. 

Twenty-three percent of workers plan to buy holidays gifts for co-workers this year and 22 percent are buying for their boss. The majority (81 percent) of workers who plan to buy gifts expect to spend $25 or less for each holiday gift they buy for the office. Thirty-eight percent plan to spend $10 or less and 10 percent plan to spend less than $5.   

When asked to share the most memorable gifts received from co-workers, workers reported:

• CD of the co-worker's recorded songs
• Dolphin oven mitt
• 4 rolls of toilet paper
• A harpoon
• Can of wasp spray
• Jar of sand
• Homemade pickles
• Conch shell
• Lava lamp filled with fake fish
• Expired body lotion
• Book about kittens

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive^© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,494 U.S. hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,976 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between August 13 and September 6, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,494 and 3,976, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-1.96 and +/-1.55 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 49 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and talent intelligence to recruitment support. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact
Michael Erwin
773-527-3637
Michael.Erwin@careerbuilder.com
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SOURCE CareerBuilder