Managing Employee Conduct at Christmas Functions

With Christmas just around the corner, many businesses will be hosting their annual Christmas functions. While these functions are a great opportunity for employees to let their hair down and celebrate the year that was, it's important to make sure that they are conducted in a safe and responsible manner. After all, no one wants their Christmas party to end in disaster!

As an employer, you have a duty of care to your employees to ensure they are not subjected to any health and safety risks while at work. This includes ensuring that your employees are not exposed to any psychosocial hazards during the Christmas party. Psychosocial hazards can include bullying, violence, and sexual harassment. 

Having a robust code of conduct in place for your Christmas party can help prevent these hazards from spoiling the holiday season for your employees.

Here are some tips for managing employee conduct at your Christmas function

1. Make sure you have a robust code of conduct in place that covers all relevant health and safety risks, including bullying, violence, and sexual harassment. If possible, appoint a designated member of staff who will be responsible for enforcing this code of conduct throughout the event.
2. Communicate the code of conduct to employees before the event so that they know what is expected of them. This could be done via email, an intranet announcement, or even posters placed around the workplace.
3. Encourage employees to drink responsibly by offering free non-alcoholic drinks and limiting the number of alcoholic drinks each person can consume.
4. Provide plenty of food so that no one feels the need to drink on an empty stomach.
5. Ensure your employees know how to report any incidents during the event and follow up with any incidents reported after the event.

By following these tips and having a robust code of conduct in place, you can help to ensure that your company's Christmas function is conducted safely and responsibly. And by evaluating the event afterwards, you can learn from any mistakes that were made and make changes as needed for future events.

For more information on how we can help improve safety in your workplace, please get in touch with us today.

Author - Craig Cruickshank is the HSEQ Manager and Senior Technical Advisor at SafetyDocs by SafetyCulture.

Craig comes from a construction and environmental background, with experience in both the private and public sectors and is passionate about making health and safety information easy to find and understand for everyone.

Learn more about Craig's work on LinkedIn

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Please note that the above information is provided as a comment only and should not be relied on as professional, legal or financial advice.