Charging No-Shows

[Courtney]

The employee parties thrown by my company have a 21-28% no-show rate (even with RSVP's). These events are free to employees and maybe they don't consider what happens if they don't show. Any ideas to make employees be a little more responsible in their decision?

[Mike]

My company had the same problem and used to force all employees to write a check to the company for some token amount, say $10 per person, when they RSVP'd with the understanding that it would be shredded if they showed up for the event. Only those who RSVP'd but didn't show would have the checks cashed. I don't know if they ever did cash the checks for those who still failed to attend, but I understand it did decrease the number of no-shows.