Wednesday Buzz: The Holiday Party Is Making a Comeback

Corporate America is finally starting to loosen up a bit and apparently is ready to have a little holiday fun.

That’s according to new research from the outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas  (opens in a new tab), which found that 80 percent of surveyed companies were planning to host a holiday party this year, and 21 percent of those who responded said they would spend more than they did last year.

The parties might be a little more fun as well—the survey found that 42 percent would allow spouses or family members to attend (an increase from 31 percent last year) and that more companies would serve alcohol (nearly 62 percent, compared with 54 percent last year).

The researchers note that the increase in party spending might be a result of rising corporate profits in recent years.

“Our survey suggests that employers are ready to spend some of those profits on their workers,” John Challenger, the CEO of the firm, told CBS Moneywatch  (opens in a new tab).

Understand Your Community’s Role

What Kind of Community Is It Really?https://t.co/XFoFcYpT02  (opens in a new tab) #cmgr  (opens in a new tab) #esn  (opens in a new tab) #assnchat  (opens in a new tab)

— Richard Millington (@RichMillington) November 16, 2016  (opens in a new tab)

Your thriving community may look nothing like someone else’s thriving community, and that’s not a bad thing, says FeverBee’s Richard Millington.

“A big challenge today is to honestly recognize the type of community we’re dealing with and adjust our actions to match,” he writes on the FeverBee blog  (opens in a new tab). “More of us manage functional, customer-satisfaction-style communities than we might believe. For many, building a sense of community is less important because people just want the quickest possible answer to a question.”

Other Links of Note

Small Business Saturday catch you off guard? If you run a local chamber of commerce, this list of tips on Frank J. Kenny’s blog just might get you started  (opens in a new tab).

Is Trello getting long in the tooth? The collaboration platform Asana just launched a new board tool of its own  (opens in a new tab).

“We think we are about things. We are not. We are about people. At our best, we are hubs of human connection.” At her Know Your Own Bone blog, Colleen Dilenschneider makes an impassioned plea for putting people first  (opens in a new tab) at cultural organizations.

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