his December, 25,000 PayPal employees will mingle with coworkers, listen to live bands and make piñatas as part of a 29-hour holiday party. The catch? It’ll all be virtual.
“We never get to go to each other’s celebrations. We decided this was our chance to break down those walls,” Nannini says. “How often can you say, ‘I got invited to India’s holiday celebration or Sweden's?’” Take, for example, New York City-based communications firm RooneyPartners, which has historically hosted an elegant, sit-down dinner party at a high-end midtown restaurant for staff and their significant others, preceded by a cocktail hour with an open bar and passed hors d’oeuvres. This year, founder Terry Rooney says he’s taking the holiday party virtual via Microsoft Teams.
Of the few companies that will hold in-person holiday celebrations, 4% reported they will modify the event due to Covid, mandating masks and social distancing, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey.Health marketing agency Klick Health is taking an approach similar to PayPal’s. The company, which has offices in the U.S. and Canada, created a 3-D virtual event space for its 1,300 employees using gaming development platform Unity, says cofounder and chairman Leerom Segal.
Why didnt you guys invite me?