Surely no celebration can top the male stripper at the Bernard Robinson and Co. End of Busy Season party but a beefcake in a cop outfit swinging his junk in your face isn't really very "holiday-like" anyway.
Completely stripper-free (whew RIGHT!), the AICPA Young CPA Network just shared a few untraditional firm/company holiday traditions, not one of which is expecting anyone to put in work leading up to or even — gasp — on the holiday.
I especially liked this one:
Eric Majchrzak, shareholder and chief marketing officer, BeachFleischman:
BeachFleischman holds its holiday party in January after all of the typical year-end holiday activity is over so that employees can enjoy a party that is not specific to any certain holiday. In addition, we invite employees and family members to meet at the office for pizza and to allow the small children to decorate the lobby Christmas tree. Since only the small children participate in decorating, the lower part of the tree is decorated and the rest of the tree is left without decorations.
HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE: so there is an intentionally non-denominational party in January but a Christmas tree in the lobby? Yup, that's untraditional.
This one is actually cool:
Katie Tolin, director of Practice Growth, Rea & Associates, Inc.:
Our Cambridge (Ohio) office does a unique take on a gift exchange. Everyone draws the name of a coworker then goes and buys a toy that reminds them of that person. At their holiday party, they open the toys and have a good time laughing at the reason behind why the toy was selected. At the end of the party, the toys are gathered up and donated to Toys for Tots. This allows them the sense of buying for one another, but ultimately helps those that need it most.
Other respondents reported similar charitiable ventures, which is awesome.
Although charity aside, this has to be the best for staff:
Joshua W. Partlow, CPA, partner, Johnson Lambert LLP:
Rather than a holiday party during the hustle and bustle of the season, we allow our staff to enjoy time with friends and family in December. In January, we typically have a weekend ski trip in Stowe, Vermont, with employees and spouses as a way to recharge at the spa or with a day of skiing before busy season hits in full force. We are looking to potentially mix this up moving forward to make sure we are meeting the needs of various interests.
If you have a feel good firm tradition to add, you can email youngcpanetwork@aicpa.org. If your firm treats you like a child laborer in a third world sweatshop, however, you should probably stick to sharing those insights in our comment section because really that's what it's there for.
