HR Grapevine Advent Calendar: Why Christmas parties can help recruitment and how to avoid an HR nightmare

One in four employers will be opting out of throwing their staff a Christmas party. The reason for this is that they fear the potential booze-infused bad behaviour of their employees, according to new research.

The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) has surveyed 2,000 employees. Their research revealed that 66% of workers believe that Christmas parties are excellent opportunities to network with co-workers. Yet, a quarter of employers are not going to celebrate the winter solace by throwing their employees a shindig.

One explanation may be that employers are afraid of potential deplorable behaviour from their staff; 80% of those polled said that they have seen colleagues behave inappropriately at Christmas parties; 35% had seen a co-worker kiss a colleague; 30% had witnessed shouting and aggression; and 28% had seen people being rude.

However, employers need not call time on the Christmas festivities. The yuletide-celebrations don’t need to turn into an HR nightmare, and they could even help with recruitment.