The return of the office Christmas party
Nervous nellies are rethinking the seasonal festivities. They shouldn’t – it’s time to get this party started
Last year, Covid-19 restrictions prevented everyone, apart from those working at Downing Street, from celebrating Christmas. Now, however, with most of the population jabbed, it may be time to take the festive jumpers out from the back of your cupboard and put on your fancy hat as “Britain’s businesses are resurrecting the office Christmas party after last year’s distinctly un-festive season”, says Amy Wilson in The Times. Pubs, restaurants and venues across the country are already 75% booked up for December – lower than the usual pre-pandemic rate of 95% at this time of year, but still, much cheerier than last year’s disaster.
What’s on the menu?
Pubs and restaurants still face an “anxious wait” to see whether early signs of a “late surge in bookings” will materialise, says the Financial Times, or even go into reverse due to fears around the new Omicron variant. An “acute shortage of staff” presents another problem. December is usually so profitable for the industry that it is known as the “golden season”, with venues typically making up to 40% more than in other months. Before the pandemic, some London pubs that hosted big office parties could end up making up to £300,000 a week.
For now, the signs are mixed. Some firms have decided that “lavish Christmas parties” are “off the menu”. Law firm Slaughter and May, for example, has cancelled its annual dinner dance in Park
Lane; Lloyd’s of London, the insurance market, has also said it will not host a Christmas party this year having had a big event in the summer. Others, however, are sticking with their plans, even if on a smaller, more socially distanced scale – you can do “digital clay-pigeon shooting” at a venue in Liverpool Street , for example.
It’s a similar story in America, says
Rani Molla in Vox. On the one hand “in-person parties are making a comeback as vaccination rates and appetites for socialising grow”; yet on the other the events planned will be more “restrained”, with firms limiting sizes. Facebook has already said that it won’t be staging a repeat of its 2019 party, which saw 6,000 people turn up at its New York office to enjoy a
DJ, two Mister Softee ice-cream vans, and thousands of waffles. Meanwhile, PR firm VSC decided to swap its office party “for a company-wide trip to Hawaii” where staff will “zip line, surf and hang out” on the beach.
Boris leads the conga
Firms having second thoughts about office shindigs shouldn’t be so wet, says Judith Woods in The Daily Telegraph. True, we’ve been bombarded with “mixed messaging”: while the work and pensions secretary “urges us not to snog under the mistletoe”, Boris Johnson “can’t wait to lead the conga”. Still, with the vaccine greatly reducing the risk of hospitalisation, the “zealous determination” of those trying to get us to “stay home” is “beginning to border on the unseemly”. So grab your partner by the hand – “as long as he’s got a negative lateral-flow test in his pocket, I’ll be pleased to see him”.