South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Office parties departing from the norm
Companies challenged to make virtual holiday celebrations fun in pandemic
NEWYORK— An onlinemurdermystery. Law-themed opera arias. A snowman-building competition.
With dancing, drinking and fancy dinners a no-go because of virus concerns, companies are getting creative about their holiday officeparties this year. Thechallenge ishowto organize a virtual celebration that doesn’t feel like yet anotherZoommeeting.
Many are forgoing parties altogether and instead giving employees gift baskets, extra time off or donations to charities of their choice. Just23% of companieswere planning celebrations, down from 76% last year, in a survey of 189 companies by global outplacementfirmChallenger, Gray& Christmas. Nearly three-quarters of parties this year will be virtual.
Thecompanies going ahead found their pandemic-weary employeeswant some kind of bash to break upthe anxiety and isolation.
“People are itching to see each other in person, but I also don’t feel totally comfortable holding a typical dinner and open bar,” said JohnRoss, president ofTest Prep Insight, a small online educationcompany with 10 employees based in Sacramento, California. “And I knowsomeZoomstyle virtual party justwon’t cut it.”
He landed on the idea of a snowday at a resort near LakeTahoe, with sledding, snowshoeing and a snowman-building competition. There will be a catered lunch, but no alcohol and no plus-ones.
Still, “people are thrilled it’s back on,” Ross said.
Demandhas been high foroff-the-wall virtual parties, said Jonathan Como, co-founder of Offsyte, a marketplace for corporate team events, which has organized online holiday events for companies including health insurance giant Blue Shield, the ride-hailingcompanyLyft, and the dating app Tinder.
Most popular are celebrations that involve sending food and drink to employees for online cocktail or chocolate-making classes, Comosaid. Also big are virtual escape rooms where employees can play games.
That’s the route marketingfirmRank Fuse is taking, bringing its employees together for a virtual murdermystery through RedHerring Games, said ChelseaRoller, culture manager at the Overland Park, Kansas, firm, which normally organizes a holiday dinner or bowling party.
“It will likely be very silly because every employee will be given a character to play,” Roller said. “Truthfully, we almost didn’t have a company party. However, numerous people started asking about one, sowe decided itwas the leastwe could do.”
Many companies are using virtual celebrations to offer something people have missed throughout the pandemic: live entertainment.
Hire Space, aU.K event booking site, is organizing 70 virtual officeparties in December, according to co-founderEdwardPoland. Theparty “rooms” will
include live jazz, cabaret acts, magic showsand stand-up comedy.
OnSite Opera, aNew York City group that performs at non-traditional venues, got an unusual request to perform arias for a team of lawyers at a California firm. The numbers will include an aria from Carmen in which the title character tries to negotiate herself out of prison— a favorite of the late Justice RuthBader Ginsburg, who famously loved opera, said Artistic Director Eric Einhorn.
“It’s just a chance for the attendees to nerd out with us, to have a good time,” Einhorn said.
Some larger companies are spreading out events over severalweeks and letting employees choose between ugly sweater
contests, cooking lessons or pet costume competitions. Others are dividing celebrations up between teams.
Ateam of social media managers atPCmaker Dell organized a Secret Santa gift exchange and a virtual show-and-tell for employees to share a meaningful memory or thing. The team isnewand had only met in person once before the pandemic erupted in the spring.
“It’s been a wild year, and as a newteamwe had to work extra hard— and in newand differentways— to build community,” said Susie Gidseg, the team’s senior manager.
The caution in the private sector contrasts with the WhiteHouse, which has been hosting a series of indoor holiday celebrations. With
virus cases on the rise, the Centers for the Disease Control of Prevention has urged Americans to avoid large gatherings during the holidays, particularly indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.
President DonaldTrump defended the parties in remarks to reporters Monday, saying the number of attendees have been reduced and that he has seen “a lot of people at the partieswearing masks.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also caused an outcry after theWashington Post reported that he had invited hundreds of people to indoor parties hosted by him and hiswife. The American Foreign ServiceAssociation, the union ofU.S. diplomats, called on Pompeo to cancel the parties, voicing
concern that State Department employeeswould be compelled to attend.
Astatement released by the State Department said all events followed the department’s own “Diplomacy Strong” virus protocols. That included a mask requirement for all attendees and temperature checks at the entrances.
“We’ve taken every precaution to thin out the number of individuals,” the statement said.“We do not anticipate any problems in monitoring the number of individuals in these indoor spaces.”
The statement noted that the sheer number of State Department eventswas partially a reflection of that diligence, as normally large eventswere being broken up in multiple smaller gatherings to limit the crowds.