Holiday festivities without the harassment
Post #MeToo, employers are trying to plan Christmas that are safe and celebratory
As the holiday season gets underway a little more than a year after the events that brought the #MeToo movement to the forefront, employers are wise to approach celebrations with a heightened sense of their role in making festivities both fun and safe for everyone.
Judith Taylor, a University of Toronto professor in the departments of sociology and women and gender studies, says it’s possible to do that without people feeling chastised and monitored.
“Employers should remind everyone that we’ve done this responsibly in the past and we can continue to celebrate responsibly in the future,” Taylor says.
Given that research shows it’s a small portion of people in the work force who are the source of most of the sexual harassment, she says, it would be punitive and unnecessary to put an end to all workplace holiday parties.
“However, the small subset that make the workplace feel predatory can make something like a company party, where there’s alcohol, feel not safe,” Taylor says. One way to set the right tone is to moderate the supply of alcohol.
It’s better to offer employee one or two tickets, instead of an open bar, she says. “It’s a subtle message that we’re not here to get sloshed. It’s not about losing yourself to the night. It’s about informally socializing with people who you still have a formal workplace relationship with.” HR consultant Aldeen SimmondsThorpe agrees. “Putting controls in place to manage variables like attendees’ alcohol intake can limit your risk of inappropriate behaviour,” she says.
Simmonds-Thorpe also recommends that employers assign designates to important duties like monitoring alcohol consumption and arranging taxis at the end of the night. Inviting spouses to holiday parties also limits risk of sexual harassment, she says.
An Angus Reid survey released in February found that half of Canadian women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and nine out of 10 feel the need to use strategies at work to protect themselves from harassment.
It’s tough to shift how people behave at holiday parties if there isn’t an overall culture of respect that’s communicated throughout the year, says Lisa Sterling, who heads up HR at software company Ceridian as chief people and culture officer.
Sterling says Ceridian — which employs 1,633 people in Canada, including 500 developers in Ontario mostly at its three GTA offices — has a zerotolerance harassment policy.
“But we don’t look at it like a policy; it’s the way we function. It’s just a part of who we are. We expect people to be treated fairly, with respect and in a way that is not hostile.”
That said, Sterling says the #MeToo movement did motivate the company to make sure expectations for workplace behaviour were abundantly clear.
When it comes to holiday parties, how those are approached has been shifting in recent years anyway. “We used to hold these lavish events,” she says. But today, celebrations are more likely to take the shape of smaller department-based events, or centred around activ- ities like an escape room.
“This creates a level of camaraderie … that you don’t get at some typical holiday parties,” she says.
Sterling adds workplaces can be mindful about safety “and still have a wonderful, engaging fun event without the fear of what’s going to come out of it.”
“The more thought you put into the upfront element of it, the more you make it part of the overarching culture as opposed to at these parties, the less and less this is something that makes you nervous.”
Judith Taylor raises another important point. “Statistics Canada has showed for years that people are more likely to meet their future spouses at work than at any other place.” And that isn’t likely to change, she says. “It’s where we spend most of our time.”
Overall, Taylor says, workplace gatherings are a good thing. “I think it’s good to have a space outside of the formal workspace to talk about family, talk about things you enjoy doing.”