How PayPal And Other Companies Are Taking The Holiday Party Virtual

^This 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.

The company has traditionally hosted more than 60 different holiday parties at each of its offices around the globe, with activities ranging from casual potlucks to formal sit-down dinners to musical performances. But with the pandemic making in-person festivities all but impossible, company leaders have had to pivot.

Employees this year will join an immersive virtual experience, where they can wander across a lobby and onto a dance floor, into a cooking or origami class or in front of a stage for a live musical performance or magic show. PayPal is also mailing all employees gifts sourced from local businesses, as well as a company yearbook, says Genessa Nannini, PayPal’s director of employee engagement.

“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?’”

Just 23% of companies are planning year-end celebrations, down from nearly 76% in 2019, according to an October survey of 189 human resources representatives by outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Of those throwing parties, 1.3% will hold them in person and without any pandemic precautions, while 74% plan to do so virtually. 

The thought of joining another company-wide Zoom may sound dismal to many remote workers, but a number of organizations are joining PayPal in offering virtual parties with previously unheard of perks.  

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.

Rooney, who says the festivities will run roughly an hour and a half, rather than the usual five, enlisted a local wine merchant to ship Krug champagne splits to his employees’ homes, with written instructions on how to properly chill and save them for the virtual celebration. For those who don’t consume alcohol, he arranged shipments of sparkling juices. The entire organization plans to wear red—a tradition held over from their in-person holiday parties—and the evening will conclude with employees performing holiday songs and poems.

“It’s important to me to have this continuity where we could,” he says. “The more human interaction you can do gets people feeling like they are not so isolated in their own pod.” 

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. 

Typically, the company convenes in-person for a town hall to celebrate its business achievements, followed by an evening of food, drinks and entertainment, the latter of which Klick is known for: Past guests have included Michelle Obama, Sheryl Crow and the Barenaked Ladies. Though he’s keeping the guest list a surprise, Segal says his employees can expect to be entertained by A-list talent, and enjoy packages filled with snacks.

In Canada, the holiday parties thrown by mechanical and electrical contracting company Modern Niagara have garnered a reputation for being “pretty legendary,” says COO Chris Hill. Pre-pandemic, its five regional offices would each gather at a local hotel for drinks and dinner, as well as a one-night stays on the company’s tab. Modern Niagara’s Toronto party would often see upward of 1,300 guests. 

“Were we to do nothing [this year], it would be a big hole in terms of our culture,” Hill says. In anticipation of its event, Modern Niagara sent employees $100 e-gift cards to order dinner from local restaurants. Once dinner has been served, they’ll convene online for a virtual concert by popular Canadian band Blue Rodeo, followed by a Q&A session with its members.

“It’s our unique culture that allows us to continue to be successful,” he says. “When you see the things that are happening in the world that would have an erosion against that culture, that’s where, as a leadership group, we had to look at how we persevere in an atypical way that allows people to feel like they are connected to something greater than themselves.”