Avoid Ghosts of Christmas past, present and future by thinking sensibly, and in advance about how you should deal with some of the Christmas party pitfalls.

Secret Santa – “Ho, Ho, Ho”, or, “No, No, No!”

Secret Santa presents – what could possibly go wrong? A survey by Employment Law Specialists Citation of 650 companies found that 5% of Companies now had a policy in place to guide employees in their festive gift-giving. If you think there may be an extreme joker amongst the team members just remember to have a word – an employer could be liable if an employee received an offensive gift…

Some presents to avoid as Secret Santa gifts – Products of a sexual nature, underwear, toothbrushes, deodorant, female sanitary products and phallic themed chocolate but to name a few. At HRCentral we have had to deal with some ghosts of Christmas past that still haunt us to this day!

“Works do” and works don’ts!

Drug and alcohol policy – is the work Christmas party still classed as being at ‘work’, and do the same rules apply?

Discuss with the person sitting next to you at the Xmas lunch making offensive jokes and being inappropriate as a result of drinking too much paid for by the Company during Company time.

Time-bound the event and diarise when the work time finishes and when partying in your own time begins?

Alternative Christmas’

Mental health charity, ‘Mind’ says one in three employees would rather take part in a non-alcoholic Christmas activity than head for the pub. What would you rather? Alcohol fuel Company party/Christmas lunch or a Wellbeing initiative that lasts throughout the year? Food for thought.

Morning after….

Are you going to allow your employees to come in late the day after the Christmas party? Be sure to make it clear where you stand on lateness and absenteeism. It is, after all a normal day? Perhaps hold the Christmas office party on a Friday… less debate and less for HR to do!?

Keep it social

Sharing the Christmas office party pics on social media could be a great way to demonstrate Company culture, but perhaps ensure that everyone has read the Social media policy ahead of time via Breathe ‘read receipt’, you can discreetly ensure that everyone has seen it with the minimum of fuss.

Stay safe, warm and trouble-free – HR Consultants want to have fun too, be mindful of your work colleagues and the policies you have in place. Have fun in an environment that you can look forward to returning to for a Happy and prosperous New Year.

Does your Organisation still have Christmas parties?