Over the coming weeks many businesses will be holding their office Christmas parties, and while staff are sure to enjoy the night, the hangover from the event could affect productivity over the following days.
According to a recent poll by LondonlovesBusiness, more than two-thirds of London professionals admit that they will come into work feeling worse for wear after overindulging at the office party.
And it seems bosses may end up regretting treating their staff to a night out as two-fifths of workers think their performance will suffer the next day and a fifth stated that they will be feeling the effects on up to three working days.
Sophie Hobson, editor of LondonlovesBusiness, said: “It’s no secret that stressed-at-work professionals turn to alcohol to help relieve their stress, but I did not think the numbers of those boozing frequently would be so high.
“The research clearly indicates that there will be an awful lot of fuzzy headed professionals over the Christmas party season, and business leaders should not expect to see their best performances.”
The study certainly shows that people take advantage of the Christmas party to let their hair down after a year of hard work, however, how do bosses feel about their staff going wild for the night?
Caroline Goyder, confidence and performance coach and author of The Star Qualities, said that staff should allow their bosses to create the culture of the Christmas party and follow their lead.
“I think that the danger is that when you’re a bit younger, you think ‘what the hell, I’m younger and more fun and I’m just going to enjoy myself’, but of course, three years down the line when they are thinking of promoting you – it’s like your Facebook page – if there’s anything on there that makes them doubt you, they are going to give it to someone else. If they’ve seen you vomiting in your shoes, they might think twice about that promotion,” she noted.
Similarly, if the boss arranges meetings and acts as though the day after will be business as usual staff should take care not to come in looking too worse for wear. However, if they hint that they themselves may be feeling under the weather than staff can have a slightly more relaxed attitude.
