Workplace Christmas Party

A party during the festive period can be a great way for your team to let off steam and give them a big thank you for all their hard work throughout the year. However, during the festive period, there can be a lot of challenges that arise for Employers with regard to HR and people management – one of them is the workplace Christmas party.

Here are a few tips to ensure that it’s a party to remember, for all the right reasons:

If you have scheduled your event to be during the week, ensure that staff that will be working the next day are reminded that they will be expected to come to work on time or if they know this will be an issue for them that it should be booked as annual leave.
If you are having a free bar, ensure this is capped by using tokens or vouchers and ensure some sort of food is also provided – such as a meal, finger food or snacks.
Ensure there is a reliable member of the team available on-site to handle any situations should they arise.
Remember that festive event are an extension of the workplace and employees should be made aware that a certain standard of behaviour is expected of them.
Ensure that a duty of care is given to staff – this includes arranging for transport to take employees home once the event has ended.

Before the event, you could also:

Emphasise your Social Media and Events Policy

Employers should ensure that staff are familiar with any policies the organisation may have on social events and ensure their teams are briefed on the appropriate conduct during these events.

If you don’t have a workplace Christmas policy in place currently, it is always a good idea to get one in place – not only because you have a duty of care towards staff but also because it is good practice.

Employees should be made aware that if an incident is closely enough connected to work to have an impact on a working situation then they can be disciplined for misconduct after the event.

If you don’t have a Social Media Policy in place then we highly recommend that you make it apparent to your staff what can and can’t be shared online as well as what kind of content is deemed to be inappropriate – such as posts of a discriminatory or defamatory nature or personal/embarrassing information about a colleague or manager.

You should take the time to gently but firmly remind staff that their actions represent the company as a whole, and therefore any form of misconduct could potentially bring your company into disrepute.

After the event

If an employee is scheduled to work the day after the event and comes to work late or not at all the day after the event, what steps can you take?

An employer can make deductions from the employee’s pay, but only as long as the right to make deductions from wages for unauthorised absences is in their contract of employment.
If disciplinary action is to be taken for lateness or non-attendance after the event then employers should ensure that staff are informed that this is a possibility before the event.

If you receive any complaints after the event, which are likely to have an impact on the working environment – such as abusive behaviour, allegations of sexual harassment or fighting you must ensure that you follow the appropriate policies and processes for your organisation to ensure these are investigated thoroughly as soon as possible. As part of the Equality Act 2010, Employers are liable for acts of discrimination, harassment and victimisation carried out by their employees in the course of employment, unless they can show that they took reasonable steps to prevent such acts.

Have you started your plans for the Workplace Christmas Party yet? Or are you doing something different instead? We’d love you to come to join the discussion on LinkedIn.

If you would like any further information on any of the items discussed above then please don’t hesitate to contact us.