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OK at Work, hosted by Offit Kurman attorneys Russell Berger and Sarah Sawyer, is a weekly podcast that discusses current events and legal issues impacting business owners. From updates on the ever-changing employment law landscape to the risks and benefits of integrating AI into your workplace, subscribe to stay up-to-date on issues and events that may impact you and your business.
Sarah Sawyer: Welcome to this week's
OK at Work, with myself, Sarah Sawyer
and my colleague Russell Berger was
attorneys at Offit Kurman, and today
we are talking about holiday parties.
It is that time of year.
We are headed into the holiday season.
I know we here at Offit Kurman have
several get togethers that people have
already been doing for Thanksgiving
and will be doing for the upcoming
holidays and New year to celebrate
with each other and come together.
So obviously as companies prepare to
have these parties and get together,
several years ago we were talking
about COVID and germs, and in our last
episode we covered that a little bit.
Fortunately don't need to
really cover that today as it
relates to holiday parties.
But what are some things that
employers should be keeping in
mind this time of year, Russell?
Russell Berger: Should definitely
still pass on the communal pretzel
jar even at holiday parties.
But no, the main point I know we say
this kind of every year now on OK at
Work when we touch on the subject.
But the main point is that, the holiday
party is still a work event and it's
still work and the work rules still apply.
Yeah, it's more relaxed.
People may very well have a drink
or two, but the way we treat
each other as employees of a
business are still applicable.
There, there's no
loosening of that standard.
Again, conversation's casual,
it's a relaxed environment.
People are more focused on having
fun and that's the right thing.
That's what you want for this party.
You wanna have a party that expresses to
your employees, we really appreciate you.
You've done a great job.
We value you.
Try to promote that engagement.
So you wanna prioritize that, but at
the same time, you wanna make sure
that you're still following the basic
workplace rules of how you treat
people, what kind of topics or off
limits for a workplace conversation.
Those sorts of things still apply.
Sarah Sawyer: Yeah, I think a lot of
managing risk and having success with
these types of get togethers starts
at the planning process and getting
everything together and how you set the
tone as the employer for exactly what you
just described Russell, thinking ahead
to the environment where the party is
gonna be, whether it's gonna be in the
office, whether it's gonna be offsite,
how people are going to get to and from
these parties, resources available if
there is going to be drinking, those
types of things, reminders to employees
around safe transportation and as managers
and leaders, then companies the way that
you plan and execute the event itself is
really a good way to set that reminder.
And as opposed to walking around
just reminding everyone they're at
work, it's probably not going to
create that fun of an environment.
But yeah, there's subtle ways to do
that in the way that you execute things.
Russell Berger: Yeah, absolutely.
It's that balancing act that we face every
year of we want this to be a good party.
We want people to really enjoy themselves,
but we don't want anyone to go too far.
So you don't have to make everyone
sign a waiver when they show up for
the party and remind them all of
the rules, but a casual reminder in
advance of Hey, this still workplace
event, workplace will still apply.
And you just put that out there.
I think that can be an effective
way of doing that without showing up
to the party with a list of rules.
'Cause that person's always the life of
the party and most popular person there.
Sarah Sawyer: Yeah we know that well
as lawyers, we're the rules people.
We're always the most fun at parties.
Well, Thank you Russell and
we'll see you next time.
Russell Berger: Thanks, Sarah.