Over the Christmas period I was catching up on my emails and I came across a link to an article in the The People Bulletin which talked about the costs associated with the ‘party season’. The article presented research from the hotel chain Travelodge which estimated the cost of Christmas to UK bosses at £790 mllion – based on the idea that most staff will spend two completely unproductive hours with a hangover after the office party. Amazingly, 15% of respondents even admitted to finding somewhere to have a sleep at work after the office party.
£790 million is a shocking loss for the UK economy to withstand, but I think the key to this lies with work-life balance. Businesses and bosses who provide good work-life balance will have found it much easier to deal with the seasonal drive for excess in terms of productivity. For example, if the office party is on a Thursday night and it’s going to be a late night why not be proactive and tell staff they don’t need to be in until 11am the next day. When they get in provide AlkaSeltzer and plenty of liquid to rehydrate with. Bosses who take these steps may lose a morning’s worth of productivity, but they save the rest of the day. Compare this with the office where staff are staring out of the window all day or sneaking behind the stationery cupboard for a nap.
The other aspect that is missed by this research is the ‘Good Will Factor’. When businesses pay for a big night out and then allow staff to recover on company time there is indeed a cost, but there is also a benefit. Organisations reap the productivity benefits throughout the year in terms of the trust and good will that they build through these gestures and by providing good work-life balance in general. After all, the employer /employee relationship is two-way and those unpaid hours that staff do not just happen by chance.
http://newsweaver.co.uk/thepeoplebulletin/e_article000968316.cfm?x=bbMMlqK,b6TGhjGm
