Most Workers Skip Their Company Holiday Party, And That's A Major Blunder

Only two in five workers plan to go to their company holiday party this year, according to a new survey from jobs site CareerBuilder. That statistic flies in the face of conventional wisdom among career experts, who say the holiday party is the one company event that almost everyone shows up for - and is expected to attend.

"This party is unlike any other party over the course of the year," says Nicole Williams, the official career expert of LinkedIn. "This is the one that everyone shows up to, that your CEO is likely to be at, that your boss's boss is likely to be at."

Barbara Patcher, a business etiquette expert and president of Pachter & Associates, has previously told Business Insider that the office holiday party is never really optional.

"People will expect you to be there," she said. "It's an opportunity for you to meet people, and the person you talk to may wind up being the person who interviews you for your next job in three months."

Be that as it may, holiday parties have historically had mediocre attendance, if CareerBuilder's data is any indication. The 39% attendance rate predicted for parties this season is roughly in line with the 40% who planned to attend in 2012 and the 36% in 2011.

Nearly 60% of employers are planning to throw a holiday party, the CareerBuilder survey finds, on par with the percentage that hosted one in 2012.

In other measures of holiday cheer, 45% of employers plan to dole holiday bonuses and 35% will give holiday gifts. Roughly 20% of employees say they will exchange gifts with their co-workers, with most spending $25 or less on the item.

The CareerBuilder survey included 3,484 workers in the U.S. and roughly 2,100 hiring managers and human resources professionals.