It’s that time of the year when HR professionals are crossing their fingers and hoping they don’t have to terminate anyone for misconduct at the company holiday party. Fox 26 in Houston interviewed me about the suggested tips for staying out of trouble for the holiday season. That interview can be found here.

Some tips from the interview include:

1. Alcohol and company events are a bad combination. Keep the alcohol to a minimum or delegate the responsibility to monitor drinking levels to a third party (like a restaurant or hotel); consider offering rides home or other arrangements for employees who have too much to drink.
2. Set ground rules for any festive games, talent shows or gift exchanges. Employees should keep things tasteful, and avoid racially offensive or risqué activities.
3. Should it be a Christmas Party or Holiday Party? There is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas in the workplace, and every company should decide how to best address this issue with its employees, customers, etc. That said, a Christmas party should be a non-religious event and any employees who object to attendance on religious grounds should not be retaliated against in any way.