Managers are becoming more generous towards their employees at Christmas time, a new survey from Recruit Ireland has found.

The survey, which was conducted among 1,288 respondents, found that more than 44 per cent of employees now receive a Christmas bonus, compared with 33 per cent last year.

According to the survey, bonuses paid to staff range from several hundred euro to more than €10,000.

More than 67 per cent of respondents receive bonuses in excess of €1,000, while 5 per cent receive between €5,000 and €10,000.

However, the survey also found that 59 per cent of workers now work more than 40 hours a week and 5 per cent work more than 60 hours a week. Seven per cent of respondents have to work on Christmas Day and on St Stephen's Day.

Eighty-two per cent of respondents said their employer paid for staff to have a Christmas party.

Only 66 per cent said they looked forward to the party, while 24 per cent stated that they "dreaded the thought of it", and one in 10 respondents said they never attend such parties.

Just over two in five workers have done something embarrassing at the Christmas party, the survey findings imply, with 71 per cent admitting to having too much to drink.

Forty-one per cent said they had had a "romantic interlude" with a colleague at the office party, one in five respondents decided to tell their boss what they really thought of them, while 2 per cent of respondents used the office party to tender their resignation.

"It is obviously positive news that companies are rewarding their staff for the hard work put in during the year," Aoife Curtin marketing manager of RecruitIreland.com said yesterday.

"The fact that bonuses are increasingly a part of employment terms is also an indicator of the need to incentivise staff above and beyond the traditional salary arrangements."