Fighting, flirting, Facebook: What not to do at the office party

Christmas parties have a reputation for bringing out a side of people usually kept under wraps around the office.

While cutting loose with your co-workers can be an entertaining way to end the year, it is better to play it safe at work events.

Here is how to get through the work do with your dignity and your career intact.

Don’t vent your frustrations ...

Even in a normal year, tempers can be frayed and patience can be wearing thin by the time the silly season rolls around.

After the exhausting events of the past few years, fuses could be even shorter this Christmas. But if someone at work has been grinding your gears on the daily, the work do is not the place to bring it up.

In one case taken to the Employment Relations Authority, a Christmas party came to a premature end after a worker took exception to being splashed with water and ice and retaliated by dunking his splasher in the drinks bucket. The other man resisted and was injured.

... or any other strong feelings

If you have been waiting to make your move on a workmate under the mistletoe, proceed with extreme caution.

Don’t let Dutch courage warp your sense of reality – if your colleague has made it clear they are not interested, just don’t go there.

Being inappropriate with a co-worker is one of the quickest ways to lose your job and even in the context of a Christmas party, sexual harassment is still sexual harassment.

In another ERA case, a woman cited one example of inappropriate behaviour in which her supervisor, dressed as Santa, used a bottle opener to form a ‘‘graphic and prominent phallic symbol which he attached to his garb’’. While the consequences can be serious for the harasser, employers can also be liable if they do not take sufficient precautions to prevent harassment at the party.

For better or worse, alcohol is as much a part of New Zealand’s Christmas party culture as the glazed ham and cheap creˆpe paper hats.

Dundas Street Employment Lawyers partner Ros Webby said 99.99% of the time, issues at staff Christmas functions could be traced back to alcohol.

‘‘For some, it creates a ticking time bomb out of unaired work grievances or slights, petty and serious, and that bomb will explode, at times in spectacular fashion.’’

She said clients in the past had found themselves dealing with ‘‘split lips, broken bones and teeth on the floor (literally) and multiple disciplinary processes right on Christmas’’. Webby was even aware of a party goer who woke up ‘‘naked in a field in the middle of rural Manawatū – when the function was in central Wellington’’.

Employment lawyer Aasha Foley said alcohol management at work events, including Christmas parties, was the employer’s responsibility.

‘‘Consumption of alcohol is considered a health and safety risk due to the [effect] alcohol can have on poor behaviour at social events,’’ Foley said.

Employers might think their responsibility ended when workers clocked off or were otherwise offsite but they were potentially liable when intoxication was involved at work events, she said.

Don’t put everything on social media

There is nothing wrong with sharing a few happy snaps from the get-together but don’t spend all night on Twitter or Facebook. Not only is it anti-social, it can be a very risky business, especially if you have got a few drinks under your belt.

Neither your colleagues nor your clients need the nitty-gritty details of your night immortalised on Instagram, so post responsibly. Sober you will probably be grateful too.