Even if your company is faring better financially than it was a year ago, you may still want to nix the holiday party. 

Clearly if times are still tight for your organization this is not the year to be calling the caterer and cranking up the carols.

But what if your company is finally starting to see some better days?

Some high-profile companies are foregoing their annual holiday celebration anyway.

Recent case-in-point: Goldman Sachs. The financial giant just announced that despite a surge in third quarter profits, it will still say no to a company holiday party.

The reason? Goldman had decided to pump a large portion of those profits into bonuses for their employees this year.

And to heap the expense of a lavish holiday party on top of that just wouldn’t be good for their public perception.

Chances are your company doesn’t have quite the spotlight on it that a Goldman Sachs does.

But the learning’s the same no matter what your size or industry.

Many companies may be tempted to restore perks like the holiday party for a little boost in morale.

If you can parlay an increase in profits into something that more directly impacts employees (many folks don’t even want to go to the party anyway), you’ll still get a lift in morale.

And you’ll be investing in retaining more employees.