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Work Christmas Party Guide



Over time, the office Christmas party has become less about peace and goodwill towards all, and more about excessive drinking or overly affectionate employees.

Employers need to be aware of the duties they owe their employees at these functions and how to avoid the next-day headaches that can arise.

But never fear. Logic Business Resources Party Guide is here to help you keep the festive season stress free.

Location, Location, Location

The venue choice can be critical to the success of the event. Hiring a nightclub with too many dark corners can lead to red faces the next day, or worse – harassment complaints. You might think a harbor cruise is a novel idea, but two years ago a large company had the same novel idea and all went well until someone fell over the edge and almost drowned. If you don’t want to spend the larger part of your night filling out police reports, keep it sensible. Perhaps consider confining the event to a lunch – people are more likely to behave themselves in the daylight. You could give them the rest of the afternoon off. Keep it light-hearted and informal. That way, employees don’t invest too much into it as “the social night of the year” and are less likely to get carried away in one respect or another.

Alcohol

Some employers like to thank their workers for the year by having an all-night open bar at the Christmas ‘do’ - but these employers may like to think twice about their generous offer. With 72% of Australian adults admitting their most embarrassing moments occur when intoxicated, you may well be doing your employees a favour by restricting the drinks. It is undeniable that the most damaging Christmas party incidents occur when alcohol is involved. Sexual harassment complaints, accidents, offensive conversations, embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions, karaoke – they all happen more readily when aided by a little booze - or a lot of booze!

As an employer, your duty of care extends to work functions. If you thought your IT guy was a little clumsy, imagine him with 12 beers under his belt. If you thought the marketing assistant was a little flirtatious, imagine her after 6 glasses of champagne. Restricting alcohol consumption at these events may prevent more than a hangover.

Try limiting the “open bar” part to the first couple of hours, and don’t put shots or cocktails on the list of allowable drinks. If your party is a sit-down dinner, limit the bottles of wine to one for every three people and make sure there’s sufficient water and soft drink on the table. If your party is a BBQ style event with drinks in bins of ice, make sure you have plenty of light beer and low-alcohol options available, and if it runs out, don’t do a bottle-o run to get more. If having the office party in the office, remember that only qualified persons are allowed to serve alcohol under the responsible service of alcohol laws (and this doesn’t include “Vera” from Accounts, no matter how many shots of Jägermeister she claims to be able to drink). Consider hiring a bartender to serve the drinks (there are several companies that offer this service) – that way, someone will be able to keep an eye on how many drinks everyone has had.

Remember to encourage your employees to know their own limitations. Above all, it is important that management ‘set the standard’ by demonstrating that you can still have fun whilst being responsible.

Getting Home

You can’t stop your employees going home with one another (employment usually still stops ‘at the bedroom door’), but you can remind them of harassment policies prior to the event.

Send out an email or better still have a training presentation where you go through the key points of what constitutes sexual harassment and discrimination.

Remind them that the same rules that apply in the office apply at the Christmas party – just because someone’s put tinsel up, doesn’t mean it’s the right time to try out that explicit/racist/sexist joke they heard. Remind them of the consequences of breaking company policy.

If these policies are fresh in their mind, they are less likely to do something that may risk their job or reputation.

Also, advise your employees that if they intend on drinking, they shouldn’t drive. Provide Cab Charges or hiring a car/bus service for them to use to get home. Remember that your liability may extend to the journey to and from work, and work functions can fall into that category.

Workplace Christmas Parties – Do’s and Don’ts

·    Do have a good time.  A Christmas party is often a reward for a hard years work and good employers us a Christmas party to recognise workers efforts during the year and to build team morale.

·    Do go off site if you can.  It can be a stress release to get together in a social setting in a place other than where you do your work.  Set a resonable finishing time for the fuction as this may help avoid excessive drinking.

·    Do encourage workers to have a good nights rest the day before the Christmas party as fatigue and drowsiness can set in much earlier when alcohol is involved.

·    Do ensure everyone understands the require standard behaviour.  A formal reminder at a staff meeting or at rest break can be a good way to confirm that misbehaviour won’t be tolerated.  Company sexual harassment and anti-discrimination policies should be in place and known by staff.

·    Do ensure everyone understands the dangers of excessive drinking and drink driving.  If your workers intend on drinking alcohol at the Christmas party remind them to make arrangements to get home safely before the Christmas party starts.  The company should recommend that persons who consume alcohol should not drive.

·    Do ensure that your Christmas party properly caters for non drinkers and vegetarians, and that people have plenty to eat and acess to water and non-alcoholic beverages.  Remember alcohol is not essential to any party.  Persons serving alcoholic drinks should be appropriatly trained in the ‘Responsibility Serve of Alcohol’.

·    Do ensure a first aid kit and a qualified first aider is present for the duration of the party.  A fully charged mobile phone and emergency acess details for the event location should be available to the responsible manager who should ensure that at the end of the party all employees have safely left the venue

·    Don’t forget behaviour that is ordinarily not tolerated at your workplace is also not appropriate at a Christmas party.

·    Don’t use the workplace Christmas party as a forum to ask for a raise, air a grievance or tell the bosses what you think of them

FINALLY
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the beer you have just drunk has suddently made you more physically attractive. 
Remember that alchohol can lessen or remove one’s inhibitions.

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