70% of Irish people say Christmas bonuses helped with spending over festive season - survey
New research for One4all has looked into how the 43% of Irish employees who received a Christmas bonus in 2017 spent the extra cash.
70% of respondents say a Christmas bonus helped with their spending over the expensive festive season. This number rises to 81% among those aged 45 to 65, and 75% among Irish women.
The research, commissioned by One4all and undertaken by RedC, looks at Christmas bonuses and spending over the holiday season, to understand how people prefer to spend any extra cash they receive.
Despite such a large number using their bonus to help with Christmas spending, a significant 41% of Irish people prefer to spend their Christmas bonuses on themselves.
Women are the most likely to self-gift with a bonus, with almost half (48%) of Irish women treating themselves.
Gift cards were the most popular choice for employers giving bonuses, with 46% of respondents receiving their bonuses in this way.
Michael Dawson, CEO, One4all, commented on the new findings.
“Every year we commission research into consumer attitudes to Christmas bonuses ahead of the holidays – and this year we wanted to follow that up with some post-Christmas research, to gain further insight into how bonuses were being spent and whether they make a real difference over the holiday season.
“Results show that rewarding your staff for the holiday season can have a real and positive impact – whether it’s helping lighten the burden of Christmas shopping, or allowing your employees to treat themselves by self-gifting.
"As the economy continues to grow in 2018, we hope to see Irish businesses reward staff more and more for their hard work throughout the year. We would also urge businesses to look at the Benefit in Kind allowance, which allows businesses to reward their employees up to €500 in non-cash benefits completely free of Tax, USC or PRSI," he said.
