Throwing Office Parties that are Professional and Fun

I think holiday/company parties are wonderful things. And people like the fact that they can get together and have a nice dinner or lunch with the people they work with.

However, due to many factors, including the current economy and liability issues, a lot of companies are moving away from the big holiday dinner party and are instead having a holiday lunch during the work day.

This is especially nice since many employees prefer not to attend a big dinner-dance holiday party with their co-workers because they know that it’s really not a time to “let loose” anymore. Plus, many of them would rather reserve their evenings and weekends for gatherings with family and friends.

If you’re a company that would still like to throw a party for your employees, there are many ways that you can ensure it’s a fun, yet professional event.

Inform Employees of Rules Beforehand
Remember, although it’s a party, it’s a workplace event and so workplace behavior should be expected. To ensure your employees behave appropriately, it may be in your best interest to send out an e-mail reminder about the event that includes location, time, dress code, responsible alcohol consumption (if applicable) and the type of behavior that’s expected.

It’s a good idea to formally implement a workplace events policy that clearly spells out the ground rules for such events, as well as potential consequences for breaking these rules.

Employees need to know that they can and will be held accountable for their actions during the event. This includes being terminated for inappropriate behavior, such as sexually harassing another employee or getting aggressive with another employee and causing a fight to break out, or becoming noticeably intoxicated. Any inappropriate conduct would, essentially, be considered as taking place in the workplace, and employees can be reprimanded or even terminated for these actions.

The Best Way to Throw a Holiday Party
One of the best ways to throw a holiday party is to hold it during the workday. This makes it better because employees will tend to understand, since it’s during work hours, they have to display work-appropriate behavior.

When you send out the invitation for the event, make sure that it sets the tone for how everybody is expected to dress, behave, etc. Also, make sure you meet with your managers and explain to them that they need to kind of “police” their staff. This is, after all, a working event for them.

For Example
I’ve worked with a number of customers in my career so far that have had issues arise from throwing a holiday party. I’ve usually given them my recommendations for how to appropriately handle throwing a holiday party, but I can’t tell you the number of unfortunate circumstances that have still come up.

For example, a company held a party during their annual sales convention and one of their Senior Managers invited some employees up to his hotel room for an after-party. There was drinking which unfortunately led to some very embarrassing and uncomfortable situations for some staff members. Not only was this behavior inappropriate for someone of his status, but since the company paid for his hotel room, the event was considered business and therefore the goings on definitely shouldn’t have been happening.

Unfortunately, this company got a very hard dose of reality about how they’re going to have to conduct their sales conferences going forward, and this gentleman barely survived with his job. In many companies, he would’ve been fired on the spot.

So the bottom line is this—office parties can still happen, but they need to be handled appropriately and professionally. You just have to err on the side of caution and make sure you plan for contingencies, such as what if someone gets too drunk (ex: call a taxi on the employee’s behalf) or what to do if someone falls and gets hurt, etc.

Due to many factors, a lot of companies are moving away from the big holiday dinner party.