Christmas parties – love or loathe them they are happening! A few points for employers to consider…..

With the festive season upon us, many companies will be looking forward to their Christmas party and celebrating the end of, what was hopefully, another successful year.

With the alcohol flowing and everyone in good spirits it is sure to be a great evening. It can however, also be a time for incidents to occur, leaving employers having to deal with the fall out.

Throwing up, throwing food or even punches are among common those incidents!

Social events, organised by the company are deemed as an extension of the workplace and so it is important to remind employees of this and of the consequences of unacceptable behaviour.

Nobody wants to been seen as Bah Humbug and while employers want their team to have a good time and let their hair down, it’s essential that they don’t leave themselves vicariously liable for acts committed by employees.

All sounds a little drastic I know, but unfortunately, these things happen!

Set out some grounds rules to all ahead of time, being clear about the standard of behaviour that is expected and maybe even support this with a policy on social events that can be used in the future – this shows that the organisation has taken reasonable steps to prevent unacceptable conduct.

For more tips on managing this, or for help with a policy, drop me a line zoe@harwoodhrsolutions.co.uk or call us 0203 936 9171