Christmas parties are a hotbed of entertainment for HR consultants to write their memoirs on “the stupid things people do”… so here are some top tips to avoid a mention
The Christmas party
If you spend nearly 2,000 hours a year in the company of the same people there are bound to be gripes and niggles, and sometimes out-and-out conflict. Adding “truth serum” (AKA Alcohol) can often bring those niggles out in the worst possible way. Add to that the people who decide “the boss is paying, so I better drink as much as possible”, and you can have a recipe for disaster. So, how do you minimise the risk:
- Provide food, and make sure it is available from early on in the party. If food doesn’t come out until people are 3 to 4 drinks down, the damage is already done
- Limit the amount of alcohol being provided by the company, i.e. don’t just have a never-ending supply
- Limit the timeframe of the party (e.g. 5pm to 8pm). If they want to carry on partying after then that is fine, but by their own choice, and at a location of their choosing (not in your workshop)
- Consider activity-based parties, rather than the only “entertainment” being how much food and alcohol they can consume
- Do you lay on transport? From the viewpoint of preventing drink driving, this is a good idea, however, it can also increase alcohol consumption because they don’t have to worry about drink driving
- Consider what everyone in the team will enjoy doing. Not everyone will want an alcohol based party, and some may feel ostracised if they don’t want to join in
The end of year lethargy
The sun is shining, it’s warming up, and thoughts are turning to the Christmas holidays for many of us. And that end-of-year lethargy seems to start earlier each year. So, how do we keep the team motivated to stay on top of their game:
- Keep the pressure on as per BAU – i.e. don’t accept the “nobody is making buying decisions at this time of year” excuse; keep them focused on getting a head start on next year by booking in prospects for the new year
- If things are getting quiet, look at projects that they can get ticked off, many of which will have been on the back burner since last year. Focus on how great it will be once X is done so you don’t have to work around it anymore
- Give some additional paid leave (e.g. for Christmas shopping, attending school prize giving’s, recover from hangover after another party etc). We all have additional time pressures at this time of year, but managing planned absences is far easier than managing the unplanned “sickies”
The end-of-year mad rush
For some, particularly retail and hospitality, this is the busiest time of year, so how do you prevent burnout?
- Keep shifts to manageable lengths – people often want extra money at this time of year, but no one can do a regular 12-hour day and still be on top form by the end of the week
- Celebrate wins regularly – “Yippee, biggest turnover day this year”, “Yippee great customer feedback yesterday” etc
- Hold people accountable – if someone isn’t pulling their weight, this puts pressure on the rest of the team, pull them up quickly for this.
Christmas Shut down notification
And last, but by no means least, don’t forget to give 14 days notice of any Christmas shut down. The HRtoolkit template letter can be found at this link – Annual shutdown letter