The HR Humbug's Guide to Christmas Parties

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the work party gave to me:

12 drunken workers, 11 crates of beer, 10 embarrassing dances, 9 Facebook posts, 8 inappropriate comments, 7 disciplinary hearings, 6 promised pay rises, 5 hung-over workers, 4 drunken drivers, 3 sick days, 2 sexist jokes and 1 big Christmas headache for me!

The end of the year is a time for celebration. Christmas functions should be happy and relaxed events, providing invaluable opportunities for a morale boost and effective team building. However, they often bring up issues of conduct and discrimination. Disasters ranging from alcohol fuelled fights to inappropriate comments can lead to trouble in the New Year.
 

To avoid grievances, embarrassing incidents and general unrest, employers should plan their party carefully and consider any potential issues to ensure an enjoyable event with a stress-free aftermath takes place. Below are five areas to consider to help you find the balance between Santa and Scrooge:

When organising your party, you must consider the needs and wishes of your workforce to ensure the event is inclusive of all. As part of this, you should think about the type of event, time and location so that staff with other commitments can still get involved. 

Whilst the party should be promoted and staff gently encouraged to attend, no-one should feel pressured to come to the event. Some may not wish to participate for numerous reasons, including religious beliefs, and these staff members should not feel excluded or labelled a ‘scrooge’ if they would rather spend their time elsewhere. 

Whether to have alcohol available, and if so how much, is dependent upon the culture of each company. You must still ensure that those who do not drink can enjoy themselves, and under no circumstances must employers permit under 18’s to drink at any event. You may wish to limit the amount of alcohol consumed by only supplying a certain amount of alcohol or drink tokens to avoid the risks associated with drunken behaviour.

At the end of the evening, it is a good idea to provide transport for staff to ensure that they arrive home safely. This will discourage anyone from drink driving or wandering home alone. It would also be useful to consider a ‘rescue plan’ to look after staff members who may need to leave early, be it due to alcohol or any other reason. 

Many staff members may want to share their positive experiences of the work Christmas celebrations online. However, you should consider the impact of these posts and pictures on the reputation of your business. Whilst employees sharing their enjoyment on social media may demonstrate good employee engagement and satisfaction, pictures and posts conveying alcohol or drunken behaviour can damage a company’s prestige and professionalism. 

You should remind your staff members of your social media policy, and how it applies at all company functions and events. 

Employers should remember the normal laws that protect workers and their rights still apply during work functions and the employer retains their duty of care. Because of this, you should consider any health and safety implications for the event you are planning and carry out risk assessments if necessary. You should also check your company insurance policies cover the festive celebrations and any limits that may apply.

Even if the event is held outside working hours or away from the company premises, the employer may still be liable for the actions and comments of their staff on other members of staff and members of the public.

Finally, staff should receive a written statement reminding them of your expectations of them and the consequences if they breach these expectations. This should be linked to lateness/absence the following day alongside discriminatory behaviour, inappropriate comments or fighting. If a senior member of staff notices any of this behaviour, they should stop it occurring immediately. However, they should ensure they do not discipline staff at the event; if necessary they should be sent home and normal disciplinary procedures followed later. 

Managers should also encourage other topics of conversation, staying clear from ‘office gossip’ or matters of performance or salaries. This should avoid anyone making comments they may later regret.