Christmas is a wonderful time of the year and office parties and customer and supplier events provide us with an opportunity to celebrate the festive season and our achievements over the year.
Employers can take numerous steps to ensure their workers are safe and act appropriately at end-of-year celebrations such as:
Choice of Venue
Choosing a restaurant is a much safer option than having it at an adult themed venue. Choose a place that's safe, work appropriate and easy to access for all your employees. If you choose a relatively public space, reserve a dedicated area that will remain within your control throughout the event. Organise travel arrangements from the venue such as taxis or public transport, for employees to get home safely.
Start and finish times
Ensure employees know when your party officially starts and ends and remind workers that celebrations that continue after the designated finish time aren't endorsed by the company. In other words, make the distinction between the end of your company-sanctioned Christmas party and the start of unrelated partying as clear as possible. Physically close down the venue at the scheduled end time to make it clear that the party has ended.
Choice of Entertainment
Consider whether the entertainment you have chosen is appropriate. You may think this goes without saying, but you'd be surprised just how many employers set the wrong tone for their event by selecting the wrong type of entertainment. It is a good idea to have actually seen a sample of the entertainment before letting it loose on your employees who may well be offended by it.
Make someone responsible
You need put someone responsible in charge to minimise the chances of something going awry during the event. This should be someone who is sensible and a senior member of your team who is happy either not to drink or to keep their drinking to a minimum. They should monitor any bar tab, ensure that there is food available and that anyone who may have overdone it has a means to travel home safely.
Set clear expectations
The Christmas party is an employment related event and this means employees should be reminded that the function is actually a work event and ensure they know relevant workplace policies – such as WHS, anti-discrimination, sexual harassment and social media policies – apply at the event; You need to inform employees that failure to follow policies and procedures, or any reasonable or lawful direction, could result in disciplinary action, including dismissal. Remind employees about appropriate dress (if it is a themed party) and that presents (eg for Kris Kringle) should not be offensive or inappropriate, to refrain from posting inappropriate messages and photos on social media or online generally or anything that they would not want to see on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald!
If there are post-party complaints, make sure each issue is dealt with according to your policies.
Celebrations are much more enjoyable for everyone when acceptable standards of behaviour are maintained and much more memorable when there are no disasters to deal with afterwards.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
