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Planning Ahead for Holiday Parties
11 December 2023
Your holiday party may be the company highlight of the year. Plan ahead so it doesn't become the year's low point instead!
It's the time of year for holiday parties! You want your company’s holiday party to be fun... but how many of us have been to a company party that's taken a turn for the worse because people acted poorly? Most of these potential issues can be addressed and prevented if you plan ahead.
Let's be honest: these party problems are usually caused by alcohol consumption. You can reduce the risk by having a party with no alcohol, which is easy if you do a family-friendly event during the day. But if you want to serve alcohol at your company party, we've got some tips to help the event go smoothly.
The first and most glaring risk with alcohol consumption is a legal one. Employees leaving a company function drunk can (legitimately) hold the company liable if something happens. There aren’t many ways around this risk, but limiting the amount of free/cheap alcohol can reduce how much most employees will drink. Depending on the situation, providing one glass of wine or beer during the meal may be appropriate. Or perhaps two drink tickets, and after that it's just a cash bar. These tactics will also limit the company's financial investment!
A second concern is how employees will behave once alcohol starts flowing. Employees who “participate enthusiastically” could behave in any number of inappropriate ways. In addition to limiting cheap alcohol, we recommend you do the following:
- Conduct training before the party. Remind your employees that the point of the party is to relax and have fun, and being around drunk coworkers isn't fun. It isn’t “cute” for an employee to start hitting on another employee (or another employee’s spouse!), or for a fist fight to break out because alcohol caused someone to say something stupid. It’s even worse if you get called into the manager’s office on Monday because of behavior you don’t even remember. Once you point these things out to employees, remind them that this IS a company function, and any inappropriate behavior that violates company policy will STILL result in disciplinary action.
- Plan for who will be on-call for customer emergencies, if necessary. Make sure you discuss this before the party, and outline your expectations for limiting alcohol consumption (maybe soften the blow through a gift card to a local restaurant, since they can’t drink at the party).
- Designate someone to handle situations at the party itself. Despite your best efforts, someone could still over-consume. Pick someone in a leadership role to refrain from drinking and to monitor employee behavior throughout the night. This person needs to be willing and able to take an employee’s car keys, call the police if necessary, and otherwise take action to solve an evolving and dangerous situation.
In addition to considering what happens at your own company party, if you have on-call employees you need to think about the impact of other events that they might attend during the season. How would you handle your on-call tech showing up drunk to a customer’s home? What policies can you put into place to prevent this from happening? Again, it's best to plan ahead and make expectations clear.
Also of note, particularly in states where marijuana is legal, recreational drug use is becoming more common at holiday parties. We recommend you tell employees that pot is NOT permitted at company parties, and be prepared to handle situations that arise.
Once your employees know what's expected of them, and the consequences for poor behavior, there's no reason you can't all have fun together and let loose after a year of work. Plan ahead, and enjoy your holiday celebration!
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