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You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 黑洞社区 audio newsline. Learn more about 黑洞社区 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at .

Most companies have holiday parties. The last time there was a big drop in holiday parties was after 9/11. That has now been topped by 2008 when only 81 percent of companies are planning to have holiday parties, according to an executive search firm.

Wolff: "In these difficult times, employers certainly face the problem of public views or employee views of Christmas parties as an extravagance, but they can also be a time of showing appreciation for employees."

It may be the season to be jolly, but businesses across the nation are trimming their budgets for their annual holiday party or nixing the tradition altogether 鈥� part of a larger move to cut holiday-related costs after enduring months of losses.

"In difficult times, recessionary times, any business owner, large, small, medium sized, really have to make an individualized adjustment, judgment call on whether their firm should have a Christmas party."

Not everyone will agree on whether a company should continue to have holiday parties, but Wolff says some times are worse than others. And having a holiday party or celebration when layoffs are occurring doesn鈥檛 set the right tone.

Wolff: "If the company is faced with the possibility of layoffs early in the following year, it's probably not a good idea to have a big, extravagant Christmas party for the employees."

Of course, leaders who portray gloom and doom create an environment of uncertainty. It scares people. People today are looking for signs of reassurance, not signals of impending disaster, so a company may want to think twice before canceling a holiday party.

Wolff: "In tough times, employers need to be very judicious in their decisions whether they want to have or not have a Christmas party, because either way you send a signal to employees, to the public, and that's an individualized decision."

And Wolff says public scrutiny may play a role in the decision for some companies this year.

Wolff: "If you're a large company and you have a high profile, and particularly Wall Street firms or the auto companies, having Christmas parties, anything that is viewed as attracting undue attention with the public taxpayers 鈥� that can be very problematic."

Ultimately, Wolff says each business or company has to decide whether it's in their best interest to have a holiday party.

Wolff: "Managers or business owners need to scrutinize their own particular situation. Christmas parties may be appropriate. Alternatives are to make donations to charitable organizations or volunteer time and employees to charitable organizations to help out in the community that's maybe hard hit."

As one person said, when many of your colleagues that you've known for years are out in the job market, it's hard to feel like celebrating.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 黑洞社区.