Christmas 'do' or a bit of a 'to-do'...🤪?

As the festive season begins, it is a time to enjoy and gather with family, friends and colleagues to celebrate Christmas.

There is a sense that this year people will want to make the most of the festive season because of the restrictions that we all faced last year and part of this, will be the work's Christmas party. The work's Christmas Party is a long standing tradition and one enjoyed by many, but we can probably all remember those occasions when we saw a colleague or another organisation's employee, behave in a way that you would consider to be embarrassing, inappropriate and probably something that they will regret in the morning.

The events from the Christmas Party are always regaled the next day with a sense of "can you believe what so and so did last night!", but what are the implications of that behaviour for the employee and for the organisation.

Employees may consider that a work's Christmas party is an event that takes place outside of working hours and off school premises, therefore they cannot be accountable for their actions and that their behaviour will not impact upon their employment with the organisation, but this is a misconception.

Employees who attend a social event, whether it is arranged by the organisation or not, can be identified as being linked with the organisation or the profession.

Whilst it is important for employees to be able to relax, unwind, enjoy the event and to have a sense of being able to express themselves, it is still necessary for a level of professionalism to be maintained at all times.

Employees therefore need to be mindful that when attending an event, their behaviour and conduct is associated with the organisation and that third parties and potentially members of the public, will be making judgements regarding the organisation based on their actions and behaviours.

If an employees behaviour is considered to be unacceptable, then the employee can be held to account for this and where appropriate the employee's behaviour and conduct during the work's Christmas party can be formally investigated and if appropriate a disciplinary sanction can be applied. Just because it occurred outside of working hours and off school premises, does not mean that they cannot be asked to provide a response for their actions.

It is important to remind employees of the expectations when attending a work's Christmas Party. In addition, the organisation can take steps to ensure that behaviour and situations, do not escalate to such a point, that it is deemed to be unacceptable. These steps may include limiting the amount of alcohol available to the employees, providing a meal to reduce the time for drinking, designing seating plans for the meal to ensure employees who have a known conflict are not sitting next to one another and where appropriate sending employees home, when they may have drunk too much, and before the behaviour becomes unacceptable.

As well as managing behaviours, there is still need to limit the risk of Covid-19 at the work's Christmas Party. Boris Johnson has said that there is no need to cancel this year, but how risky is the Christmas party?

There are factors to consider when deciding as to whether you should have a work's Christmas party this year. The biggest consideration will be the location because you will need to consider who your employees are mixing with, how enclosed the venue is and whether it has good ventilation?

Drinking outside a location will be less risky than socialising at the bar, but is that reasonable to expect employees to be stood outside in the cold?

Shouting and singing increases the possibility of airborne transmission, so you could consider the necessity of a face mask to reduce transmission, but how does this impact on the employees' ability to socialise and feel relaxed.

Individuals who are vaccinated lower the chance of catching and spreading the virus, but they do not eradicate the risk. Therefore you could consider asking all employees to undertake a lateral flow test prior to attending the work's Christmas party, as a measure to reduce the possibility for transmission and spread.

It is important for employee morale to continue with the festivities that they expect and want to happen, but it is about ensuring that they maintain their professional standards and that the level of risk is assessed, in order to reduce the spread and impact of Covid-19.