Planning Your Holiday Office Party in Today's Workplace

While the focus on harassment in the workplace has brought significant changes in recent months, a leading Chicago-area HR consultant is encouraging employers not to lose sight of those gains with a holiday office party that reverts to past behaviors.

Laurie Huspen, founder of Valuable Resources Co., suggests that the cultural changes brought about by the #MeToo movement and sexual assault scandals in major companies from coast to coast can't be tossed aside in the name of tradition and fun. "The traditional office party is rooted in the very behaviors that recent movements have exposed," said Huspen. "To suddenly validate bad behavior in the name of celebrating a successful year runs completely contrary to what we have learned in recent years about overt harassment on many levels."

Huspen is quick to point out that companies can still host and enjoy a holiday celebration for employees, but that a new format may be in order. She first points to a key ingredient for creating bad behavior - alcohol. Huspen suggests that it is in a company's best interest to have an event without alcohol as it reduces the possibility of many negative circumstances occurring. Should alcohol be available, offsite parties might do well to have a cash bar or use drink tickets with each employee only getting a limited number of tickets. If the party takes place in the office, have it confined to limited hours and if alcohol is served, make sure there is plenty of food to go along with it.

"Even among adults, there is always a lot of pressure to drink at these events," Huspen noted while suggesting that employees have the option of using standard drink glasses for non-alcoholic drinks and offering sparkling non-alcoholic drinks in champagne flutes.

Huspen suggests setting a dress code that discourages inappropriate clothing and perhaps gently reminding employees to skip the jokes, innuendo and topics that are not appropriate for a work event.

If this all sounds like holiday parties can't be fun, Huspen suggests otherwise. "What a great opportunity to build in a game or event that everyone can participate in. There are many ways to make the party fun, create good memories and even build camaraderie with just a little creativity."

In fact, she suggests that with the change, employers might find that the old parties weren't really all that enjoyable. Huspen thinks employers would find the majority of employees didn't really have fun avoiding those who were overserved and obnoxious, and dreaded the climate at work the following Monday as people perhaps avoided eye contact after a night of boorish behavior.

"We've heard very clearly over the last year that women in particular felt very uncomfortable in the workplace and what many thought was fun was truly harassment. I think we can all celebrate the holidays in better fashion."

To learn more about how to identify and prevent harassment in the workplace, including tips on creating a healthy environment for holiday parties, and to learn more about the HR consulting services offered by Valuable Resources, Co. and their unique Taboo Topix performance-based training method, contact Laurie Huspen at Valuable Resources Co. or visit www.vrc-hr.com.