Cringe fest or catered feast? How workers really feel about office Thanksgiving events
Lifestyle
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1:30 PM on Wednesday, November 19, 2025
By Evan Waters for CaterCow, Stacker
Cringe fest or catered feast? How workers really feel about office Thanksgiving events
Thanksgiving in the office might sound warm and fuzzy — until someone suggests going around the room to share what they’re thankful for.
A new survey of 1,000 full-time employees from CaterCow found that while corporate catering brings people together, forced gratitude and potluck coordination tear them apart.
When asked to rate common corporate Thanksgiving traditions on a scale from “absolutely hate it” to “absolutely love it,” the catered feast came out on top — scoring a 4.05 average, the highest of all options. Every other activity lagged behind, often by a full point or more.
The “What I’m thankful for” roundtable, on the other hand, came dead last with a 3.13 average — even lower than pretending to work from home while skipping festivities altogether.
The findings paint a picture of employees who are happy to gather over good corporate catering but increasingly allergic to anything that feels forced, performative, or awkwardly emotional.
The winners: Food, simplicity, and giving back
At the top of the list were activities that centered on comfort and convenience. After the catered feast (4.05), charity drives (3.83) and simple gestures of gratitude from leadership (3.55) earned strong marks. A turkey raffle (3.47) and office potluck (3.48) performed moderately well but still trailed behind events that didn’t require employee labor or coordination.
“Find a way that co-workers can celebrate without extra work, or just give them flexibility around travel that week — most people value that a lot more than sharing two batches of green bean casserole,” notes product, marketing and growth executive Barron Ernst.
The message seems clear: Employees appreciate generosity over participation. Corporate catering or charitable donation reads as a benefit; a mandatory potluck reads as unpaid work.
The losers: Performative gratitude and forced fun
While many employers see Thanksgiving as a chance to foster connection, employees often experience these efforts as uncomfortable or inauthentic.
The “What I’m thankful for” circle ranked lowest (3.13), with more than a quarter of respondents saying they “dread” or “hate” it.
“People either feel pressured to kiss up to management or uncomfortable oversharing personal stuff,” says Erik Jones, CTO of Chimo.ai. “Just let them enjoy the meal without performing gratitude.”
Others cited team volunteer days (3.39) and holiday trivia contests (3.38) as well-intentioned but unmemorable.
These kinds of activities are designed for community connection, but if your team’s already stretched thin, being asked to get sentimental or perform enthusiasm just adds stress.
Even desk decorating contests (3.45) didn’t fare much better, with many employees saying they’d rather use the time to get work done before the long weekend.
A surprising favorite: doing nothing
In a sign of shifting workplace culture, “skipping it entirely while pretending to work from home” earned a surprisingly high 3.53 — higher than several official company events.
That result may reflect lingering post-pandemic preferences for flexibility and autonomy. For many employees, a light workload and early sign-off before the holiday beats any office gathering, no matter how well catered.
Ernst adds, “Don’t make Thanksgiving something that employees have to work to be a part of. They already have the stress of travel, family, and planning that week.”
Feed people, don’t force feelings
The data reinforces a broader trend emerging in office culture: Workers want less performance and more practicality.
Gestures that feel like perks — meals, time off, donations — land far better than activities that require vulnerability, preparation, or staged enthusiasm.
If companies want to spread gratitude this season, they might skip the speeches and head straight to the buffet table.
In short: Generosity scales, sincerity resonates — and nobody wants to share what they’re thankful for at a 2 p.m. Zoom meeting.
Methodology
A national online survey of 1,000 full-time employed U.S. adults (ages 21-64) was conducted via Pollfish on Oct. 6, 2025. Results were weighted by age, gender, region, and sector for representativeness. Questions included both single- and multi-select formats; percentages may exceed 100%. All figures are weighted and rounded to one decimal place; outliers were excluded from median and mean value estimates.
This story was produced by CaterCow and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
