To go or not to go? The office Christmas bash conundrum

BBC / Ardman Animations
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As December hurtles towards us out of nowhere (yes, it’s in two days), you may be looking at your calendar for the next month mystified at how you suddenly became so popular. It can be hard to find a moment to breathe in the period leading up to Christmas but there is one event that elicits unparalleled dread and excitement in equal measure (depending on who you talk to). I am referring, of course, to the office Christmas party.

To many, it is something to be survived rather than enjoyed, and this perhaps applies to no one more so than a now infamous French man, who last week won the legal right not to be “fun” at work. The man, referred to as Mr T, was fired from a Paris consultancy firm in 2015 for refusing to participate in after-work drinks and team-building activities. Seven years later, in a landmark victory for introverts everywhere, a French court has ruled that companies can’t fire their workers for failing to be sufficiently “fun”.

A raft of major firms have reportedly scrapped large festive parties (David Davies/PA)
PA Archive

Introverts and extroverts alike, we can probably all agree that there should be no legal obligation to attend post-work drinks. And you certainly shouldn’t lose your job over it. But work social events do throw up a tricky conundrum —whether we like them or not. Should we view them as simply part of office life or are they awkward obligations that eat into our social calendar?

When it comes to work-life balance, boundary-setting is suddenly in vogue, particularly with the younger generation. From quiet-quitting (doing the bare minimum at work without going above and beyond), to career-cushioning (discreetly scoping out a professional Plan B ), the idea that you should dedicate your life to your job seems to be becoming less and less appealing. Is working for eight hours and then going to the pub for two, simply in the name of appearing likeable, in the hope that it translates into some tangible career advantage down the line, actually worth it? The verdict nowadays seems to be a firm “no”.

However, after two years in a row sans Christmas party thanks to Covid, perhaps this year the novelty will have even the sceptics among you downing shots on the table with your new best friends from HR and accounts (whose names you will almost certainly have forgotten the next morning).

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