By CHRIS POLLARD
Published: 18:19 EST, 7 December 2024 | Updated: 18:19 EST, 7 December 2024
Boozy office Christmas parties are being replaced by crazy golf and ping-pong tournaments as Gen Z workers demand sober celebrations and companies seek to avoid sexual harassment claims.
A huge cultural shift in the last 10 years has led more than one fifth of big firms to shun traditional pubs and bars for their festive events in favour of sober 'activities' – which will leave behind none of the usual embarrassment or the hangover.
While the vast majority of work Christmas parties were held in pubs a decade ago, the number of alternative venues has grown steadily in the years since, and 21 per cent of office parties will today be completely alcohol-free.
The move comes after new laws made firms responsible for protecting staff against sexual harassment, which includes unwanted drunken fumbling under the mistletoe.
But a new generation of young workers are also less likely to drink, and are keen to maintain stricter boundaries between their work and social lives.
Fran Hubbard, who runs London-based corporate events firm The Big Smoke, said the idea of what makes a good night out has changed.
'Since Covid, people value their personal time more and don't necessarily want to be stuck in a pub all night,' she said. 'A large proportion of the workforce now doesn't drink at all. Gen-Z employees have much less interest in a 'boozy' team event.
'Companies are also embracing a big shift to wellbeing and health which doesn't sit in line with the traditional Christmas party.
Boozy office parties are being replaced with more sober options including crazy golf and ping pong (file photo)
'Employees demand more from their companies - so it isn't just the case of putting money behind the bar.'
The Big Smoke, whose clients include corporate giants Facebook, Amazon, Google, PwC, KPMG, Kraft-Heinz alongside the NHS and BBC, says it has seen a 310 per cent increase in December bookings since 2019.
Its Apprentice-style 'festive scavenger hunt' – which involves racing against the clock in teams to complete 30 challenges – is proving particularly popular.
Pizza chain Pizza Pilgrims, meanwhile, is offering cooking masterclasses which are proving popular with corporate clients.
Other hospitality groups are offering indoor ice hockey, Connect 4, mince pie making, and fake snowball throwing.
The UK's largest recent study of drinking behaviours, from 2019, highlighted the generational divide when it comes to alcohol. It found 16-to-25-year-olds are the most likely generation to be teetotal, with more than one quarter claiming not to drink any alcohol. Meanwhile, just 15 per cent of 55 to 74-year-olds don't drink.
But employment lawyer Francesca Lopez, a senior associate at Kingsley Napley solicitors, said the new Worker Protection Act 2023, which came into force in October, will be 'playing on employers' minds' when they are looking at potential party venues.
The Act requires employers to 'take reasonable steps' to prevent employees being sexually harassed, a protection which extends to officially-sanctioned events such as Christmas parties.
'Whether it is the reason for kiboshing the traditional Christmas party, I can't say, but it's certainly a factor,' Ms Lopez said. 'We always notice an uptick in our workload around this time of year.
'Lots of companies are moving away from the traditional party where you get everybody into a big room and there's free flowing alcohol. It just creates an environment where colleagues have looser inhibitions, and there's a real risk of sexual harassment.
The trend has been put down in a part due to companies wanting to avoid sexual harassment claims (file photo)
'It's not about removing the fun from the Christmas party, it's just a different way of looking at fun. I mean, when has it ever been fun to sexually harass your colleagues?'
But criminal solicitor Marcus Johnstone, of PCD Solicitors, cautioned that replacing an open bar with alcohol-free activities won't stop staff from drinking - or insulate companies from liability when things go wrong.
'The reason most people go to the office Christmas party is to get free drinks, and often they will drink as much as they can,' he said.
'Companies can offer knitting lessons instead of booze, but employees who are determined to get drunk will still pile off to the pub anyway, and it will be difficult for the employer to stop that.
'There is always a huge increase in the number of professionals being prosecuted for sexual assault in the aftermath of Christmas party season. The perpetrators are always men and have always been drinking.
'Many don't seem to understand that a drunken 'fumble' with a colleague could be a serious sexual offence that may destroy their career.
'There's no easy answer to any of it, but if people stop drinking of their own accord, it wouldn't be a bad thing.'