HR Tip of The Week: How to Survive Your Office Holiday Party
David Lewis, president and CEO of the Norwalk, Conn., HR outsourcing and consulting firm Operations, Inc, agreed that shorter parties are better. He also suggested that company executives think about ways to get employees home safely. Lewis said some of his clients pay for Uber drivers to shuttle all workers to the party and then home.
And forget about party games that involve revealing personal secrets or require body contortions [or] physical contact or any sort of disrobing. In fact, party games in general pose all sorts of unknown risks.
Have you come up with a plan to ensure that you’re not providing alcohol to people and then sending them on the road where you absolutely could find yourself in the position of some measure of responsibility for their condition and [the] results?
Remind employees, in writing, of the company’s policies on harassment as well as the dress code, suggested Philippe Weiss, managing director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a law firm dedicated to compliance services and training subsidiary. Weiss is based in Chicago.
Sharlyn Lauby, SHRM-SCP, president of Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based HR consulting firm ITM Group Inc., agreed that it is important that somebody monitor the party to stop problems, but she says that person needn’t be from the HR department.