Recruitment and workplace expert Roxanne Calder says work parties ain’t what they used to be. (Source: Getty/Roxanne Calder)
For something supposed to be fun, work Christmas parties can be surprisingly high stakes in the modern workplace. It used to be a harmless night out, a couple of drinks, a few dance moves and a half-remembered story for the next day.
Now, it resembles a social experiment: part celebration, part networking roulette and yes, part unspoken performance review. Add the habitual filming and posting to socials, and you have an event where your reputation unravels faster than the night unfolds.
Twenty years ago, a Christmas party faux pas stayed in the room. Or at worst, lived on as a foggy next–day memory, mercifully free of evidence. Today, it’s broadcasted, viewed, and shared. No fog here, just a filtered soft lens blur.
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This week, an executive at National Australia Bank’s online lender UBank was reportedly sacked after behaving inappropriately including being photographed in a mock terrorism act at the work Christmas party.
Celebrations and parties are important physical manifestations or artefacts of an organisation’s culture. And the Christmas party remains a significant event and ritual. So how do you celebrate without courting office infamy or worse? A few guiding principles can help:
One of the great myths of the Christmas party is that hierarchy levels out. The boss is wearing a novelty jumper and reindeer ears, colleagues are laughing more loudly than usual, and the whole event feels looser. But alcohol does not cancel power dynamics; it simply dims the lights.
It can make the hierarchy more visible. People reveal how they really relate to authority once their guard lowers. Hybrid work has made this more complicated. After years of reduced in-person interaction, people are socially rusty. Judgment slips not because people are reckless, but because their social reflexes are not being fully exercised.
Remember: the Christmas party is not a night off from workplace dynamics. Respect for roles, boundaries and authority should be maintained.
Phones have become the hidden guests at every workplace event. No one means harm; they are filming a toast, a joke, or the office limbo competition, but context rarely survives the camera roll. A harmless moment can look vastly different when cropped, shared, or viewed by someone who wasn’t there.
Psychologists call it disinhibition; we behave more freely when relaxed. Pair that with a culture where everything becomes performative content, and you have the perfect mismatch between intention and interpretation. It’s not a call to be paranoid, just a reminder that unauthorised posts and recordings have consequences.
Romance hasn’t disappeared from the workplace, but the way we interpret it has changed. A flirtation that might once have been seen as charming is now evaluated through a reputational lens. People are more attuned to boundaries, power imbalances, and the discomfort that can ripple through a team.
This doesn’t mean you must behave like a Victorian chaperone. It means you recognise that the Christmas party is not a dating event; it’s a professional gathering with softer edges.
If something feels thrilling at 10 pm, ask yourself how it would read at 10 am in the boardroom. The answer is usually starkly clarifying.
Work Christmas parties carry more potential downside than perhaps they once did. (Source: Getty) ·Getty Images
Alcohol warms people up, often too much. The person who seems like your new best friend after two glasses may have a vastly different role come Monday morning. And the colleague urging on your fourth drink as you hit the dance floor, shoes now functioning as hand luggage, might well be offering feedback in your next 360-degree review.
Trust is built in small, consistent moments, not in the haze of a late-night conversation. What feels honest at midnight can read very differently in daylight, especially when structure returns to its usual shape. Enjoy your colleagues’ company, just keep your strategic brain switched on.
This is one of the most underrated skills of any successful career. Staying just long enough to enjoy yourself, and leaving before judgment thins, is an art. Decision fatigue sets in as the night wears on. The ratio of context to misinterpretation shrinks rapidly post 10pm. Everyone has a story of the witching hour transformation, just that forty minutes too long. Leave while the room still feels warm, not wobbly.
The Christmas party doesn’t need to be a tense experience. It can be fun, joyful, even bonding time. But Monday always arrives, and with it the long memory of reputation. Attention spans may be shorter these days, but screenshots last indefinitely. A good night is one you can walk into work after, not away from.
Celebrate generously. Laugh properly. Be human, not fearful. And yes, enjoy a drink, speak to your boss and others from different departments. But here is the most crucial factor to carry with you – the Christmas party is still a work event.
Roxanne Calder, author of ‘Earning Power: Breaking Barriers and Building Wealth for Women’ (Wiley $34.95), is a career strategist and the founder and managing director of EST10 – one of Sydney’s most successful recruitment agencies. For more information on how Roxanne can assist with your recruitment needs, visit www.est10.com.au.
