Christmas time, mistletoe and wine; the latter of which can cause differing headaches for employees and employers as we enter the season of Christmas parties.
Most people will hopefully enjoy their parties but for some that night out can spill over into the following day. As an employer you can prevent some problems in advance. If possible, arrange the work’s night out for when the following day is not a working day. If you can’t do that then make sure that staff know what they should do if they have been out drinking at the work’s party the night before and might be at risk of being over the limit for the commute the following morning. This could be to offer in advance a working from home day, a later than normal start time or to take the day as annual leave.
Unfortunately, due to excess alcohol some people lose their judgement and inhibitions completely which can lead to inappropriate behaviour on the night, you might need to deal with the aftermath once everyone is back at work so be conscious of any issues and deal with them correctly using your relevant policies and procedures. Some staff may even show up for work drunk the morning after a night out. If that happens, take the member of staff into a private room somewhere away from colleagues and customers. Your first thought should ideally be for their wellbeing, you could call a taxi to get them home safely, you could take them home yourself or contact their next of kin and ask if they can collect them.
The issue shouldn’t be left there though and you need to have a conversation with the member of staff once they are sober to understand more about the circumstances of what happened and why they decided to attend work while drunk. Is there an underlying issue or perhaps even addiction? Is this a one off or part of a pattern of behaviour? Ultimately this is a conduct issue, and may need to be dealt with via your disciplinary process. However, you need to strike a balance between being supportive and running a professional business and knowing your staff well will help to guide you in this.
Do you have questions about Christmas Parties?
Give us a call at CUBE HR on 01282 678321, we’ll be happy to advise you and we have policies and templates available to meet every HR need.
Why not check out our post on a similar topic Drink Driving – What are the Consequences?
We also have a YouTube channel with loads of handy videos.
