Though it's the season of giving, fewer employers are in the giving spirit when it comes to holiday and year-end bonuses, according to two new studies.

And it’s not because bosses are channeling Ebenezer Scrooge, it’s because of a slowdown in the economy, business experts say.

According to a 2007 report conducted by the Mountain States Employers Council, 22 percent of organizations polled were planning on giving a year-end bonus. That’s down from 27 percent in 2005. MSEC polled 695 companies for the latest study.

A nationwide study, the Daily Labor Report, conducted by The Bureau of National Affairs, showed that 44 percent of employers planned on handing out holiday gifts, cash or bonuses, a drop from 49 percent last year. The Year-End Holiday Practices Report was based on interviews with 210 human resources and employee relations executives.

Vicki Sears, chair of the Greeley Chamber of Commerce and who works at the accounting firm Anderson & Whitney in Greeley, said her clients have felt the economic slowdown. Though it’s too early to tell if they will be handing out holiday bonuses—employers often write off the expense during the middle of December—things look a little bah humbug.

“In general, more clients are having cash flow issues,” she said.

Patty Goodwin, director of surveys for the Mountain States Employers Council, said businesses started off the year pessimistically.

At the beginning of 2007, economists were predicting a recession. Though there were signs of an economic slowdown, it has not turned out to be as bad as forecasted, Goodwin said.

“Businesses who have extra money think, ‘We can do a year-end bonus’ either because the economy did better or the business did better,” she said.

Attorney Timothy Dow, who has his own firm in Fort Collins, said this year he will continue the tradition of handing out Christmas bonuses to his employees.

“We normally give Christmas bonuses to staff depending on their length of service and how things have gone for the year and things were good this year,” Dow said.

He said the bonus, a cash reward, is more of a gift than a bonus for his three employees.

But employers are careful not to make promises of Christmas or holiday bonuses until they are sure what they plan to do.

Goodwin said employers often wait until the final quarter of the year to determine if they are going to hand out any kind of year-end bonuses.

“Employers are not sure what's going to happen to the economy (throughout the year),” she said.

One company that had a good year and plans to share the wealth with its employees is Agland.

General Manager Mitch Anderson said a weak U.S. dollar and favorable weather benefited the agriculture industry.

“Agland had a good year and we will reward employees,” Anderson said. “We do it every year. We had a good business season and we feel we will share that with the employee group.”

This year, the company will base its bonuses on how long employees have been with the company. Agland has 185 employees.

But cash bonuses are just one of the ways companies thank their employees for a year's worth of hard work.

According to the MSEC report, 19 percent of Colorado companies and only 11 percent of Northern Colorado companies that hand out bonuses do so with cash while 27 percent in Colorado hand out Christmas gifts. The same amount of Northern Colorado companies do the same.

Accounting firm Anderson & Whitney is one company that hands out Christmas gifts.

Sears said her company usually hands gives gift cards around this time of year. The 25 employees this year got $50 gift cards to Honey Baked Ham.

In addition, Sears said, the branch hosts a holiday party for employees. This year, employees and their significant others will have dinner and watch the musical Clue at the Union Colony Dinner Theatre.

And the continuing trend of employers hosting holiday parties was also indicated in the Daily Labor Report.

In the report, two-thirds of employers that were asked said they were sponsoring a company-wide party this year, tying last year's numbers.

The report also indicated employers are making up for the lack of holiday bonuses with other gifts and perks, including holiday parties and paid time off during the season. The report said 63 percent of employers have scheduled at least three days of paid leave during the holiday season. That is up from 43 percent last year.

Parker & Lynch, a financial recruiting firm for employees, doesn't hand out bonuses but hosts a Christmas party at a downtown Denver restaurant, said Jennifer Klapperich, a consultant at the company.

Anderson said while Agland doesn't host a holiday party, the company does sponsor employee-appreciation dinners and parties throughout the year.

“People are the key to our success,” he said. “We’re in the people business. People do business with people and we recognize and value that.”