Forty per cent of IT workers vomit at office Xmas party

Survey of shame

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in IT Director, 28th October 2004 10:16 GMT

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Four in ten IT workers have been sick at their Christmas party while more than third admit to snogging their boss or a colleague, according to research from Sussex internet outfit Sigmer Technologies. The research doesn't reveal what proportion of people threw up before snogging their boss.

Although the annual yuletide festivities may seem like an age away, IT departments around the UK are already booking their parties. Yet this survey reveals just what goes on when workers let down their hair.

As well as throwing up and snogging, a quarter admitted to insulting their boss while a similar number said they'd engaged in some "embarrassing behaviour" such as flashing, falling over or photocopying intimate body parts.

Part of the reason for this behaviour appears to be down to the fact that two thirds of firms provide free booze for their Xmas parties fuelling all sorts of shenanigans.

That said, it's not all fun and games. A quarter of respondents said that their office Christmas party was "so poor, they wished they’d stayed at home". While one in 20 IT professionals felt their office Christmas party could be improved by a change of location to an ice-rink. Don't ask. ®