There’s a lot of traffic on the PI forum and Facebook groups lately about staff social events. Do we have them? Can we have them? If staff go ahead and meet up but don’t follow the government guidelines and then plaster it all over social media, can I do anything about it?!

So I thought I’d write a little guide to help you out…

Can we have staff social events?

Of course you can.

Provided you aren’t breaching any government guidelines. Be aware that guidelines will be different depending in which country of the UK you are in and whether there are any local lockdown measures in place.

In England (with no local lockdown) currently there can be no more than 30 people, in a space large enough to permit social distancing and deemed to be ‘COVID-secure’. Take it from the Met Police here. Be aware of infection control – so try to avoid buffet-style catering and ensure there are sufficient hand-washing facilities.

Gatherings of more than 6 people/2households inside a private dwelling are forbidden! So if you can hire somewhere like a community hall or a marquee (weather permitting!) then you’ll probably be okay. But be careful not to go over that 30-people limit or you’ll be falling foul of the law.

Should we have staff social events?

Around this time, a lot of you will be starting to plan your Christmas parties and I imagine many staff are already assuming it’s not going to go ahead. And whether it should or not does need to be considered seriously.

If all of your staff are together for a social event, and one of them ends up testing positive, you’ve got the potential there to knock out your entire team in one fell swoop. Obviously if your event is COVID-secure, this shouldn’t be an issue, but how confident can we be that everyone will stay 2m away from each other at all times, or be in closer proximity for less than 15 minutes in total? Plus you’re unlikely to be wearing full PPE at these things!

Some people might be thinking more flexibly – like splitting your staff into teams of up to six and having ‘mini’ Christmas meals/drinks. This is permitted under the rules and there’s less chance of knocking the whole team out at once, and it’s still an opportunity to show gratitude for the work the staff have done this year. But this could cause problems in terms of who goes in whose group. If there are relationship issues in your teams, you don’t want to leave anyone out.

Alternatively, you could recommend to your partners that whatever they’d normally spend on each staff member for the Christmas do (if you’re lucky enough to work somewhere where this happens!), that money could be converted into a gift voucher for each staff member for them to spend as they wish. It could even be a restaurant gift voucher.

And what do we do if staff have already attended an event, but they’ve haven’t followed guidelines and they’ve plastered it all over social media?!

What staff do outside work is generally none of our business, unless the following caveats apply:

• Staff are able to be linked to the practice, and their behaviour or actions could bring the practice into disrepute
• The provision of ‘extended workplace’ could apply to the activity being carried out, and the behaviour demonstrated is in breach of practice policies
• Staff are breaking the law and the practice is made aware of it

Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

A recent example I came across involved practice staff having a party and posting pictures on social media. There were more than six people in these photos, from different households; they weren’t social distancing, and the account holder was linked to the practice on her profile. Patients saw the photos and reported the practice to the CQC and the CCG. The poor manager had to complete a whole disciplinary investigation and report the account holder’s actions to those organisations.

Whether we like it or not, NHS staff have to demonstrate role-model behaviour during this pandemic. Members of the public hold us up to standards that they don’t necessarily implement themselves – but for good reason. We are the experts in these circumstances, even if we don’t always feel like it.

In the above example, staff not only brought the practice into disrepute but also showed a flagrant disregard for government guidelines and health and safety standards. The colleagues who weren’t present were no doubt incredibly concerned; had the partying staff come back into work, they could have brought COVID with them and infected their colleagues. Practice staff would have been quite entitled to submit grievances against those colleagues for putting the health and safety of their team at risk.

If the event was organised solely for staff of the practice, and only staff were invited, the provision of ‘extended workplace’ could also be applied. This would mean that the policies of the practice – including the Code of Conduct and Health and Safety Policies – would still apply during the event. You often hear stories of people being sacked for their behaviour at the work’s Christmas party – ‘extended workplace’ is what allows this to happen. It’s important to remind staff that it’s not only how they behave during their contracted hours that becomes practice business.

Obviously, if a staff member breaks the law and is arrested, cautioned or convicted then they must inform the practice that this has happened. Currently I can’t find any confirmation that breaching the government guidelines is illegal; obviously fines are being issued, but I don’t think this is then recorded as a criminal offence. But if someone were prosecuted for their behaviour, as an employer you’d need to know and decide whether that impacted their contract of employment. Is it a breakdown of mutual trust and confidence?

What can we do then if we’re made aware of breaches?

All of this falls under ‘conduct’ so should be dealt with under your Disciplinary Policy. Whether formally or informally is up to you, but remember that if you’re considering it formally there needs to be an investigation process and the employee given the opportunity to have their say.

We have to take into consideration that a lot of our staff will have worked tirelessly over the last five months and there are bound to be some slip-ups (especially as the guidance isn’t always clear). I’m not excusing it at all, but there does need to be a sense of balance. To go in with all guns blazing, dishing out formal sanctions all over the place, will probably not do you any favours in helping to keep that staff member engaged and continuing to work hard going forward.

For the serial offenders, or where the behaviour demonstrated is so mindlessly stupid (like having a massive party and plastering it all over Facebook), you may need to take a firmer approach. The issues to cover are:

• The flagrant breach of government guidelines that are enacted to reduce transmission of the virus (and essentially the breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act, which mandates that all employees are responsible for maintaining the health and safety of the workplace)
• The potential impact on colleagues if one of those people had tested positive (i.e. having to lose so many staff at once to self-isolation)
• The disruption to the service if many staff had to self-isolate at once
• The reputational damage to the practice and bringing them into disrepute
• The loss of trust of patients that has resulted due to their actions

What sanctions could you impose if there was no real mitigation for the behaviour? Let’s not joke, this is serious stuff. Cumulatively, you could probably argue for dismissal. But again, consider the impact that this might have on the rest of the team (especially if you’re then dismissing multiple people) in terms not only of workload/recruitment, but also in terms of morale. You’ll probably find that a serious dressing-down and informing them that dismissal is potentially an option will be enough to elicit remorse and (hopefully) prevent a repeat of the behaviour. You also need to take into account each individual’s previous conduct record. A first or final written warning would likely suffice. Of course, never prejudge the outcome and always listen to what the employee has to say for themselves.

For more tips and tricks on how to handle disciplinary matters in general practice, keep an eye out for the upcoming HR Masterclass module covering the topic.