Party Pooper

Rockie · October 2003

Once again it's almost time for festivities of the last quarter of the year to begin. Halloween...Thanksgiving....Christmas...., etc. How do the rest of you guys cope with HR being the "dumping ground" for planning all these parties, making sure everything gets done, including running around on weekends getting "party stuff" done for the office and cutting into your own "downtime"

Next week our medical practice is hosting a family day at our local zoo for 500 employees and relatives. Then, it's time to plan something for Halloween, then our annual Thanksgiving luncheon for employees and then something for Christmas...

I surely don't mind assisting in these parties, but after four years, I have found it gets harder and harder to get volunteers you can count on to help you.
Most folks want to come to these things, but they don't want anything to do with helping plan or organize. Kind of like clean underwear showing up in your husband's underwear drawer...it just happens by magic!

Just curious on how you guys cope with these extra duties in addition to your HR duties?

deniseE · October 2003

Outsource as much as you possibly can!!!!

amyhedlu · October 2003

We actually have an Employee Club Committee that plans all our events. HR and one individual from Sales heads the club but then we have volunteers from other departments. Our Receptionist is on the club which is a great help to type up the notes and help make sign up forms. We meet once a month to discuss and plan. There is still lots of work to be done but at least it doesn't all get put on my shoulders. I also believe in planning early. We had the theme for the Christmas party planned in March.

NA · October 2003

Just say "No."

WOCO Frank · October 2003

Just let them know that you will only plan events that don't even come close to raising questions of the slightest impropriety, that there will be no alcohol or gambling, that everyone attending will be officially on the clock, and that attendees who behave inappropriately may be terminated.

They'll get someone else to do it.

marc · October 2003

I look at it as an opportunity for ees to look at HR in a different light. We have a hospitality committee that plans the summer BBQ and the end of the year Holiday Party - other than than, HR does our monthly staff meetings and anything else special. I recruit heavily in the other departments for people that like that sort of thing, then take a low key role in the planning, and a high profile role in getting the budget together for the items. As a non-profit, the budget piece is particularly challenging. Part of my recruiting involves looking for people that like to brag about specialty cooking, such as cakes, and reimburse them for the supplies.

Long story short, yes it is a hassle, and someone has to do it. Why not HR? If your regular work load is too busy, get senior managements help in prioritizing you work load. They may just offload the parties.

Sunny · October 2003

Rockie: I was just bad at it. Since I'm not from the south originally I don't understand their food (green beans a must at the Christmas party?) That, coupled with the fact that my work load tripled in other areas, was enough for my boss to return the party planning to the woman in Purchasing who had done it for years. Really though, they were afraid of what kind of food I'd order.

Seriously - just let them know that if you don't get help you'll have to cut out or curtail the events. That may help.
Sunny

Mentel · October 2003

We have an employee events committee. Everyone pitches in. Bowling lovers run the bowling tournment, the golfers run the golf outing, and everyone helps with the summer picnic and the holiday dinner. Because we use the committee to do things, attendance is great and we get variety that you don't get when one person plans it all.

SMace · October 2003

I found someone that loves to plan, organize and decorate for parties. So it's no problem. Maybe there is someone out there lurking that can fill that need. They may not even know who they are. If you know anything about Myers-Briggs, an ideal personality type to do this is ENFJ or even ESFJ. My sympathies, if I had to do it I would be checking into Trembling Hills by the end of December.

Cheryl · October 2003

I understand completely, I'm responsible for various event planning within our Company. I often feel like a party pooper! I agree it is almost impossible to find volunteers you can count on!

Anyway, what I have found is that I do have a couple I can count on! I include them in the planning process, we work together as a team. And I make sure they get the credit for their hard work!

bamahr · October 2003

I agree - Just Say NO. The only thing I do it purchase the Wal-Mart gift cards at THanskgiving. Everything else is give to a department to plan. I don't know why all party planning seems to fall under HR.

Janet · October 2003

I once worked for a bank that delegated the annual employee party to the previous year's new hires. They weren't responsible for all the details, but took on enough of it that it wasn't such a burden.

mwild31 · October 2003

Hi Rockie. I've been in your exact situation & sometimes "Just say no" isn't an option. Here's what I did. I created a list of functions that HR organizes & has responsibility for implementing. This includes monthly employee events (donuts, bagels, rootbeer floats, etc. at break), the company picnic/bbque & that's it (the president's wife handles the holiday party). Any time a department wants to do something specific for their department - I provide them with a check-off list for the lead/manager to follow & send them to purchasing/accounting for items/money. If we had to organize every little function - we wouldn't get anything else done - by putting out a list of functions HR supports & then a checklist for others to follow if their function is outside of our list still allows us to serve the customer - without going out of our minds. As in all cases though - you need a strong manager in HR to push for the policy & the support of management. Honestly, good luck to you - I know it's tough this time of year & all of the functions - hang in there!

Rockie · October 2003

Thanks for all of your excellent advice. I just wanted to vent a little bit. Unfortunately, I can't vent to Sr. Management because I am Sr. Management! I guess I went a little postal when my boss told me Friday that I needed to take 3 weeks of vacation by the end of the year. I just kinda looked at him and laughed!

But hey...he took off today. I am busily checking my schedule now to see when I can take off the wreak the most havoc on my fellow sr. managers!

WOCO Frank · October 2003

I worked for a company that had a "use it or lose it" policy on vacation, UNLESS you were asked to postpone due to business necessity. One year, I was asked to postpone mine three times! My family ended up going to the Smokey Mountains without me. The next year was much the same. Then, in early November, we got a new VP who decreed that there would be no more carryover for any reason, and that all unused vacation must be taken before the end of the calendar year. I protested, in writing (well, by e-mail) and listed all the pending projects that needed me, but he immediately responded that there would be no exceptions. I left that afternoon and didn't come back until Jan. 2.

In March, we got a new VP.

Leslie · October 2003

Me an my assistant do it all - actually mostly him. But we've been doing it so long, it's a piece of cake. It helps that one of our entities is a western outdoor venue that's set up for corporate events. They have cowboy games and a stable for trail rides and hayrides and they do the catering. We do most of our parties there - we do two separate ones for Christmas. A children's party, and an employee party.

Dasher · October 2003

I just throw up a request on the bulletin boards for a "Team to ____________",
appoint a manager to serve as staff liaison, go to the first team meeting to explain the budget they have to work with and wish them well in planning and executing the event.

Works great! Love it.

HRQ · October 2003

I have always been the planner as well. Fortunately, I've also always had a few peers who loved planning stuff. I just always made sure to buy thank you gifts for their involvement. Makes 'em want to do it again. And I give tons of credit to those who did the work.

What have I learned? Keep it simple. The simplest parties were most appreciated. The few where we've gone to extraordinary measures such as cooking prime rib, etc. were the least appreciated.

scottorr · October 2003

We have developed a staff recreation committee to plan these events. Each department is represented and expected to participate. Our next big event is going to be our Childrens Halloween party then the Thanksgiving Luncheon and lastly for the year, a Holiday party for the staff. Oh yeah, we need to squeeze the palnning of the open enrollment fair!

annie1992 · October 2003

It's easy. We don't have any. No parties, no picnics, no outings, no golf events, no turkey, hams, or WalMart gift cards.

Well, we have cookies and punch for Christmas, but that's all. No Christmas bonus either, our paychecks say Happy Holidays from the Board of Commissioners. That's as festive as we get.

Annie

San Francisco · October 2003

Wow, for a minute I thought we worked for the same company. We used to have all that stuff, but it's all been taken away. The cafeteria prepares a buffet that is free for Christmas at the General Office and the stores get $200 each to provide food for the store employees - they used to have a dinner-dance at a nice place. The new executives thought it was too expensive and frivolous, so they abolished it all and hired 30 new senior VPs that are paid anywhere from $400,000 to $800,000 plus perks per year to make us more profitable. Not to be cynical of course.

Elizabeth

Crout · October 2003

Make the Interns do it.

Pork · October 2003

ROCKIE: It has always been an opportunity to get HR out front and provide something of value for all employees. Just think about it; every day we ride the shirt tails of the gut of the organization that produces something of value day in and day out. They produce the "buck" that make it happen for all!!! Your department is a given expense that carry us to the payline and to the front of the line to get our "buck".

Now, yes I agree and I discussed the actions with the GM and we started to sharing with other departments and now after three years it has rolled back to me. We are making it all come together and glad to do it!!!

PORK

NancyJ · October 2003

We form a committee from employee volunteers, and outsource as much as possible. We are holding a picnic for about 250 people next weekend, and hired a production company to help handle the event. The cost was minimal (actually cheaper than if we had purchased each component separately), and I'm not stuck alone with the setup and cleanup.

If not enough people volunteer for the committee, we don't have the event. I ask for a certain number of volunteers, post a list, and people sign up.

Party Pooper

Comments