December 10, 2025 • 15 mins
Tis the season to celebrate the end of the year with your workmates on the company dime.
But, are the days of huge bashes and unlimited bar tabs long gone?
They’ve always been high risk and loaded with legal landmines... with employees toeing the line between loose networking and plain unprofessional.
So, should companies ditch the drama for direct deposits? Or is there still a little magic to the traditional Christmas work do?
Today on The Front Page, AUT Professor of Management Candice Harris is with us to take a look back at work parties past, present, and yet to come.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Kyota.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Presented by the New Zealand Herald. Tis the season to
celebrate the.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
End of year with your workmates on the company dime.
But are the days of huge bashes and unlimited bar
tabs long gone? They've always been high risk and loaded
with illegal landmines, with employees towing the line between loose
networking and plain unprofessional.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So should companies ditch the drama for direct deposits or
is there still a little magic to the traditional Christmas
work do? Today? On the Front Page, aut Professor.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Of Management Candace Harris's with us to take a look
at work parties past, present, and yet to come. So Candace,
how have you work Christmas parties evolved in recent years?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yes? Look good question.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean traditionally when we think of a Christmas party,
ideas of excess and chaos kind of come to mind.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And if you look at sort of movies, etc.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
There's generally that with even a romantic subplot and all
things that we don't really want at work in the
modern age, so they have moved from those kind of
lavish late night open bar type riscue behavior events through
to being more modest, certainly better planned and structured, and
more they work to be more inclusive, to bring a
(01:35):
sort of a wider church of people rather than just
those that are up for a late night you know party.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And they're not even called mostly Christmas parties anymore, are they.
They're more like end of year celebrations. That's really important
for diversity reasons.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Hey oh look, absolutely it is seen has been more inclusive.
People do often appreciate and ignoment of Christmas at an
interview celebration, but Christmas is one day as well, and
people have worked hard all year, so it is nice
to bring everyone together. You've got to consider also that
(02:12):
with hybrid work arrangements, sometimes it may be the only
time that we see someone from another division or someone
perhaps more senior to where we're working.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So it is nice to bring people together.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Absolutely from an HR standpoint, what are the top legal
or even reputational risks that come with these kind of
get togethers.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Good question again, So under the Health and Safety and
Workout two fifteen, employers do have what's called this primary
duty of care as parties are legally work events, and
that includes those that are held off site, so it's
not just those in your physical kind of workplace. So
the person undertaking the business does have this primary duty
(02:55):
of care to.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Ensure that it is a safe event.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And so it's about planning for a safety event, working
to sort of mitigate risk. But it is fair to
say that a major risk often at work parties is
alcohol and then the resulting things that can come from
too much alcohol in terms of perhaps poor judgments being made,
harassments of it is actually physical risks people tripping, falling,
(03:23):
and then at the end of it, you know how
people are actually getting home safe as well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You also asked about reputational risk.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, one worry is that the Christmas party lives
on forever through social media or also people are streaming
the Christmas party live and saying, look at where I
am at such a good time, and so it does
sort of put a whole new era of reputational and
also brand risk as well. Used to just be hr
(03:50):
that were quite nervous about Christmas parties. I think you
could put the marketing in the comms people in that
camp as well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well. With alcohol obviously comes in appropriate conduct, blurred bound
reason those safety issues that you spoke about as well.
Work parties are obviously very high risk for employers. Have
companies just decided to eliminate any possibility of misconduct really
at these days?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, Look, some have gone alcohol free.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
It is fair to say others may limit alcohol, and
there's various ways you can do that. You may give
staff two drinks tokens, and once they've used that, there
is no cash.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Far. Another way is perhaps limiting the time of the event.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Putting it on during the day can be another thing.
You know, the Christmas party is twelve or two and
that is it. Historically some of them had a start
time but no clear finish time. You know, there'd be
sort of these eight hour extravaganzas, which so definitely there's
much tighter boundaries put around them these days. And also
the provision of zero alcohol options because which a lot
(04:53):
of people have chosen not to drink for various you know,
sort of health, cultural, religious reasons, et ce.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I read somewhere as well when I was researching this.
Obviously this is a worldwide phenomenon. I read this really
good quote.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It said alcohol does not cancel power dynamics, and even
though your boss might be on the dance floor wearing
a Christmas jumper or a funny hat or something.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There's still your boss.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And it was quite funny. One line, and I think
it was from Yahoo or something. I'll have to find it,
but it was like, you know, Mary holding her shoes
at the dance floor are getting you to chug down
your wine or something. Might be doing your performance review
in three months time, you know, and having that in mind.
And another quote is what experts have said to remember,
(05:40):
if something feels thrilling at ten pm, ask yourself how
it would read at ten am in the boardroom.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Very good point. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I mean we had very clear professional expectations for behavior
for people all year. So it absolutely makes no sense
that everything is free reign and you know, do what
you want at this sort of six hour Christmas party.
It's completely nonsensical. And you know, we haven't really researched
Christmas parties in any great depth internationally.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But they can be quite career limiting for some.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
That may be the thing that then carries you forward
into next year. You know, the reputational risk for you
individually in terms of your career, and then also not
to mention perhaps for the organization various workplace relationships as well.
I mean that may be the one thing that you
then equate that leader with, is that crazy dancing, etc.
(06:39):
So yeah, it's certainly risky territory.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
If you have an annual party at your office, then
you'll not it can be the greatest pit fall of
the social year. Traditionally it's the night when the obvious
boy shakes hands with the boss and his secretary gets
to kiss him and then drink inside them. They can
both tell you how to run the firm, but it's
sometimes a party with a twelve month hangover and the
next day really is important to remember what you said
(07:09):
to whom the night before, whether you think it's a
good idea all a terrible mistake. Either way, you'll probably
turn up. Heads are counted and nobody wants to be
called scrooge.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And definitely you mentioned before, social media has completely changed
the game. I saw an executive recently, actually within the
last couple of weeks at National Australia Bank's offshoot it's
called You Bank. They were asked to leave recently after
a disturbing image was taken.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
At a Christmas function.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So I suppose that social media has just completely flipped
the switch.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yes, well, you know, good Christmas parties these days are
well planned and you plan to kind of mitigate in
this sort of control for risk as well, Social media
is a whole other dimension because people are sort of
doing it individually as well, so you don't know who's
taking pictures of what, posting what, and also when they're
(08:11):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
You know, a post put up at two in the
morning may not.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Be something that you would post, as you said, at
ten am on your way to the boardroom. So absolutely
that puts incredible risk. And it's also the idea of consent.
You know, you busy posting a whole lot of things
about your colleagues. They may not be very happy with
that idea at all. But I think it comes back
to that first thing I was talking about. This is
(08:36):
a work event, so the kind of rules for proper
behavior at work still matter.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I was having a conversation with a colleague the other
day about this, and it feels like not only Christmas
parties have kind of been diluted over the years, but
I remember as a child going to my dads he
worked at an insurance firm in Aussie and I remember
those family fun days you know, like a big Christmas
barbecue for all of the family and then he would
(09:03):
obviously have his separate boozy work event or something. It
seems like companies are really steering away from those big
events and family involvement kind of things.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And I've spoke to a few people.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Around the office being like, oh, yeah, my dad's work
had that, all my mum's worked, did this and did that?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It's just like a cost of living thing. Just you know,
that's the first thing to cut, that's the first thing
to go.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yes, well, you know there's been a cost of living
you know, sort of crisis at the household level, but
also organizations really have looked at how to be fiscally
responsible and so putting on big events, you know, it
certainly costs.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And doing these things that are family freely.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You may not be spending a whole lot, perhaps on alcohol,
but you will be spending on other things to make
people feel welcome, to cater for a variety of dietary
and personal food, likes to have perhaps activities that keep
kids happy, because kids may turn up but they actually
expect me in tained as well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It costs a lot to get Santa down here from
the North Pole.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Absolutely, and you know sometimes kids, they get a bit
bored at your parents' work after a while unless the
fun is sort of put on. I think though, you know,
we don't have a really good understanding of the real
diversity of ways that organizations, particularly in that small mediu
ment price sector, do actually celebrate Christmas, you know, as
a workplace at the end of the year in this country.
(10:28):
So it'd be great to get more stories coming through,
not just perhaps the very lavish, large corporate events, because
up and down the country, You're right, people are doing
all sorts of innovative things to sort of celebrate with
their colleagues. Because we've got to remember, all year we
develop good relationships with our colleagues, so it's nice to
sort of unwine with them and wash everyone well as
(10:49):
they go off to you know, celebrate somemer together.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I also have heard the conversation obviously, the cost of
living crisis is a bit pretty hard this year. Should
works think about maybe instead of doing the cost per
had lavish do down by the waterfront, just giving out
some prezzy cards.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, I'm sure that's something that perhaps some employees would prefer.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
A sort of chicken and egg, isn't it though?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
With the voucher versus party, I mean, often the spend
per head for the parties really has come down, So
the voucher may actually be very modest and you may
have completely forgotten what you even spent it on by
a month later.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
However, that chance to bring people together.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So there was actually quite a rare academic study done
on Christmas parties in Germany that looked at three hundred
and fifty nine employees across sectors, and they did actually
find that the Christmas party can serve some good purpose
in terms of uniting people, creating that sense of team morale,
happiness in the workplace, as long as alcohol was controlled.
(12:00):
Back to alcohol, Alcohol is the thing that created most
dissatisfaction at parties.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
But you're right.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I mean an organization may say there is no party
this year. Here's a voucher, but I think some employees
may be disappointed about how little that voucher may actually
be and how quickly it's forgotten.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, we might be surprised what the cost per head is. Yeah,
in terms of I mean it's a huge uphill battle
since COVID four hospitality venues, I bet that when this
time of year comes around, it's a huge hit in
the arm for them.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Pay Yeah, that November December Christmas party spend is important.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It matters.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I think though that if anyone's good at sort of
innovative practice, it certainly is the hospitality sector.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
In New Zealand. So they've had to pivot a bit.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
You know, there may be less of the three hundred
people type parties. There may be those smaller sort of
smaller group parties, and a lot of organizations are perhaps
doing that as well, because the group that we don't
talk about is essential workers and frontline workers. Those you know,
people still need to be driving the buses in the
hospital wards.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So finding ways to celebrate that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then the hospitality as a sector is very good
at putting things on at different times of the day
as well, so there may be more of that kind
of daytime, smaller group type in a bitive thing.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And the hospitality sector certainly has.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Responded very well to trends such as you know, the
complete explosion of the zero alcohol movement, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
What do you reckon the future is for work Christmas parties.
It's not going to be something like on Love actually
or Wolf of Wall Street.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah, absolutely not. I think some of I think there'll
be continuation of the many of the good practices that
organizations have been using in terms of making sure that
they're well planned and planned with an eye to inclusion,
like what would most people enjoy rather than just the
few people that like the six hour sort of marathons. Also,
(14:01):
they will be very well communicated, so people will turn
up knowing what to expect, and including perhaps younger and
new workers who've maybe never been to your Christmas party.
As well, we'll see more innovation, we'll see smaller We'll
see both a mix of at work things but also
(14:22):
offsite things, etc. Perhaps more activities, and perhaps a more
clear tie in with the organizational brand and awesome values.
So saying, our organization stands for this all year, but
by the way, the only way we recognize Christmas is
to go to a bar. It sometimes can be a
bit disjointed in terms of actually celebrating us as an
(14:44):
organization and all the people who work to make it great.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thanks for joining us, Candae.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Lovely and Merry Christmas, Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That said, for this episode of the Front Page, you
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzdherld dot co dot nz.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The Front Page is produced.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
By Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also our editor.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look
behind the headlines.
Kyota.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Presented by the New Zealand Herald. Tis the season to
celebrate the.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
End of year with your workmates on the company dime.
But are the days of huge bashes and unlimited bar
tabs long gone? They've always been high risk and loaded
with illegal landmines, with employees towing the line between loose
networking and plain unprofessional.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So should companies ditch the drama for direct deposits or
is there still a little magic to the traditional Christmas
work do? Today? On the Front Page, aut Professor.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Of Management Candace Harris's with us to take a look
at work parties past, present, and yet to come. So Candace,
how have you work Christmas parties evolved in recent years?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yes? Look good question.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean traditionally when we think of a Christmas party,
ideas of excess and chaos kind of come to mind.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And if you look at sort of movies, etc.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
There's generally that with even a romantic subplot and all
things that we don't really want at work in the
modern age, so they have moved from those kind of
lavish late night open bar type riscue behavior events through
to being more modest, certainly better planned and structured, and
more they work to be more inclusive, to bring a
(01:35):
sort of a wider church of people rather than just
those that are up for a late night you know party.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And they're not even called mostly Christmas parties anymore, are they.
They're more like end of year celebrations. That's really important
for diversity reasons.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Hey oh look, absolutely it is seen has been more inclusive.
People do often appreciate and ignoment of Christmas at an
interview celebration, but Christmas is one day as well, and
people have worked hard all year, so it is nice
to bring everyone together. You've got to consider also that
(02:12):
with hybrid work arrangements, sometimes it may be the only
time that we see someone from another division or someone
perhaps more senior to where we're working.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So it is nice to bring people together.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Absolutely from an HR standpoint, what are the top legal
or even reputational risks that come with these kind of
get togethers.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Good question again, So under the Health and Safety and
Workout two fifteen, employers do have what's called this primary
duty of care as parties are legally work events, and
that includes those that are held off site, so it's
not just those in your physical kind of workplace. So
the person undertaking the business does have this primary duty
(02:55):
of care to.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Ensure that it is a safe event.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And so it's about planning for a safety event, working
to sort of mitigate risk. But it is fair to
say that a major risk often at work parties is
alcohol and then the resulting things that can come from
too much alcohol in terms of perhaps poor judgments being made,
harassments of it is actually physical risks people tripping, falling,
(03:23):
and then at the end of it, you know how
people are actually getting home safe as well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You also asked about reputational risk.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, one worry is that the Christmas party lives
on forever through social media or also people are streaming
the Christmas party live and saying, look at where I
am at such a good time, and so it does
sort of put a whole new era of reputational and
also brand risk as well. Used to just be hr
(03:50):
that were quite nervous about Christmas parties. I think you
could put the marketing in the comms people in that
camp as well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well. With alcohol obviously comes in appropriate conduct, blurred bound
reason those safety issues that you spoke about as well.
Work parties are obviously very high risk for employers. Have
companies just decided to eliminate any possibility of misconduct really
at these days?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, Look, some have gone alcohol free.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
It is fair to say others may limit alcohol, and
there's various ways you can do that. You may give
staff two drinks tokens, and once they've used that, there
is no cash.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Far. Another way is perhaps limiting the time of the event.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Putting it on during the day can be another thing.
You know, the Christmas party is twelve or two and
that is it. Historically some of them had a start
time but no clear finish time. You know, there'd be
sort of these eight hour extravaganzas, which so definitely there's
much tighter boundaries put around them these days. And also
the provision of zero alcohol options because which a lot
(04:53):
of people have chosen not to drink for various you know,
sort of health, cultural, religious reasons, et ce.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I read somewhere as well when I was researching this.
Obviously this is a worldwide phenomenon. I read this really
good quote.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It said alcohol does not cancel power dynamics, and even
though your boss might be on the dance floor wearing
a Christmas jumper or a funny hat or something.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There's still your boss.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And it was quite funny. One line, and I think
it was from Yahoo or something. I'll have to find it,
but it was like, you know, Mary holding her shoes
at the dance floor are getting you to chug down
your wine or something. Might be doing your performance review
in three months time, you know, and having that in mind.
And another quote is what experts have said to remember,
(05:40):
if something feels thrilling at ten pm, ask yourself how
it would read at ten am in the boardroom.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Very good point. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I mean we had very clear professional expectations for behavior
for people all year. So it absolutely makes no sense
that everything is free reign and you know, do what
you want at this sort of six hour Christmas party.
It's completely nonsensical. And you know, we haven't really researched
Christmas parties in any great depth internationally.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But they can be quite career limiting for some.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
That may be the thing that then carries you forward
into next year. You know, the reputational risk for you
individually in terms of your career, and then also not
to mention perhaps for the organization various workplace relationships as well.
I mean that may be the one thing that you
then equate that leader with, is that crazy dancing, etc.
(06:39):
So yeah, it's certainly risky territory.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
If you have an annual party at your office, then
you'll not it can be the greatest pit fall of
the social year. Traditionally it's the night when the obvious
boy shakes hands with the boss and his secretary gets
to kiss him and then drink inside them. They can
both tell you how to run the firm, but it's
sometimes a party with a twelve month hangover and the
next day really is important to remember what you said
(07:09):
to whom the night before, whether you think it's a
good idea all a terrible mistake. Either way, you'll probably
turn up. Heads are counted and nobody wants to be
called scrooge.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And definitely you mentioned before, social media has completely changed
the game. I saw an executive recently, actually within the
last couple of weeks at National Australia Bank's offshoot it's
called You Bank. They were asked to leave recently after
a disturbing image was taken.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
At a Christmas function.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So I suppose that social media has just completely flipped
the switch.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yes, well, you know, good Christmas parties these days are
well planned and you plan to kind of mitigate in
this sort of control for risk as well, Social media
is a whole other dimension because people are sort of
doing it individually as well, so you don't know who's
taking pictures of what, posting what, and also when they're
(08:11):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
You know, a post put up at two in the
morning may not.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Be something that you would post, as you said, at
ten am on your way to the boardroom. So absolutely
that puts incredible risk. And it's also the idea of consent.
You know, you busy posting a whole lot of things
about your colleagues. They may not be very happy with
that idea at all. But I think it comes back
to that first thing I was talking about. This is
(08:36):
a work event, so the kind of rules for proper
behavior at work still matter.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I was having a conversation with a colleague the other
day about this, and it feels like not only Christmas
parties have kind of been diluted over the years, but
I remember as a child going to my dads he
worked at an insurance firm in Aussie and I remember
those family fun days you know, like a big Christmas
barbecue for all of the family and then he would
(09:03):
obviously have his separate boozy work event or something. It
seems like companies are really steering away from those big
events and family involvement kind of things.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And I've spoke to a few people.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Around the office being like, oh, yeah, my dad's work
had that, all my mum's worked, did this and did that?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It's just like a cost of living thing. Just you know,
that's the first thing to cut, that's the first thing
to go.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yes, well, you know there's been a cost of living
you know, sort of crisis at the household level, but
also organizations really have looked at how to be fiscally
responsible and so putting on big events, you know, it
certainly costs.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And doing these things that are family freely.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You may not be spending a whole lot, perhaps on alcohol,
but you will be spending on other things to make
people feel welcome, to cater for a variety of dietary
and personal food, likes to have perhaps activities that keep
kids happy, because kids may turn up but they actually
expect me in tained as well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It costs a lot to get Santa down here from
the North Pole.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Absolutely, and you know sometimes kids, they get a bit
bored at your parents' work after a while unless the
fun is sort of put on. I think though, you know,
we don't have a really good understanding of the real
diversity of ways that organizations, particularly in that small mediu
ment price sector, do actually celebrate Christmas, you know, as
a workplace at the end of the year in this country.
(10:28):
So it'd be great to get more stories coming through,
not just perhaps the very lavish, large corporate events, because
up and down the country, You're right, people are doing
all sorts of innovative things to sort of celebrate with
their colleagues. Because we've got to remember, all year we
develop good relationships with our colleagues, so it's nice to
sort of unwine with them and wash everyone well as
(10:49):
they go off to you know, celebrate somemer together.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I also have heard the conversation obviously, the cost of
living crisis is a bit pretty hard this year. Should
works think about maybe instead of doing the cost per
had lavish do down by the waterfront, just giving out
some prezzy cards.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, I'm sure that's something that perhaps some employees would prefer.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
A sort of chicken and egg, isn't it though?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
With the voucher versus party, I mean, often the spend
per head for the parties really has come down, So
the voucher may actually be very modest and you may
have completely forgotten what you even spent it on by
a month later.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
However, that chance to bring people together.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So there was actually quite a rare academic study done
on Christmas parties in Germany that looked at three hundred
and fifty nine employees across sectors, and they did actually
find that the Christmas party can serve some good purpose
in terms of uniting people, creating that sense of team morale,
happiness in the workplace, as long as alcohol was controlled.
(12:00):
Back to alcohol, Alcohol is the thing that created most
dissatisfaction at parties.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
But you're right.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I mean an organization may say there is no party
this year. Here's a voucher, but I think some employees
may be disappointed about how little that voucher may actually
be and how quickly it's forgotten.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, we might be surprised what the cost per head is. Yeah,
in terms of I mean it's a huge uphill battle
since COVID four hospitality venues, I bet that when this
time of year comes around, it's a huge hit in
the arm for them.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Pay Yeah, that November December Christmas party spend is important.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It matters.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I think though that if anyone's good at sort of
innovative practice, it certainly is the hospitality sector.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
In New Zealand. So they've had to pivot a bit.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
You know, there may be less of the three hundred
people type parties. There may be those smaller sort of
smaller group parties, and a lot of organizations are perhaps
doing that as well, because the group that we don't
talk about is essential workers and frontline workers. Those you know,
people still need to be driving the buses in the
hospital wards.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So finding ways to celebrate that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then the hospitality as a sector is very good
at putting things on at different times of the day
as well, so there may be more of that kind
of daytime, smaller group type in a bitive thing.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And the hospitality sector certainly has.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Responded very well to trends such as you know, the
complete explosion of the zero alcohol movement, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
What do you reckon the future is for work Christmas parties.
It's not going to be something like on Love actually
or Wolf of Wall Street.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah, absolutely not. I think some of I think there'll
be continuation of the many of the good practices that
organizations have been using in terms of making sure that
they're well planned and planned with an eye to inclusion,
like what would most people enjoy rather than just the
few people that like the six hour sort of marathons. Also,
(14:01):
they will be very well communicated, so people will turn
up knowing what to expect, and including perhaps younger and
new workers who've maybe never been to your Christmas party.
As well, we'll see more innovation, we'll see smaller We'll
see both a mix of at work things but also
(14:22):
offsite things, etc. Perhaps more activities, and perhaps a more
clear tie in with the organizational brand and awesome values.
So saying, our organization stands for this all year, but
by the way, the only way we recognize Christmas is
to go to a bar. It sometimes can be a
bit disjointed in terms of actually celebrating us as an
(14:44):
organization and all the people who work to make it great.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thanks for joining us, Candae.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Lovely and Merry Christmas, Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That said, for this episode of the Front Page, you
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzdherld dot co dot nz.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The Front Page is produced.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
By Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also our editor.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look
behind the headlines.
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