Last drinks as companies dial back on alcohol at the Christmas parties

Treasurer Jim Chalmers with RBA governor Michele Bullock during the ASIC annual forum at the Sofitel in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

On November 21, the Treasurer and the Reserve Bank Governor looked as if they were enjoying lunch at an ASIC conference in Melbourne, based on pictures taken at the event. These two powerful people were all smiles as they ate and drank – water.

Jim Chalmers, of course, gave up alcohol a few years back and on this occasion only water jugs and glasses were in the shots as he and Michele Bullock demonstrated that the boozy business lunch is not so much over as in cold storage.

Drinking at lunchtime is a personal decision – and still legal – but imagine the outcry if this duo, who are busy trying to balance mortgage pain and inflation, were snapped juggling a prosecco or even a good old-fashioned Aussie beer on a school day? We don’t have to go back far to get a sense of how a picture can play badly with the public: remember when the then treasurer Joe Hockey and the then finance minister Mathias Cormann were photographed smoking cigars after working hard on the 2014 Budget? No grog in sight that evening, but not a good look.

Attitudes towards alcohol in this country – which once produced movies like Wake in Fright (1971) which almost glorified our heavy drinking – have been gradually changing over 20 years or so, but a tipping point seems to have been reached.

Our supermarket shelves groan with no-alcohol beers; alcohol is a non-starter at the office party; or if there is alcohol served, your boss asks you to tick a box agreeing to the company’s code of conduct as part of your official RSVP.

(In this context, it’s interesting to see Qantas may not have got the memo. It announced this week that economy passengers can now start drinking alcohol at noon rather than 4pm. Fine if you’re sitting next to a responsible drinker but not so pleasant if he or she overindulges and you can’t move away on a crowded flight.)

Companies are taking the “responsible drinking” mantra to heart, not just because they’re fed up with dealing with messy interactions among inebriated staff and not because they’ve gone “woke” but because they don’t want to be pinged by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

From next Tuesday, the commission has the power to enforce the federal government’s so-called Respect@Work legislation, passed last November. That law is not about alcohol but mandates employers have a positive duty to prevent sexual harassment, discrimination and victimisation.

In other words, it’s not good enough to deal with claims of discrimination after the fact. Instead, according to a clients’ note from law firm Maddocks, employers must take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate unlawful sexual discrimination.

“It sits alongside the existing duties in relevant health and safety legislation to eliminate (or if not to reduce so far as reasonably practicable) these hazards, and the existing equivalent duty in the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 2011,” the note says.

The point here is that companies, long subject to health and safety rules in their workplaces and at work-related functions, are now required to be proactive in ensuring safety.

That means more than making sure workers don’t slip on the pub floor; it means making sure no one gets drunk and sexually inappropriate or guilty of more general harassment. Cutting out the grog is one way for companies to prove they are proactive about physical and psychosocial safety at the Christmas party.

Jon Williams, co-founder of Fifth Frame Consulting, says many large organisations are moving away from “all-firm” Christmas gatherings where behaviour, and after-party behaviour, is hard to police and are instead encouraging smaller-group Christmas lunches or parties where a responsible manager can keep a closer eye on proceedings.

“Twenty years ago if something happened – under the influence of alcohol and at a work event – it would be discreetly ‘managed’,” he says. “Ten years ago if something happened there would be a much clearer process and good firms more publicly ‘did the right thing’.”

But the Respect@Work legislation, along with shifting social expectations, means that there is now a positive pressure on organisations to provide a safe environment – rather than just respond appropriately if something happens.

There are other factors encouraging employers to “dial back” the alcohol, among them a more diverse workforce which includes people who do not drink for religious reasons. For the same reasons, more companies now style their December events as end-of-year parties rather than Christmas parties. And of course it’s just a fact that many people no longer drink or certainly are wary of drinking in front of people whom they either lead or who might be responsible for their promotion. No CEO worth her or his salt indulges much, or at all, at workplace events these days.

Workplace relations lawyer Michael Byrnes, a partner in the firm, Swaab, had some advice to clients in a note issued last month. He suggested checking the party venue to ensure it’s not isolated or located in a dangerous area, making it unsafe for people leaving late at night. “Have a look at the lay­out of the venue,” he said. “A venue with many nooks and crannies might be more difficult to effectively monitor than one with a wide, open space. Also, ask the venue for its policy on obtaining surveillance footage in case it’s needed for an investigation after the function.”

Byrnes also suggests employers watch out for the “rogue executive (often the owner!) who climbs onto the stage, grabs the microphone and gives a message to attendees such as ‘Forget the PC, nanny state stuff. Drink up. Cop a feel on the dance floor. Have a great time!’ There might be a time and place for the office iconoclast, but this isn’t it. Consistent messaging from management is imperative.”