Theworkplaceis not just a place to work, asoffice partiesare becoming quite popular. Yet not all employees like them, as, in 2023, 64% of American workerssaidthey stopped going to after-hours company events entirely or were going to them less often.
This officelearned the hard way that parties aren’t always a good idea. Things already got awkward as they excluded a new employee from attending. But the situation got worse after she inadvertently told the boss and all future festivities received a ban for the near future.
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A new employee wasn’t allowed to attend a coworker’s bridal shower
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After she accidentally told the boss and all office parties got banned, colleagues began stonewalling her
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Excluding colleagues from team events and parties can backfire on the coworkers and employers
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This office’s party planning committee was probably even worse than that in the cult classicThe Office.Planning a party is hard even when it’s meant for family or friends. But workplace relationship dynamics bring in a lot more nuance, so planners should exercise more caution so no one is left insulted or left out.
According toIndeed, deciding who is invited to the party is an important part of planning. They recommend considering if spouses or family members can come, or if this is for in-office workers or remote workers too.
However, not inviting other team members or employees is not recommended. As The Conversationwrote, excluding someone is not just about hurt feelings. When one or more employees don’t get an invite to anoffice party, they have reason to file a discrimination claim.
Irelandhad one unfortunate case where an excluded employee caused a company some headaches and money. The worker wasn’t invited to a Christmas after-party and felt discriminated against.
“Mean girls” at work are still common, but there are ways to deal with them
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“Mean girl” behavior might run rampant in high school when we’re teenagers, but when we enter the workforce, we expect our colleagues to act like adults. Why does this kind of behavior persist even well into adulthood?
Therapist Samantha Levineexplainedto Nylon that this kind of behavior aligns with our natural desire to belong to in-groups. “We as humans naturally gravitate toward a group that we would like to define our identities,” she said. Whether we do it consciously or not, this creates the “us” vs. “them” mentality.
So, how do you deal with mean girls at work? Most experts advise disengaging and especially not participating inoffice gossip. If necessary, it’s best to address the conflict personally: talk about the issue with the person or people who are being disrespectful alone.
Georgene Huang, the co-founder and CEO of the career community for women Fairygodboss, alsosaysnot to take it personally. “Ask yourself whether you’re dealing with a one-time incident with a specific trigger, or if this behavior is likely to repeat itself and keep dragging you down.”
Then, if everything else fails, there’s the boss and HR. This is the workplace, after all, not high school or college, and appropriate conduct and respect are expected of employees regarding coworkers.
Many commenters pointed out how unprofessional and unfriendly the coworkers were: “Clueless about office etiquette”
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