A Managers Guide to Safe Christmas Parties

Christmas party season is rapidly approaching, which is enough to make any good HR Manager's heart run cold. Often the party is just the start of months of problems for managers, caused by too much alcohol and not enough boundaries (or inhibitions).

You end up having to deal with problems ranging from sexual harassment allegations, attempted assault right the way through to just plain old drop in morale and motivation caused by one teeny tiny party that was meant to be fun.

Yes I have been in the middle of trying to unravel people trying to punch the CEO, young office receptionists making poor choices with multiple people in the toilets after too much drink, the odd harassment case or 3 when people have gone for the grope after a mistletoe kiss has gone wrong and assorted team fights and friendship bust-ups by people saying exactly what they thought of people at the party.

A few years back I gave my top 10 tips for Managers to consider before hosting a work Christmas party. They are worth repeating as we head into the silly season.

Intent – be clear on why you are having a party. Is it to have staff relax and get to know each other better, to celebrate a great year, to commiserate a bad year, to get families involved in work? Whatever your intent – be clear and tell people what you are doing. This means not inviting families and partners if you want to team build, but inviting them if you want to remind people of the importance of work/life balance.
Repeat after me: Parties are not a motivational tool – a Christmas party (no matter how expensive) is not a motivational tool for staff. They will not work hard all year for little praise and average wages in the hope you throw a great party once a year!
Parties are work functions. There's a lot of case law about this so you need to be on your guard. If someone attends a work Christmas party they are generally considered to be "at work" which means managers are liable both directly and vicariously for accidents, injuries, harassment, vilification, and all of the other nasties when people are at your party. Put in risk mitigation measures from the beginning to minimise your risk.
Alcohol – in one word NO!!!!! Alcohol is the cause of most bad behaviour and critical incidents, so aim for a dry party if at all possible. If you decide to supply alcohol, you must also supply taxi vouchers to ensure people get home from the party safely. You also need to ensure you have at least two managerial level staff (one male and one female) to be the "fun police", keep an eye on people drinking, and not drink themselves. The fun police's role is to keep an eye on drinking, protect people from themselves, to go into the toilets and help people who are ill to get themselves safely sorted out, and then go home. They need to be on hand at the taxi rank to see people safely into cabs and they also need to keep an eye out for DVD cameras and video phones recording inappropriate behaviour to later post on YouTube.
Have someone sober monitor the bar tab. Unless you have very deep pockets, if you are running a bar tab keep an eye on the spend during the night. I know of some functions that started with a bar tab of $3000, but at the end of the night it ended up costing over $20,000 thanks to one of the managers drinking a bit too much of the good stuff.
Wages – if the party is during regular work hours then I would suggest attendance is paid (unless all employees are under absolutely no obligation or even subtle pressure to attend and they can remain at their desks if they choose instead of attending). If the party is out of hours then the party is unpaid.
Mandatory attendance. Don't do it! All attendance should be totally optional and no pressure, bullying, or general standover tactics employed to make people attend. If many people choose not to attend your party, that is highlighting a problem in your workplace culture and hidden morale issues.
Secret Santa presents – they are fine to do but set limits on both money and the types of gifts bought. A $10 limit is fine – make sure the rules on gifts include there are no pornographic, R rated, insulting or abusive gifts bought (remember your vicarious liability ...).
Venues – do consider if the venue is appropriate for all members of your staff. This not only includes people with disabilities but also people of different religions and ages. Make sure the menu caters for Vegans as well as kosher if needed.
Codes of Conduct – remind all staff about your Codes of Conduct both on the lead up to the party as well as at the beginning of the function. Yes, it puts the damper on things, but it will save you a lot of money if you do get taken to court and you can demonstrate all reasonable steps were taken to prevent a problem.

If you follow these tips, then your after party hangover should only be related to too much red wine and not in cases before various courts and jurisdictions.

Marketing Tip of the Week: Christmas Marketing

christmas marketing Many small businesses leave their planning for Christmas promotions to the last minute. Here's a few ways that you can add the most oomph to the tinsel in your business.

Offer gift wrapping - presents that come nicely gift wrapped make a customer's life easier. You can even bundle a number of smaller gifts together in a gift basket to capture higher value clients.
Offer express post - particularly helps with last minute gift buyers. You can also offer to ship directly to the gift recipient to save even more time.
Categorise your gifts - Gifts for mum, gifts for a geek dad that sort of categorisation makes it easier for people to find what they want.
Decorate your website - add Christmas specials on the home page (not buried deep inside your site) and add a Xmas count-down timer so people know when is the cut-off for orders.
Amend your Google adwords campaigns to take into account specific seasonal search terms "massage voucher christmas gifts" . Stay away from generic terms as the cost per click will be prohibitive.
Promote your gift certificates - these are easy options for lots of people and suitable for just about any business.
Send reminder email broadcasts on the last day that people can order from you - great to get those procrastinators moving.

Product of the Week: Stress Management Course

At this time of year, stress can certainly take it's toll on people. One of the ways to reduce stress is to hone your stress management skills through a stress management course.

I have been checking out different courses on the net and found one that I particularly like due to its thoroughness, and range of options to help you understand and manage your stress (as well as its very affordable price).

Understanding the causes of stress, and then learning tips to deal with each situation as it comes up is the core to this program.

Check it out here >>>

A great gift idea would be to download the course onto a new MP3 player and then give the MP3 and course as your gift to someone who needs it.

Blog Post of the Week: Creative Alliances are Good for Business

I love creative solutions to problems. In this post I share how a struggling local soccer club and a brilliant leadership and management training company forged the most unlikely of alliances.

exuberantly yours

Ingrid

Heart Harmony

Heart Harmony - SEO copywriters

PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog included a post about "My New Favourite Christmas Tree" & "The Lure of the One-Page website".

Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter

Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.

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