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How quickly those end of year functions have crept upon us!

We don't want to take the fun out of these celebrations and you want your team to enjoy themselves; however, a relaxed and sociable environment mixed with alcohol means that there is an increased chance of risky and/or inappropriate behaviour. Courts and tribunals have made it clear that an official employer Christmas party will constitute a work function and that the employer may be liable for events that occur during it.

The festive season is an important time to remind your employees of your Company's expected standards of behaviour.

Once it was simply what people did at a work function that could land them into trouble. Today it is more complicated and can include publicly expressed opinions, photos and recordings posted online. With a warning that not everyone shares the same sense of humour, 'Secret Santa' gift giving along with fancy dress have now also joined the list of seasonal risk factors.

To minimise this, here are a few practical steps that we suggest you follow to ensure a good and safe time is had by all.

• Ensure the venue has adopted responsible service of alcohol and inquire how they will implement it.
• Consider additional risks associated with venues that are in inaccessible or dangerous locations or harbour cruises, which seem to be in a class of their own.
• Send a reminder to all staff and managers in the days leading up to the function reminding them of behaviour that is acceptable.
• Make the message clear that onsite or offsite events, whether a client Christmas party, a team lunch or a corporate box at the cricket, do not mean standards of behaviour slip.
• Arrange for a designated time for drinks to finish and the party to end.
• Discourage ‘kick on events’ and advise that any which occur are not sanctioned.
• Have a system in place for transport home.
• Ensure there is a ‘go to’ person at the event should advice or help be needed. This person would monitor general conduct, venue and safety issues.
• Check that your policies, procedures, codes of conduct are unambiguous and set clear expectations.
• Remind employees to refresh their knowledge of relevant policies
• Establish a framework for recording and managing all incidents and complaints – do not ignore complaints.
• Keep an eye on social media postings to ensure that your organisation nor any attendees are brought into disrepute by inappropriate social media postings of the function.

End of year functions can produce challenging issues for employers so speak to us for advice and to ensure your policies cover work-related but 'out of hours' conduct and conduct away from the work premises. Your HRdocs subscribers can download an updated Christmas / End of Year Staff Party Letter reminding employees about expectations at end of year functions