The Christmas Party Is Over. The Fallout Isn’t.
Employee relations, people risk, and how the Employment Rights Act raises the bar for growing businesses.
What ER issues – and the Employment Rights Act (ERA) – really mean for scaling, non-unionised organisations
The Christmas party is supposed to be a pressure valve. A thank-you. A celebration. A moment where everyone relaxes after a long year. And yet, every January, HR sees the same pattern quietly emerge.
A comment that landed badly.
A message that crossed a line.
A manager oversharing about someone on their team.
A joke that felt fine in the moment… and very different the next morning.
A “can I just have a quiet word?” conversation that suddenly feels heavier than expected.
None of it was malicious. Most of it wasn’t intentional. But intent doesn’t undo impact - and that’s where employee relations issues tend to begin.
Why these moments matter more now than they used to
Historically, many founder-led and non-unionised organisations have managed ER issues informally. A conversation here. A reset there. Good intentions, strong culture, mutual trust.
That approach can work – until it doesn’t.
The direction of travel under the Employment Rights Act is clear: greater protection, stronger employee voice, and higher expectations around how concerns are handled, evidenced, and resolved.
What that means in practice is that situations which might once have been smoothed over quietly now sit in a very different risk landscape.
Not because your culture is broken or because your managers are suddenly doing a bad job, but because the bar has moved.
And many growing organisations haven’t yet moved with it.
The hidden ER risk in non-unionised, scaling businesses
In early-stage and scaling companies, ER issues don’t usually show up as dramatic flashpoints. They show up as discomfort - a founder unsure whether something “counts” as an issue, a manager wanting to do the right thing but worrying about saying the wrong thing, or a People lead sensing risk but lacking the time or senior backing to slow things down properly.
The old chestnuts:
“We’ve never needed a formal process before.”
“I don’t want this to become a ‘big’ thing.”
“This feels very corporate.”
All of that is understandable. But here’s the harsh reality … informality works until judgement slips.
trust works until boundaries blur. culture protects you – until the organisation grows.
Most ER problems aren’t caused by bad people (most of the time!) - they’re caused by organisations outgrowing the way they used to handle things.
Christmas parties just make the cracks visible
Social events tend to accelerate existing dynamics and boundaries loosen (as well as inhibitions). Suddenly you’re not just faced with an issue, but a spotlight on how you respond and what you did to prevent it happening.
This is where fractional HR earns its keep
This is the point where many organisations either panic and over-engineer a response, or downplay the issue and hope it disappears. What is actually needed is calm, measured judgement, a proportionate process and clear documentation.
This is where senior, fractional HR support makes a real difference in having an experienced, neutral partner who can first sense-check whether something is actually an ER issue, give you options on how to handle it (with a risk-reward analysis), guide managers through difficult conversations and - where possible - contain risk early, before it escalates into something bigger.
Why I focus so heavily on ER (and why it’s often overlooked)
I’ve handled employee relations at scale across fast-growing, international organisations where complexity, pace, and emotion collide. I know how quickly small missteps can become expensive distractions, and I know how much calmer things feel when issues are handled early, clearly, and with confidence. ER isn’t about being heavy-handed. It’s about protecting people and the business.
And doing so in a way that still feels human.
That’s exactly why I created my People & ER Response Kit.
It’s designed for those “something doesn’t feel right” moments – before you’re in full process territory – giving you clarity on what matters, guidance on what to do (and what not to do), and a way to pause, assess, and respond thoughtfully
You don’t need to use it because you’re in crisis. You use it to avoid one.
A final thought
If something from the last few weeks is sitting uncomfortably with you or if you’re aware that your approach to ER hasn’t quite kept pace with your growth then this is exactly the moment to address it. Fractional HR support works best before issues harden, positions entrench, or trust starts to wobble.
If you’d like to talk through a situation confidentially, or explore how I support organisations with ER risk and response, you can book a conversation here.
And if you want something practical to sense-check where you are right now, you can access the People & ER Response Kit.
The party may be over – but how you handle what comes next says a lot about the organisation you’re building.
