To think work Xmas parties should start in work hours?

[ByTidyHelper]

Just as the title says really. Our work Xmas party doesn't start til 6:30pm this year in London which is a 1hr commute for me each way. I really think work Xmas parties should start in work hours e.g. 3 or 4pm as this would be so much better for those with families who could attend at the start for a couple of hours and then go home.

I'm probably not going to mine this year just due to the fact it starts in the evening and I cannot be bothered to get back home late and have to figure out what we do with my kids bedtime etc (they are in a phase of meltdown mode unless mummy is putting them to bed so would be tough on my husband to have to deal with this solo).

What do you think? AIBU to expect work Xmas parties to start in work hours?

No, because working hours are for work!
Generally, I consider the xmas party to be obligatory and therefore it is akin to unpaid overtime!
I have in some years not gone (when my DC were young), but since then I have come to realise that the object is for oneself to remain sober, whilst others (especially any managers), get a bit loose lipped. That's how one finds out what is going on behind the scenes!
yes, if I sound a bit cynical, it due to experience!)

The best ones do start from lunch, then people can go home at the time work usually ends if they have kids, for eg. Means the hard-core lot get to see those who wouldn't usually go out after work due to commitments.

Ours is a Christmas lunch which starts around 3pm. Anyone who wants to stay on then does so into the evening but also means anyone with a long commute or kids that need collecting etc can still join in without needing extra childcare and leave at their usual time. We are public sector and we all have to pay for our own anyway so its not like it's a boozy corporate affair (unless you buy your own booze!). It's been like this for the whole time I've been in my organisation (10yrs+) so i think it works quite well for everyone.

Now YABU for saying “hence why”.

You work at an ad agency, you’re not a 15yo. Literacy, mate.

(current bugbear even more annoying that the teens’ inability to pronounce the letter T in Water and Party)

Of course he COULD cope. It would just be very stressful and chaotic. So, pardon me for considering my husband in this. My main thing is the sleep deprivation from kids awake at night right now and a late night drinking in London would tip me over the edge, so, sadly I don't think I will go. I've booked to go to the cinema on Friday at 5pm with a few mum friends to see the new wicked film so that should be a nice few hours off for me instead.

I don't go out much. So I like going home and dollying myself up before going to the party.

Work events should be on work time. If it's organised entirely by staff for staff, it's a personal event so should be on personal time.

They should start and have the official finish (with optional after drinking) within work hours. I'm on the continent and my colleagues here would just not go to an evening work party because that's their free/family time.

We always do a bring and share lunch and then a night out, so people can do one or the other or even both.

You could take the morning off if it's that important to you to do the dollying up at your own home.

I think that's a reasonable thought OP. Especially in London where it takes much time and energy to commute, get home and all the rest. Parties don't have to begin with alcohol, just nibbles and nosh, pizza etc... non-alcoholic drinks until a certain time when you can beg off and go home for the evening.

I don't really see what Christmas has to do with it, an hour long commute is still an hour long commute. Assuming you go into the office 3 days a week, that's nearly a year of your kids' lives you're missing out on over their childhood. The bigger picture is far more significant than just one day.

I have no idea why people put up with London commutes and house prices in a world with so much wfh and much better salaries working for international companies and such a range of cities that are either far cheaper or (outside the UK) far more functional and cleaner. Londoners are just delusional that it's somehow worth it. (Obviously if you're a surgeon or something that requires you to be there and there are zero options elsewhere that's different).

Ours starts at 10:30 am with a team breakfast being delivered to the office. Followed by Xmas quiz at 3pm and dinner at 6:30pm followed by the pub.

It's literally the whole day. Would be quite happy just to do the day bits and forgo the pub but i'm new so will have to show my face at all of it :(

I think work christmas parties shouldn't exist at all.

Work hours ones are awkward for those who don't want to attend or can't afford to. If you cant make an evening one, don't go.

I used to work somewhere where you had an unofficial afternoon off for work christmas lunch. Fine if you want to socialise with your co workers and pay £35 for the privilege. Less fine if you hate your coworkers and don't want to waste money sitting awkwardly at a table with the bullying arseholes. If you didnt go you were expected to work. Unfair imo. But at least a quiet office is a productive one and i saved £35.

Ours starts slightly before the end of a typical day, I think. So maybe 4.30 or something. It’s a meal that we pay for ourselves though, and people can have drinks or not as they like.

We’re public sector though so obviously can’t have anything paid for, and the 4.30 start is supposed to be made up for by working a bit more another time.

Nope

😂😂😂

My last work place did this as they had husbands who couldn’t possibly do bedtime or the night wakings, they then moaned they weren’t given the morning off paid to get their hair and nails done and were then awful to all of us until 2pm when it started.

Starting in work time also pressures people to attend which is completely innapropriate, I’m not a christian, I don’t want to waste half a day of work so a few colleagues can go drinking and have a roast dinner.

We don't have a Xmas party as such but I've organised Xmas drinks for the team and will be starting at 4pm. Ideally I'd start at 12 but wouldn't get away with that (public sector) 🤣

Or civil servants. The Daily Mail would love that!

My work asked us which we preferred this year and it's a lunch do. I'd rather have that and get home at a decent time.

DH is a civil servant and they had their do in working hours yesterday.

I worked in the public sector. We weren't allowed alcohol on the premises, we didn't go to the pub at lunchtime in case we were asked to do an urgent home visit. We had to have a minimum number of staff actually answering the phones, and others to interview. So basically, we were at work to work. Even at Christmas. Until the shutters went down we had to be available. ( it was a front line service). Oh and every so often I had to be on call, even at Christmas.
So office Christmas parties were off the premises and in the evening. Paid for by the staff too. No freebies.

Several of my friends living around the UK have an hour long commute. My friend in the Lake District has a 1.5 hour drive.

I enjoy sitting on the train two days a week reading for 40 minutes commuting into London and a walk at each end. And getting paid a lot more. And being able to visit unique shows and exhibitions while having long country walks at the weekend. Also living very close to family and friends. People don't move because they have put roots down. I'm aware that property is cheaper in some places but I don't want to live there. Where I'm from in Greater Manchester the house prices have shot up and are nearly as much as houses here but salaries are on average far less. No thanks.

Christmas parties should not be during work hours unless people have the choice to leave without issue to return to work.

I recall us having a Christmas party at lunch time and then ending up having to apologise to a member of HR after the party because I politely asked if we were allowed to head back to work. No one on our team knew if we could leave and 30 minutes of being there people were mostly standing about awkwardly and those talking were talking to people they knew, several voicing that they were ready to leave, I was just the only one who dared to ask.

She became annoyed and said “but it’s Christmas!”.

We were swamped and were close to decreasing a backlog so clients could get their results and certifications before we were all off for Christmas.

Thankfully, my department manager spoke up for me after the HR moaned about me to her.

Guess I should have left like others did instead of asking because it was quite obvious who left when Secret Santa gifts were given out and she didn’t seem particularly bothered about those people. 🙄