Holiday Parties Gone Wrong: Careful Where You Hang The Mistletoe : NPR
Reidy
Jim Reidy   an employment lawyer based in Manchester  N.H.  hears a fair amount about office holiday parties gone wrong. Last year  the high-profile CEO of a local company kicked things off by hanging mistletoe from the front of  his  pants belt   Reidy  says  "dancing around and making suggestions [saying ] 'It's the holidays  can't you see the mistletoe?' "
"[The CEO's] response was  'I was kidding; everybody knows I'm kidding ' " Reidy says  but evidently many employees did not see it that way.
"There were also a segment of people saying  'Do I say something ' " Reidy says. But there was also the fear for retaliation or being seen as the buzzkill without a sense of humor. "That's emblematic of why a lot of employers have gotten away from" holiday parties  he says.
This was a good year for many companies and they have cash to spend on parties. One CareerBuilder survey found 71 percent of employers are hosting holiday parties this year  up 10 percentage points from a decade ago. But  Reidy   who recently surveyed about 40 companies in  his  area  found that this year more than half opted to go non-alcoholic at their shindigs.
For those serving alcohol   Reidy  advises other measures  like limiting the length of the party  or holding the event during the day and inviting spouses and children. Overall  says  Reidy   workplace parties are far tamer than they were back in the 1980s and '90s.
[TGT] hears a fair amount about office holiday parties gone wrong. Last year  the high-profile CEO of a local company kicked things off by hanging mistletoe from the front of   [TGT]   pants belt    [TGT] says  "dancing around and making suggestions [saying ] 'It's the holidays  can't you see the mistletoe?' "
"[The CEO's] response was  'I was kidding; everybody knows I'm kidding ' " Reidy says  but evidently many employees did not see it that way.
"There were also a segment of people saying  'Do I say something ' " Reidy says. But there was also the fear for retaliation or being seen as the buzzkill without a sense of humor. "That's emblematic of why a lot of employers have gotten away from" holiday parties  he says.
This was a good year for many companies and they have cash to spend on parties. One CareerBuilder survey found 71 percent of employers are hosting holiday parties this year  up 10 percentage points from a decade ago. But  Reidy   who recently surveyed about 40 companies in  his  area  found that this year more than half opted to go non-alcoholic at their shindigs.
For those serving alcohol   Reidy  advises other measures  like limiting the length of the party  or holding the event during the day and inviting spouses and children. Overall  says   [TGT]  are far tamer than  [TGT]  were back in the 1980s and '90s.