If you thought 2008 was a downer for the holiday office party, what will 2009 bring? The full reality of the nation’s economic situation has hit home, especially in terms of job and benefit cuts.
Perhaps the survivors of the past year’s economic calamities will decide the heck with it — nothing’s going to stop them from being their usual festive selves.
More likely, in a year when employees have seen multiple co-workers let go, and the future is anything but certain, 2009 holiday office parties will continue to trend toward smaller, potluck-scale celebrations. If they are held at all…. In many such cases, labor and management, recognizing that philanthropy is foundational to their corporate culture, have come together to place even more focus than usual on helping those less fortunate.
Judging by the yuletide plans at some of Madison’s largest employers, the corporate holiday party is likely to be toned down, continuing a trend that has been underway for several years.
Celebration of Reality
Steve Witmer, media relations manager for American Family Insurance, said the multi-line insurer has always handled holiday parties at the division or department level, rather than a centralized approach. His sense is that the divisions and the departments within will continue to find meaningful ways for employees to celebrate the holidays, while mindful of the current economic realities.
“I think it’s a fair statement that with business being what it is right now, our business areas are a little more conservative in their spending,” he said, “but there is really no hard-and-fast company directive on what the business areas should or shouldn’t do in celebrating the holidays with their staff.”
With added focus on charity, American Family is one of the major sponsors of NBC 15’s Share Your Holiday Food Drive benefiting Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. It also conducts a food drive, collecting non-perishable food items from employees, and its employees participate in the Marines’ Toys for Tots collection.
“It’s not that parties are cancelled,” Witmer said, “it’s just that people are using good sense about being somewhat modest this year, and in recent years as well.”
Modifying What’s Worked in the Past
Some companies modified their holiday celebrations years ago. Maureen Harrill, chief human resources officer for Great Lakes Higher Education Corp., said her organization once used Monona Terrace for its holiday celebration, but now takes a lunch hour to serve hors d’oeuvres and desserts (no alcohol) to employees so that more of them can celebrate the holidays together, and so they don’t incur parking charges or have to make special arrangements for child care.
The company’s employee base has traditionally given donations of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank, but given people’s busy holiday schedules, disappointing attendance was a big reason for the change in celebratory scale. “When we did the bigger events at Monona Terrance, the participation rate didn’t justify the expense,” Harrill said.
Madison Gas & Electric hasn’t hosted a holiday party for several years, opting instead for a holiday luncheon for all employees and encouraging them to bring a can-food item for donation to the Salvation Army, according to Steve Kraus, manager of media relations for MG&E. He said the company also sponsors a retirees’ Christmas luncheon each year, and the retirees also are asked to bring a can-food item.
Bob Gregg, a partner and employment relations attorney in the Boardman law firm, said the firm has not put on something called “the holiday party” for many years because “people are too darned busy, and doing something in December is just so hard to plan.” Instead, the firm has a program in January or February, usually on a Saturday night.
“I think once we used to have a big holiday party, but it had low attendance because everybody is so frenetic and there are so many other things going on,” Gregg recalled. “I think there are a number of organizations that are going to the ‘let’s-do-it-after-the-holidays’ route, when people actually have the ability to breathe.”
During the holiday season, Boardman officially sponsors three philanthropic campaigns, and employees have initiated their own drives to collect clothing for the Salvation Army, and to volunteer time at a local social service agency.
Andrew Petersen, director of external affairs and communications for TDS Telecom, said the company’s 2,000-plus employees were behind its decision seven years ago to emphasize employee volunteerism and philanthropy over an extravagant holiday party at a local hotel or Monona Terrace. Today, there are off-premises departmental celebrations — nothing company-sponsored — but perhaps the most anticipated holiday activity is an annual employee vote to determine which local charity receives a donation in the $7,000 to $8,500 range. A steering committee compiles a list of local charities that are in need, and those organizations are put to an e-mail vote. In recent years, the vote has benefitted the likes of the Ronald McDonald House, Hospice Care, the American Red Cross, and Second Harvest.
TDS, whose west side Madison office also is a Toys-for-Tots receptacle, made the switch after the 2001 holiday season, but it was not due to the sluggish economy of the early 2000s. The telecommunications company was doing well in those years, but Petersen senses that people need to be on both the giving and receiving end of charity more so than in the past.
“There are all kinds of planning and expenses associated with holiday get-togethers of employees, including liability issues and things along those lines,” he noted. “Back when we made that determination, our employees were sort of clamoring for us, instead of a holiday get-together that was sometimes well-attended and in other years not as well-attended, to go toward a charitable-giving slant.”
Not-So-Limited Liability
In some cases, the office holiday party was curtailed due to the potential for liability from sloppy imbibers. In one infamous case in Waukesha County from 1998, a holiday reveler became intoxicated after collecting numerous drink tickets, got in a car shortly after the party, and ended up in a horrendous collision that killed him and a 25-year-old mother of three. His employer escaped criminal charges because the District Attorney did not think he could prove the company was recklessly indifferent to public safety beyond a reasonable doubt, but the tragedy drew attention to the need for businesses to take preventive steps.
No matter when the party is held, the general advice is:
- No cash bar, and offer drink tickets for no more than two cocktails.
- Don’t hold the celebration during business hours.
- Don’t hold the celebration on company premises; otherwise, you’ll be considered the social host in the provision of alcohol.
“In terms of the social host aspect, the standard judgment is still good, which is to make sure people have to go home and come back,” Gregg said. “The best place to have it is not at your work site. Have it at some supper club or some place where they are doing the provision of the alcohol, but even if you do have your own provision of alcohol, people should have to go home and then come to the event.”
Gregg said people are much more attuned to the issue of drinking and driving. As proof, he said last year he didn’t have a single instance of drinking and driving among any clients. His favorite parties are those that will provide a cab home for people, provide a night’s stay if they think someone is too inebriated to drive, and have somebody monitoring for drunkenness or belligerent conduct, but not ordering people around when it comes to whether they can or cannot drive home.
Prior to the holiday party, it’s not really necessary to lecture employees about behavior, but it’s not a bad idea to direct them to sections of the company handbook that deal with behavior at social events, especially when alcohol is served. “I do think that it’s a good idea to note, as part of your actual handbook, that there are occasions where we will get together and engage in social activities that have alcohol,” Gregg said, “and we want people to be aware that these are still company functions and all the rules about harassment and appropriate behavior apply.”
Sign up for the free IB Update — your weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices and the names you need to know. Click here.
