With a series of high-profile workplace sex scandals on their minds, employers are making sure their holiday office parties don’t become part of the problem.
There will be less booze at many, and an independent business organization has renewed its annual warning not to hang mistletoe. Some employers even say they will have party monitors keeping an eye out for inappropriate behavior.
Only 49% of companies plan to serve alcohol at their holiday events, according to a survey by Chicago-based consulting company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Last year that number was 62%, the highest number in the decade the firm has run its survey. The number had been going up each year as the economy improved.
“As soon as you introduce alcohol at an off-site activity, people’s guards are dropped,” says Ed Yost, manager of employee relations and development for the Society for Human Resource Management based in Alexandria, Virginia. “It’s presumed to be a less formal, more social environment. Some people will drink more than they typically would on a Friday night or a Saturday because it’s an open bar or a free cocktail hour.”
The Huffington Post reported Friday that Vox Media, which runs sites including Vox and Recode, won’t have an open bar this year at its holiday party and will instead give employees two tickets they can redeem for drinks. It will also have more food than in previous years. The company recently fired its editorial director, Lockhart Steele, after a former employee made allegations of sexual harassment against him.
