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MANILA, Philippines — Christmas parties have always been part of Filipino celebrations of the season, but apparently some workers would rather monetize these annual gatherings.
A recent survey by the Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas found that one out of four Filipinos would rather forgo of their office or workplace Christmas party for additional gifts.
While the vast majority still prefer holding Christmas parties at work, the survey found that some people were willing to do without them and just donate the party funds to charity.
Radio Veritas said it polled 1,200 respondents nationwide online and via text from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, asking whether they prefer to have a workplace Christmas party this year.
The respondents were chosen through stratified random sampling from Radio Veritas’ existing database of previous face-to-face on-ground interviews.
The results showed that 64 percent of the respondents, or two out of three Filipinos, wanted a workplace Christmas party.
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Save it for the poor
On the other hand, 25 percent, or one out of four Filipinos, said they prefer to use the budget meant for the party as additional Christmas gifts for the staff.
Meanwhile, 9 percent of the respondents, or nearly 1 out of 10 Filipinos, said they would rather have the Christmas party budget donated to the less fortunate.
Two percent of the respondents were undecided whether they preferred a Christmas party at work this year.
Bro. Clifford Sorita, the head of the Radio Veritas’ survey, said wanting to hold a Christmas party and sharing with the less fortunate are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Across age groups
“We can attribute the desire to hold Christmas parties to our desire for togetherness during the Yuletide season, most especially now that we are returning to normalcy post-COVID-19,” Sorita said. “Not choosing to let go of Christmas parties does not mean that individuals would not engage in giving this season. I think it only shows the significance of celebrating the season with our coworkers as a year-end respite.”
According to Sorita, the percentage of respondents per age group who chose to donate the Christmas party budget to the poor was about the same.
Eleven percent of the elderly respondents aged 61 years old and above said they would rather spend the funds to help the needy. The same was true for 8 percent among adults ages 40 to 60 years old, and 6 percent among young adults ages 21 to 39 years old.
“Whatever the preference may be, what remains truly important is the reason for the celebration: the birth of Jesus Christ. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to break humankind out of the chains and darkness of sin and to bring us into the light of the glory and blessing of God,” said Radio Veritas president Fr. Anton Pascual.