Speaker 1: Kyota.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast.
Speaker 1: Presented by the New Zealand Herald. Tis the season to
Speaker 1: celebrate the.
Speaker 2: End of year with your workmates on the company dime.
Speaker 2: But are the days of huge bashes and unlimited bar
Speaker 2: tabs long gone? They've always been high risk and loaded
Speaker 2: with illegal landmines, with employees towing the line between loose
Speaker 2: networking and plain unprofessional.
Speaker 1: So should companies ditch the drama for direct deposits or
Speaker 1: is there still a little magic to the traditional Christmas
Speaker 1: work do? Today? On the Front Page, aut Professor.
Speaker 2: Of Management Candace Harris's with us to take a look
Speaker 2: at work parties past, present, and yet to come. So Candace,
Speaker 2: how have you work Christmas parties evolved in recent years?
Speaker 3: Yes? Look good question.
Speaker 4: I mean traditionally when we think of a Christmas party,
Speaker 4: ideas of excess and chaos kind of come to mind.
Speaker 3: And if you look at sort of movies, etc.
Speaker 4: There's generally that with even a romantic subplot and all
Speaker 4: things that we don't really want at work in the
Speaker 4: modern age, so they have moved from those kind of
Speaker 4: lavish late night open bar type riscue behavior events through
Speaker 4: to being more modest, certainly better planned and structured, and
Speaker 4: more they work to be more inclusive, to bring a
Speaker 4: sort of a wider church of people rather than just
Speaker 4: those that are up for a late night you know party.
Speaker 2: And they're not even called mostly Christmas parties anymore, are they.
Speaker 2: They're more like end of year celebrations. That's really important
Speaker 2: for diversity reasons.
Speaker 4: Hey oh look, absolutely it is seen has been more inclusive.
Speaker 4: People do often appreciate and ignoment of Christmas at an
Speaker 4: interview celebration, but Christmas is one day as well, and
Speaker 4: people have worked hard all year, so it is nice
Speaker 4: to bring everyone together. You've got to consider also that
Speaker 4: with hybrid work arrangements, sometimes it may be the only
Speaker 4: time that we see someone from another division or someone
Speaker 4: perhaps more senior to where we're working.
Speaker 3: So it is nice to bring people together.
Speaker 2: Absolutely from an HR standpoint, what are the top legal
Speaker 2: or even reputational risks that come with these kind of
Speaker 2: get togethers.
Speaker 4: Good question again, So under the Health and Safety and
Speaker 4: Workout two fifteen, employers do have what's called this primary
Speaker 4: duty of care as parties are legally work events, and
Speaker 4: that includes those that are held off site, so it's
Speaker 4: not just those in your physical kind of workplace. So
Speaker 4: the person undertaking the business does have this primary duty
Speaker 4: of care to.
Speaker 3: Ensure that it is a safe event.
Speaker 4: And so it's about planning for a safety event, working
Speaker 4: to sort of mitigate risk. But it is fair to
Speaker 4: say that a major risk often at work parties is
Speaker 4: alcohol and then the resulting things that can come from
Speaker 4: too much alcohol in terms of perhaps poor judgments being made,
Speaker 4: harassments of it is actually physical risks people tripping, falling,
Speaker 4: and then at the end of it, you know how
Speaker 4: people are actually getting home safe as well.
Speaker 3: You also asked about reputational risk.
Speaker 4: You know, one worry is that the Christmas party lives
Speaker 4: on forever through social media or also people are streaming
Speaker 4: the Christmas party live and saying, look at where I
Speaker 4: am at such a good time, and so it does
Speaker 4: sort of put a whole new era of reputational and
Speaker 4: also brand risk as well. Used to just be hr
Speaker 4: that were quite nervous about Christmas parties. I think you
Speaker 4: could put the marketing in the comms people in that
Speaker 4: camp as well.
Speaker 2: Well. With alcohol obviously comes in appropriate conduct, blurred bound
Speaker 2: reason those safety issues that you spoke about as well.
Speaker 2: Work parties are obviously very high risk for employers. Have
Speaker 2: companies just decided to eliminate any possibility of misconduct really
Speaker 2: at these days?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, some have gone alcohol free.
Speaker 4: It is fair to say others may limit alcohol, and
Speaker 4: there's various ways you can do that. You may give
Speaker 4: staff two drinks tokens, and once they've used that, there
Speaker 4: is no cash.
Speaker 3: Far. Another way is perhaps limiting the time of the event.
Speaker 4: Putting it on during the day can be another thing.
Speaker 4: You know, the Christmas party is twelve or two and
Speaker 4: that is it. Historically some of them had a start
Speaker 4: time but no clear finish time. You know, there'd be
Speaker 4: sort of these eight hour extravaganzas, which so definitely there's
Speaker 4: much tighter boundaries put around them these days. And also
Speaker 4: the provision of zero alcohol options because which a lot
Speaker 4: of people have chosen not to drink for various you know,
Speaker 4: sort of health, cultural, religious reasons, et ce.
Speaker 1: I read somewhere as well when I was researching this.
Speaker 1: Obviously this is a worldwide phenomenon. I read this really
Speaker 1: good quote.
Speaker 2: It said alcohol does not cancel power dynamics, and even
Speaker 2: though your boss might be on the dance floor wearing
Speaker 2: a Christmas jumper or a funny hat or something.
Speaker 1: There's still your boss.
Speaker 2: And it was quite funny. One line, and I think
Speaker 2: it was from Yahoo or something. I'll have to find it,
Speaker 2: but it was like, you know, Mary holding her shoes
Speaker 2: at the dance floor are getting you to chug down
Speaker 2: your wine or something. Might be doing your performance review
Speaker 2: in three months time, you know, and having that in mind.
Speaker 2: And another quote is what experts have said to remember,
Speaker 2: if something feels thrilling at ten pm, ask yourself how
Speaker 2: it would read at ten am in the boardroom.
Speaker 3: Very good point. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4: I mean we had very clear professional expectations for behavior
Speaker 4: for people all year. So it absolutely makes no sense
Speaker 4: that everything is free reign and you know, do what
Speaker 4: you want at this sort of six hour Christmas party.
Speaker 4: It's completely nonsensical. And you know, we haven't really researched
Speaker 4: Christmas parties in any great depth internationally.
Speaker 3: But they can be quite career limiting for some.
Speaker 4: That may be the thing that then carries you forward
Speaker 4: into next year. You know, the reputational risk for you
Speaker 4: individually in terms of your career, and then also not
Speaker 4: to mention perhaps for the organization various workplace relationships as well.
Speaker 4: I mean that may be the one thing that you
Speaker 4: then equate that leader with, is that crazy dancing, etc.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's certainly risky territory.
Speaker 5: If you have an annual party at your office, then
Speaker 5: you'll not it can be the greatest pit fall of
Speaker 5: the social year. Traditionally it's the night when the obvious
Speaker 5: boy shakes hands with the boss and his secretary gets
Speaker 5: to kiss him and then drink inside them. They can
Speaker 5: both tell you how to run the firm, but it's
Speaker 5: sometimes a party with a twelve month hangover and the
Speaker 5: next day really is important to remember what you said
Speaker 5: to whom the night before, whether you think it's a
Speaker 5: good idea all a terrible mistake. Either way, you'll probably
Speaker 5: turn up. Heads are counted and nobody wants to be
Speaker 5: called scrooge.
Speaker 2: And definitely you mentioned before, social media has completely changed
Speaker 2: the game. I saw an executive recently, actually within the
Speaker 2: last couple of weeks at National Australia Bank's offshoot it's
Speaker 2: called You Bank. They were asked to leave recently after
Speaker 2: a disturbing image was taken.
Speaker 1: At a Christmas function.
Speaker 2: So I suppose that social media has just completely flipped
Speaker 2: the switch.
Speaker 4: Yes, well, you know, good Christmas parties these days are
Speaker 4: well planned and you plan to kind of mitigate in
Speaker 4: this sort of control for risk as well, Social media
Speaker 4: is a whole other dimension because people are sort of
Speaker 4: doing it individually as well, so you don't know who's
Speaker 4: taking pictures of what, posting what, and also when they're
Speaker 4: doing it.
Speaker 3: You know, a post put up at two in the
Speaker 3: morning may not.
Speaker 4: Be something that you would post, as you said, at
Speaker 4: ten am on your way to the boardroom. So absolutely
Speaker 4: that puts incredible risk. And it's also the idea of consent.
Speaker 4: You know, you busy posting a whole lot of things
Speaker 4: about your colleagues. They may not be very happy with
Speaker 4: that idea at all. But I think it comes back
Speaker 4: to that first thing I was talking about. This is
Speaker 4: a work event, so the kind of rules for proper
Speaker 4: behavior at work still matter.
Speaker 2: I was having a conversation with a colleague the other
Speaker 2: day about this, and it feels like not only Christmas
Speaker 2: parties have kind of been diluted over the years, but
Speaker 2: I remember as a child going to my dads he
Speaker 2: worked at an insurance firm in Aussie and I remember
Speaker 2: those family fun days you know, like a big Christmas
Speaker 2: barbecue for all of the family and then he would
Speaker 2: obviously have his separate boozy work event or something. It
Speaker 2: seems like companies are really steering away from those big
Speaker 2: events and family involvement kind of things.
Speaker 1: And I've spoke to a few people.
Speaker 2: Around the office being like, oh, yeah, my dad's work
Speaker 2: had that, all my mum's worked, did this and did that?
Speaker 1: Do you reckon?
Speaker 2: It's just like a cost of living thing. Just you know,
Speaker 2: that's the first thing to cut, that's the first thing
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 4: Yes, well, you know there's been a cost of living
Speaker 4: you know, sort of crisis at the household level, but
Speaker 4: also organizations really have looked at how to be fiscally
Speaker 4: responsible and so putting on big events, you know, it
Speaker 4: certainly costs.
Speaker 3: And doing these things that are family freely.
Speaker 4: You may not be spending a whole lot, perhaps on alcohol,
Speaker 4: but you will be spending on other things to make
Speaker 4: people feel welcome, to cater for a variety of dietary
Speaker 4: and personal food, likes to have perhaps activities that keep
Speaker 4: kids happy, because kids may turn up but they actually
Speaker 4: expect me in tained as well.
Speaker 2: It costs a lot to get Santa down here from
Speaker 2: the North Pole.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and you know sometimes kids, they get a bit
Speaker 4: bored at your parents' work after a while unless the
Speaker 4: fun is sort of put on. I think though, you know,
Speaker 4: we don't have a really good understanding of the real
Speaker 4: diversity of ways that organizations, particularly in that small mediu
Speaker 4: ment price sector, do actually celebrate Christmas, you know, as
Speaker 4: a workplace at the end of the year in this country.
Speaker 4: So it'd be great to get more stories coming through,
Speaker 4: not just perhaps the very lavish, large corporate events, because
Speaker 4: up and down the country, You're right, people are doing
Speaker 4: all sorts of innovative things to sort of celebrate with
Speaker 4: their colleagues. Because we've got to remember, all year we
Speaker 4: develop good relationships with our colleagues, so it's nice to
Speaker 4: sort of unwine with them and wash everyone well as
Speaker 4: they go off to you know, celebrate somemer together.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I also have heard the conversation obviously, the cost of
Speaker 2: living crisis is a bit pretty hard this year. Should
Speaker 2: works think about maybe instead of doing the cost per
Speaker 2: had lavish do down by the waterfront, just giving out
Speaker 2: some prezzy cards.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure that's something that perhaps some employees would prefer.
Speaker 3: A sort of chicken and egg, isn't it though?
Speaker 4: With the voucher versus party, I mean, often the spend
Speaker 4: per head for the parties really has come down, So
Speaker 4: the voucher may actually be very modest and you may
Speaker 4: have completely forgotten what you even spent it on by
Speaker 4: a month later.
Speaker 3: However, that chance to bring people together.
Speaker 4: So there was actually quite a rare academic study done
Speaker 4: on Christmas parties in Germany that looked at three hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty nine employees across sectors, and they did actually
Speaker 4: find that the Christmas party can serve some good purpose
Speaker 4: in terms of uniting people, creating that sense of team morale,
Speaker 4: happiness in the workplace, as long as alcohol was controlled.
Speaker 4: Back to alcohol, Alcohol is the thing that created most
Speaker 4: dissatisfaction at parties.
Speaker 3: But you're right.
Speaker 4: I mean an organization may say there is no party
Speaker 4: this year. Here's a voucher, but I think some employees
Speaker 4: may be disappointed about how little that voucher may actually
Speaker 4: be and how quickly it's forgotten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we might be surprised what the cost per head is. Yeah,
Speaker 2: in terms of I mean it's a huge uphill battle
Speaker 2: since COVID four hospitality venues, I bet that when this
Speaker 2: time of year comes around, it's a huge hit in
Speaker 2: the arm for them.
Speaker 4: Pay Yeah, that November December Christmas party spend is important.
Speaker 3: It matters.
Speaker 4: I think though that if anyone's good at sort of
Speaker 4: innovative practice, it certainly is the hospitality sector.
Speaker 3: In New Zealand. So they've had to pivot a bit.
Speaker 4: You know, there may be less of the three hundred
Speaker 4: people type parties. There may be those smaller sort of
Speaker 4: smaller group parties, and a lot of organizations are perhaps
Speaker 4: doing that as well, because the group that we don't
Speaker 4: talk about is essential workers and frontline workers. Those you know,
Speaker 4: people still need to be driving the buses in the
Speaker 4: hospital wards.
Speaker 3: So finding ways to celebrate that.
Speaker 4: And then the hospitality as a sector is very good
Speaker 4: at putting things on at different times of the day
Speaker 4: as well, so there may be more of that kind
Speaker 4: of daytime, smaller group type in a bitive thing.
Speaker 3: And the hospitality sector certainly has.
Speaker 4: Responded very well to trends such as you know, the
Speaker 4: complete explosion of the zero alcohol movement, etc.
Speaker 2: What do you reckon the future is for work Christmas parties.
Speaker 2: It's not going to be something like on Love actually
Speaker 2: or Wolf of Wall Street.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely not. I think some of I think there'll
Speaker 4: be continuation of the many of the good practices that
Speaker 4: organizations have been using in terms of making sure that
Speaker 4: they're well planned and planned with an eye to inclusion,
Speaker 4: like what would most people enjoy rather than just the
Speaker 4: few people that like the six hour sort of marathons. Also,
Speaker 4: they will be very well communicated, so people will turn
Speaker 4: up knowing what to expect, and including perhaps younger and
Speaker 4: new workers who've maybe never been to your Christmas party.
Speaker 4: As well, we'll see more innovation, we'll see smaller We'll
Speaker 4: see both a mix of at work things but also
Speaker 4: offsite things, etc. Perhaps more activities, and perhaps a more
Speaker 4: clear tie in with the organizational brand and awesome values.
Speaker 4: So saying, our organization stands for this all year, but
Speaker 4: by the way, the only way we recognize Christmas is
Speaker 4: to go to a bar. It sometimes can be a
Speaker 4: bit disjointed in terms of actually celebrating us as an
Speaker 4: organization and all the people who work to make it great.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Candae.
Speaker 3: Lovely and Merry Christmas, Chelsea.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2: That said, for this episode of the Front Page, you
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at enzdherld dot co dot nz.
Speaker 1: The Front Page is produced.
Speaker 2: By Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also our editor.
Speaker 1: I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 2: Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
Speaker 2: get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look
Speaker 2: behind the headlines.