The holiday season is here and from the paranoid, Scrooge McDuck Laywer point of view, this brings a lot of potential liability into your Business.
Let’s start off with this Blog title. Ho Ho Ho is only o.k. in the workplace if it is in reference to Santa’s laugh. It is not o.k. to walk through the office randomnly saying “ho ho ho” – someone is going to complain they are being bullied. You really don’t want to launch a workplace investigation into that do you?
Moving on to the Holiday Party that is open bar and no significant others allowed. Why do these still happen? You might as well include in the invitation “hey, come get drunk and hit on your co-workers without your significant other to complain.” Instead of creating work for family law lawyers, consider including significant others as tends to encourage better behaviour.
The final consideration is the holiday decorations in the office. If someone really doesn’t want a decoration on their door because of religious reasons, do not force them to share the spirit of the season. Your forced festivities are not worth the Human Rights Complaint that is sure to follow.
Overall, enjoy the season, but think about “traditions” and how the times are changing and your Business needs to react to those changes.