Should I cancel our work Christmas party?
I am not especially worried about covid for myself. Have had it fairly recently in any case, and I've had my booster etc. I won't be mixing with vulnerable family over Christmas either. So I am not concerned on a personal level. Just want to do the right thing.
In light of the evolving situation, the government guidance to wfh and the fact that parties were still allowed, I asked staff last week what they wanted to do. A couple wanted to postpone but the vast majority wanted to go ahead, so that's what I planned to do. I thought perhaps they could be encouraged to take a ltf test beforehand etc.
Having watched the briefing last night and heard what the experts were saying (as opposed to BJ), it now feels really irresponsible to go ahead with it. We're all wfh so not mixing anyway. I know that we are still "allowed" to have the party but what if someone got ill and then passed it on to a vulnerable family member? And what about the growing pressure on the NHS? On the other hand, I feel bad for the venue - they would keep our hefty deposit, I suppose, but they would still lose out on the business.
On balance, under the circumstances, I feel like the right thing to do would be to cancel it, but like most of the country, a lot of the staff have had a difficult year and they are probably looking forward to it. I don't want to disappoint them unnecessarily.
What would others do?