Whilst allowing staff to attend work in fancy dress for Halloween can be an effective way to boost morale and develop a sense of camaraderie, there are several things your client should consider in order to avoid a truly ‘scary situation’.
Perhaps the biggest concern when it comes to allowing fancy dress at work is the potential for workplace discrimination. After all, it doesn’t take much to imagine how certain costumes may create an intimidating or hostile environment for employees with a protected characteristic. Therefore, to avoid this situation, your client should warn staff prior to the event against wearing costumes that make specific reference to issues such as race, age or gender.
At the same time, there may be certain individuals who are unwilling to wear fancy dress in celebration of Halloween and your client should think about how this will affect them. Naturally, these individuals shouldn’t be forced into participating, nor should they be subjected to bullying or any other detriment for refusing to take part.
Your client should also consider the image that allowing staff to participate in fancy dress portrays to customers and business partners, as their is a risk that this activity could cause considerable damage the company’s reputation. Therefore, your client should re-evaluate whether this would truly be appropriate under the circumstances.
Furthermore, if it is not managed correctly then allowing staff to participate in fancy dress may actually lead to a drop in productivity, with the more relaxed atmosphere potentially resulting in individuals allowing their usual work standards to drop. As your client will still want to ensure staff do their job on the day they should remind employees of the standards expected of them. Any behaviour such as individuals arriving late, or refusing to follow reasonable managerial instructions, should be dealt with in the normal manner in line with your client’s pre-existing policies.
With the above in mind, it is important that your client has the correct provisions in place in order to reduce the risks accompanied with allowing fancy dress at work. Whilst this may prove to be an effective way of developing a sense of camaraderie, failing to manage the situation effectively on the other hand could create a host of problems for your client.
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