A new scene emerges for the office Christmas party

This year’s office party has taken a new slant due to hybrid working, with workplace hospitality specialist, Bennett Hay, reporting an 18 per cent increase in its clients hosting festive celebrations in-house.

Pre-pandemic, the capital’s party season traditionally focussed on evening events with Thursdays and Fridays at a premium from the end of November until 23 December. However, the rise of a new Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday hybrid routine has seen a trend for in-house festive celebrations with the company party now also being used as a way to incentivise a full team back to the workplace.

Over the past 24-months Bennett Hay says many of its landlord and corporate clients have reconfigured their buildings to help balance work and lifestyle demands as well as to respond to changing daily footfalls:

• Clients have created flexible spaces with club like service levels to appeal and attract employees back
• Food and drink experiences are increasingly a focal point with cafes, bars and all-day dining providing the backdrop for a day in the office
• Adaptable office design, that allows for spaces to be reconfigured and re-styled based on their use and purpose is order of the day whether spaces are being utilised for ideation, town halls, client events and now the company Christmas party

Today’s corporate is drawing on employee engagement programmes to embed their culture, drive community and to help retain their people. Many of these engagement strategies focus on employee health and wellbeing including the shared experience of food and drink to create a rich, dynamic company culture.

Zoë Watts, Bennett Hay’s Business Development Director said: “In the last six-weeks we’ve seen a marked increase in seasonal events used as a means to get the workplace back in full swing. Today’s office is the nucleus to network, engage and create so it makes sense for an organisation to capitalise on the of mid-week influx with a thank you lunch or evening reception.

“2022’s demand highlights that companies want to celebrate their employees’ commitment, but the rules of party planning have been tweaked to reflect new routines. We’re seeing a new iteration of the ‘office party’ – an event that is quite literally in the office! Many of the clients we work with have significant atriums and communal spaces and it makes sense to bring the company dynamic to life in the focal point of the building and at a time when people expect to celebrate. It’s trend for 2022 and no doubt will have a new nuance next as the workplace turns another chapter.”