It's mid-December already! Time sure flies. Thankfully, we have had a spectacular fall with a delay in the snowfall and beautiful, fairly warm weather. But there is no doubt about it: The annual December festive season is upon us.

Hotels, reception halls, religious gathering places and businesses are all beginning their decoration rituals with great gusto. Christmas trees, wreathes, lights, candles, pine cones, bells and various scents are all popular at this time of the year.

The Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade celebrated its 102nd anniversary and once again it served to introduce us to this magical time of year. Celebrations included affiliated events such as neighbourhood block parties, a free Camerata Nova Holiday concert, a Santa's workshop and fireworks followed by special volunteer recognition events.

If you can imagine, typically over 60,000 people lined the streets of the parade route while over 50,000 people watched the parade live on television. It was an exciting evening with over 3,000 parade participants and volunteers and plenty of corporations with their parade floats and decorations.

Whether your family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Islamic and Muslim Ashura and/or Bodhi Day, the feel of celebration is in the air. Everyone is getting into the experience. Yet, when people are in the party mode, this is where trouble for both employer and employee can begin. Let's talk a bit more about this issue.
Employer Responsibilities

Festive season celebrations present significant risks to employers. Even if your festive season celebration is held outside the worksite, the employer is in fact undertaking legal responsibility for the alcohol consumption of employees as well as their overall safety both during and after the event. A company Christmas party is still considered a work function.

Therefore, employers, need to take the following steps:

- Review your HR policies to ensure they are current with local legislation, especially with respect to sexual harassment, and also ensure they cover a variety of inappropriate behaviour that may occur at your function.

- Gently remind employees that your policies will be applicable during the special holiday event and that they are to behave accordingly.

- Assign a company photographer and ask all other employees and amateur photographers to leave their cameras and technology devices at home.

- Organize your seating arrangements so that everyone is comfortable and will have an opportunity to meet new people while at the same time be with colleagues they know.

- Ensure managers are assigned and continually monitor the event so that trouble can be spotted before it happens.

- Inform employees that a ride home is available to those who have had too much alcohol. Provide for taxi rides and/or arrange for volunteer drivers.

- Manage liquor availability by arranging for liquor tickets and limit the number for each employee.

- Ensure there is plenty of food and goodies throughout the evening and not simply at the main meal.

Employee Responsibilities

Employees need to keep in mind that functions such as an office Christmas party can quite literally catapult a budding career in any direction, good or bad. So keep in mind that making a fool of oneself is not only embarrassing, but is also a career limiting move.

On the other hand, festive events are wonderful networking opportunities. You can take the time to acquaint yourself with new people, get to know your colleagues better and as well, spend some time with the business owners and/or the business leaders in your organization.

The following guidelines will ensure that your attendance at the company Christmas party is a career maximizer rather than a career derailer:

- Your attendance and support is important to management. Therefore, even if you are shy and don't like crowds, attendance is a smart move. Arrange with your company host to be given assigned seating with someone you are comfortable with.

- Set your own limit for alcohol consumption and arrange a ride home prior to attending.

- Check out the dress code. Jeans, a T-shirt and stylist coloured running shoes just won't cut it for the guys. Neither will revealing outfits sometimes worn by women who mistakenly think that sex sells.

- Plan to arrive on time and leave the party early. The longer you linger, the more chance there is of finding yourself in an inappropriate situation.

- Make an effort to mix and mingle rather than isolating yourself at a corner table. Look for someone you know and reach out to them. Or, take the initiative to act as a host, introduce others and make them feel comfortable.

- Strike up a conversation with your co-workers, but avoid talking about work. Be a better listener than a talker. Help people to talk about themselves, and send a few compliments their way.

- Ensure you are polite to all co-workers and go out of your way to be pleasant to those you typically find hard to get along with; say hello, smile, make some small talk and then move on.

- Keep up a positive attitude throughout the evening and especially avoid making negative comments on any elements of the special event. Keep in mind while it may not be perfect in your view, a group of your colleagues worked especially hard to make your event happen.

- Respect the responsibility of the assigned photographer and keep your phone/BlackBerry camera turned off.
The local annual Santa Claus Parade is often seen as the kickoff to the Christmas and company festive season. While indeed it is an exciting time of year, it is also the time to pay attention to the importance of personal and professional behaviour during this time. After all, no one wants to see their career hijacked because of a one-time, inappropriate act. Nor do individuals or organizations want to see their name screaming across the Internet or generally headlining the news, causing everyone to scramble as they try to recover from a public relations nightmare.

Sometimes it seems redundant to once again remind people of the risks of our festive activities. Yet, most of us can recall incidents of ruined careers and nightmares for the employer. Being aware of the risks and taking both personal and professional steps to overcome them will ensure that everyone enjoys your company event.