Category: Employee Relations

Avoiding festive fear after your Christmas Work Party

Christmas work party season is underway!

From now until Christmas (and maybe even beyond) employers all over the country may be treating their employees to slap-up meals and alcoholic refreshments to thank them for their hard work over the course of the year.

Over the last couple of years, employees may have missed out on their Christmas Work Party due to COVID-19 cases, so this year may be many companies’ first Christmas work party. Reminding employees that whilst it’s outside normal working hours the Christmas Work party is still a work event.

The Christmas work party season is a great team-building opportunity, turning workmates into real mates and giving colleagues the opportunity to get to know each other in more informal surroundings. Unfortunately, because of various pieces of legislation, employers need to set out the standards of acceptable behaviour for their workers at the Christmas Work Party (or at least explain this clearly to staff beforehand).

This is because:

Employers can be held liable for harm (under health and safety laws) or harassment caused to or by their employees, or for negligent acts of their employees.

Employers have a responsibility for their staff’s actions, even outside of normal working hours or outside of the normal working environment. Any social event organised by the employer is an ‘extension’ of the workplace – regardless of the place or time of the event

Workplace policies on bullying and harassment and discrimination still apply at the Christmas work party. Just make sure everyone knows this and knows what they are. Employers should remind staff that it is how a person perceives the behaviour that is taken into consideration, should a claim arise, and not how the behaviour is meant.

How can you avoid party problems this Christmas party season?

· Pre-Party Communications Aside from details such as date, time, and venue, employers should provide employees with a gentle reminder that the Christmas party is an extension of the workplace and that certain standards are expected of them and that the normal disciplinary rules will apply should any incidents arise (in the least killjoy way possible!)

· Open to all It is vital that you ensure the party is timed so that all employees, regardless of age, gender, religion, disability or any other factor have the opportunity to attend. Should any section of the workforce be seen to be favoured or discriminated against in this way, employers could find themselves under question.

· Limit the Free Bar In order to prevent people behaving in an unacceptable manner, employers need to take a sensible approach to the provision of alcohol and be alerted to take quick action to nip any unruly behaviour in the bud.

· Getting Home Consider how your employees will get home after the party. Issue advice in advance about not drinking and driving. Can the employer provide transport home, e.g. taxi pooling/coaches? At the very least encourage employees to think about how they will get home.

· The Morning After Where possible arrange for your party to be held on a night were as few people as possible are working the following day. Be clear about your expectations regarding absence the next day and explain that disciplinary action may be taken if your expectations are breached.

What amounts to gross misconduct?

Gross misconduct may vary from business to business, gross misconduct should be detailed within the employee handbook.  Misconduct at a Christmas work party, may include;

• Harassment or bullying
• Physical violence
• Theft
• Rude behaviour

A piece of case law that emphasises the pitfalls and problems that a work party can bring is Gimson v Display By Design Ltd Mr Gimson was employed as an operative. While walking home with a group of colleagues after their Christmas work party, he disagreed with one of his colleagues and then punched another colleague in the face.

The employer subsequently instigated its disciplinary procedure and summarily dismissed Mr. Gimson for gross misconduct, finding from its investigation that there was no provocation. Mr. Gimson’s appeal was rejected.

When dealing with situations like behaviour misconduct at Christmas work parties, previous actions should be consistent when taken action. Taking time to consider any comparable situations, the employee may have, minimising the risk of unfair dismissal cases.

Investigations should be started without delay with a further and meaningful investigation completed. Gathering evidence is a critical aspect of the investigation together with consulting with employees.

Steps for minimising misconduct at Christmas work party

1. Creating a policy for conduct at work-related events
2. Clearly detailing expectations for employee behaviour
3. Employers should remind employees of the work-related policy prior to the Christmas work party
4. Written and verbal communication may be necessary to further minimise the possibility of breaching policies leading to disciplinary action
5. The communication may detail starting and finishing times of the Christmas work party, expectations for employee conduct, and reminding employees not to act any differently than they would in a normal working environment.

The Christmas work party should be a time to celebrate the successes of the year and enjoy spending time with colleagues outside of the work environment. If certain precautionary preparations are made, employers can relax at night, safe in the knowledge that they have taken steps to ensure the safety of their staff, therefore avoiding potential liability.

Christmas Work Party memo example

‘The Christmas parties will be held on INSERT DATE.

We would like to take this time to celebrate 2023’s achievements. It has been a very busy year for everyone.  

Please remember however, that it is a work function and an appropriate standard of conduct is expected. I have attached details of the Bullying & Harassment (Dignity at Work) policy. Please also note the Alcohol, Drugs, & Solvent abuse policy.  Both policies are included in the employee handbook.

Please familiarise yourself with these policies and be mindful of your obligations with respect to each of them.

Employees who organise informal events after work, particularly in venues close to the workplace, should recognise that such events may be classed as work-related functions. It is therefore imperative that employees conduct themselves in a proper manner and avoid bringing the Company into disrepute.

Whilst I would like everyone to enjoy themselves, I must make it clear that any employee found to be guilty of misconduct during any such event will be subject to the Disciplinary Procedure in the same way as they would had the misconduct occurred in the normal course of employment.’

If, unfortunately, an incident occurs at the Christmas work party, contact our HR consultants for HR support to ensure the company is following employment laws and procedures.

Recent research conducted throughout the UK by CV-Library has suggested that one in seven employees are tempted to skip work during the upcoming Rugby World Cup; this could mean that 4.4 million of the UK’s 31 million employees may partake in unauthorised absences during September and October.As such during the World Cup companies may notice an increase in absenteeism as employees take time off (i.e. unauthorised time) to watch or attend matches (or to recover after watching matches). In many cases employees may report his/her absence as sickness. So how can employers try avoid absenteeism in the workplace?

Absence Management Policy to avoid absenteeism (Short Term Absence)

As we all know poor attendance can have serious consequences on the overall efficiency of the company, and on the morale of other employees who are required to undertake additional work in the absence of colleagues. For this reason it is important to have robust absence management policies in place to ensure absenteeism is kept to a minimum all year round and in particular during large sporting events such as the World Cup. What should you have in place?

1. An Absence Notification Procedure that details: Who the employee should make contact with should he/she is unable to attend for work.§ The time before which the employee should make contact i.e. before 8.00am or at least 1 hour before his/her shift is due to start.§ The method of communication that they should use to make contact i.e. contact must be by telephone call and text messages / emails are not acceptable.§ That the employee should provide the reason why they are off and how long they expect to be absent for. If they do not offer this information the person with whom they speak should ask the reason for absence and expected duration.

2. Attendance Records: it is good practice for a company to keep records detailing each occasion of absence that each employee has and the reasons for same. This will allow any pattern of absence or re-occuring reason for absence to be identified and dealt with appropriately (e.g. ill health management or disciplinary proceedings).

3. Return to Work (RTW) Interviews should be conducted by the employees line manager on their first day back after absence (no matter how long they were off for i.e. 1 day or 41 days). By conducting RTW interviews after every absence, employees soon become aware that he/she will expected to provide an explanation for the their absence and this can help prevent unnecessary ‘sick days’ occuring. (Please note that we can provide you with a template RTW interview which can be used).

Other issues that could emerge around the World Cup:· Employees attending for work in an unfit condition (under the influence of alcohol or hungover)· Employees misusing the internet facility to follow the progress of matches.In order to combat the aforementioned issues it is important that you have policies and procedures in place; for example:· Email and Internet Policy that details if the company’s computer/internet can be used for personal use and if so the times at which it can be used i.e. during recognised break times, furthermore, the social media policy should be incorporated. · Disciplinary Procedure that will highlight the potential consequences of a breach of any company policy i.e. “Unauthorised use of E-mail and/or the Internet” may constitute Major Misconduct and “Attending for, or being in an intoxicated state at work, or otherwise induced by alcohol, drugs or solvent abuse” may be classified as Gross Misconduct.

BeyondHR are a team of professional HR Consultants with offices in Northern Ireland and Glasgow, Scotland. We have more than 25 years proven experience of providing HR advice for employers including employment law support through our range of outsourced HR services. If you would like more information on this blog please do not hesitate to get in touch.

When you consider that the median cost of absence per employee in 2015 was £554 (CIPD; Absence Management 2015) you can understand the financial pressure this can cause particularly in organisations that do not effectively manage their absence rates.

Then there are the logistical problems of trying to get absent employees work covered and the morale issues this can cause if there are a number of persistent offenders. Now, I am not unrealistic enough to think that absence at work can be eliminated but when 30% of organisations surveyed by the CIPD report that “non-genuine absence” is one of the top causes of short-term absence for manual workers and 23% report the same for non-manual workers I know there are still things we can do to improve.

While every organisation manages absence differently, whether as a result of the type of business they are in or the administrative resources available, the key principles in reducing short-term absence are consistent:

Have an Absence Policy

This should be clear, easily understood and supports the business objectives. It will explain the rights and obligations of employees when they are absent due to sickness. For example:· Who within the Company the employee should notify, how they should notify that person and when are they expected to make contact.

I would strongly recommend that employees are advised that text messages and email are not acceptable means of communication for short-term absence as this can make it too easy for employees who just want to ‘pull a sickie’. · When they are required to complete a self-certification form and/or obtain a fit note from their Doctor. That the Company reserves the right to require employees to attend a consultation with an Occupational Health Consultant (with the employees consent) or to request a report from the employee’s doctor (with the employees consent).· Details of any trigger levels that the Company is using in relation to absence.· That the Company conducts return to work interviews.· That reasonable adjustments may be necessary to assist an employee to return to work as soon as practicable.· Guidance on absence during adverse events (for example bad snow) or popular sporting events i.e FIFA world cup.

Measure your absence

The old adage ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ is extremely true when dealing with absence. Please have a look at three possible methods below and how these can be calculated.

‘Lost time’ rate

This shows the percentage of total time available which has been lost due to sickness absence and can be calculated by department or location in order to highlight areas of concern. The formulae for calculating this is:Total absence (hours / days) in the period x 100Possible total (hours or days) in the period

Frequency rate

This shows an individual frequency rate by counting the number of employees who take at least one period of absence in the reference period rather that the total number of periods of absence and express it as a percentage. For me, the downsides of this measure are that it doesn’t give any indication of the length of each absence period or any employees who have more than one period of absence. However, the formulae to calculate this rate is:

Number of periods of absence in reference period x 100 Number of employees

Bradford Factor

The Bradford Factor identifies persistent short-term absence for individuals and is therefore a useful measure of the disruption caused by this type of absence.

The formula is: S x S x D

Where S = number of spells of absence in 52 weeks taken by an individualAnd D = number of days absence taken by the individual in the previous 52 weeks

For example 6 one-day absences: 6 x 6 x 6 = 2161 twenty day absence: 1 x 1 x 20 = 20 Whatever method you use measuring absence is important. But at what point should action start? That is why it is equally important to have trigger levels defined from the start.

Implement Trigger levels

It is up to each Company to define their trigger levels but care should be taken to ensure that they are not unreasonable (for example ‘1 day off in a year’ would definitely be unreasonable).

Some Companies will have a very straight forward set of trigger points (for example more than 3 periods of absence or more than 10 working days absent or an unacceptable pattern of absence in a 12 month rolling period). Others, who use the Bradford Factor will have a number of points as their trigger level (for example 160).

But what happens once the trigger levels are breached?

It is important to take action but this doesn’t mean automatically issuing disciplinary warnings as this would be unfair and potentially discriminatory. What I mean by this is formally sit down with the employee to investigate their absence record and ascertain if there are underlying medical reasons for the absence. If there are, then a referral to an Occupational Health Consultant may be a good move to ensure that their role isn’t aggravating their condition. You will also need to take into consideration if the employee has a disability and whether the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 / Equality Act 2010 applies such as the need to make a reasonable adjustment.

A reasonable adjustment in this type of situation may include removing absences relating to their condition from the absence record. If there aren’t any underlying issues and there is the feeling that the absences are “non-genuine” then you might consider referring the matter on as a potential disciplinary case.

The benefit of acting on trigger levels like this is that it allows HR and Management to proactively identify problems and control the solution of them. Another benefit is that it discourages the repeated poor attenders from reducing their unnecessary short-term absence (i.e. to avoid breaching the trigger levels) as they know that disciplinary action could be a consequence. While this is all good on paper the key to making all of this work in the real World is applying the standards consistently and ensuring that it is being used across all areas of the Company.

Return to Work (RTW) Interviews after short-term absence

These are widely regarded as one of the most effective management tools for managing short-term absence. It allows managers to identify short-term absence issues early on and start a discussion with the employee to try and resolve any underlying problems. However it is vital that RTWs are carried out for every period of absence and they are done consistently across Companies.

The purpose of return to work interviews is to:·

Welcome employee back·

Check they are well enough to be at work·

Discuss the details of an agreed return to work based on advice given by the GP in the Statement of Fitness for Work having already agreed the return to work in principle by talking through the issues on the phone or face to face

· Update employees on any news while they were off

· Identify the cause of the absence and find out whether they have a disability and whether the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 / Equality Act 2010 applies such as the need to make a reasonable adjustment

· Establish if their sickness is work-related and whether there are any health and safety issues you need to address

In addition to this, I would suggest it would be good to find out if the employee visited the doctor, what (if any) medication they were prescribed and whether there are any side-effects to the medication. As well as the benefits detailed above, having all of this information documented also helps if you need to resort to the disciplinary procedures as you will have a bundle of contemporary evidence to rely on.