12 days of Christmas – some useful info for the festive period

The 12 days of Christmas

The 12 days of Christmas a short snippet of useful information for the festive period :

On the 1st Day of Christmas 

You may get requests from your staff to have time off or ask to start work a little later or finish a little earlier in order to attend their youngster’s nativity (if it is still going ahead).  Whilst there is no statutory right to time-off in this regard, try and be flexible and keep in mind staff morale if requests are unreasonably refused. 

On the 2nd Day of Christmas 

The Office Party – The party should be fun and social, but as it is an official company organised event it is an extension of the workplace.  As an employer you can be held vicariously liable for discriminatory acts by employees.  It is advisable to issue your team with a reminder that the organisation rules on acceptable behaviour will still apply at the event and that incidents of misconduct will be treated seriously.  If a staff member claims that they have been harassed by a colleague, swift action should be taken to deal with it in line with your policy. 

On the 3rd Day of Christmas 

Make sure everyone is aware of your social media policy and any abuse thereof in relation to any comments or pictures that may be posted from social evets. 

On the 4th Day of Christmas 

If you are asking staff to work compulsory overtime during the festive season, make sure their contract makes this clear.  If there is no contractual obligation you can only ask, likewise if it is compulsory, failure to follow it could lead to disciplinary action. 

On the 5th Day of Christmas 

Make sure all your staff are clear about their shift pattern for the Festive season and if there are last minute changes that they are communicated clearly. 

On the 6th Day of Christmas 

If a staff member is too unwell to come into work but is then able to dose themselves up and go out later for a Christmas drink, and is then seen by work colleagues, have that difficult conversation with the staff member as soon as reasonably practical. 

On the 7th Day of Christmas 

Keep an eye out on your staff and their mental wellbeing, whilst it can be the season to be jolly the festive season can also be a difficult period and can trigger anxiety. 

On the 8th Day of Christmas 

Gifts from suppliers and providers – make sure your staff are aware of the company anti-bribery policy that you have in place. 

On the 9th Day of Christmas 

Secret Santa – without wanting to sound like a party pooper, if you do ‘Secret Santa’, make sure everyone is aware that offensive or inappropriate gifts are a ‘no-no’ 

On the 10th Day of Christmas 

Adverse weather conditions – Whilst Boris has asked us to work from home where we can, this isn’t practical for all roles or industries.  The idea of snow can sound idyllic for some for the festive season it can cause havoc and affect public transport.  You may need to adopt a degree of flexibility with regards to alternative options or start and finish times or working from home where it would not be the norm. 

On the 11th Day of Christmas 

If it gets really cold out there, just remember under HSE regulations, the temperature in your workplace can’t drop below 16 degrees centigrade for office workers. 

On the 12th Day of Christmas 

Hopefully I haven’t taken all the joy out of Christmas!  Merry Christmas to all my current and future clients.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I look forward to working with you in 2022.