During the holiday season, business owners often plan team-building exercises and company functions to celebrate the company’s successes, reward hardworking employees, or serve the local community as a team.  However, sometimes company functions can get out of hand when employees celebrate a little too much, or they are injured while participating in an event, creating a potential Workers Compensation issue. In today’s blog post, we discuss three ways to reduce company liability for Workers Compensation claims regarding company functions and team-building events.

Avoid Serving Alcohol

One of the biggest mistakes companies can make when planning holiday parties is to serve alcohol or offer an open bar for employees and their significant others.  Although it might seem harmless to allow employees a drink or two to help unwind, some employees or their dates may have a hard time limiting their alcohol consumption, posing a danger to themselves and others.  In addition, alcohol at company functions may lead employees to say or do foolish and irresponsible things, which could jeopardize their work relationships as well as their job security.  Open bars should be avoided, and if alcohol is part of a company function, put a limit on the number of drinks served per person to reduce potential Workers Compensation liability.

Pick The Right Time and Location

A safer company function or team building exercise starts by choosing the right time and location.  Ideally, a team building exercise should not be planned at the last-minute or immediately after work as employees are far more likely to be tired after a long day and not as careful during participation or during the drive home. For company parties and holiday events, these should also be planned during the weekend to encourage attendance and also ensure that employees can get home at reasonable times. These small steps can help ensure that employees avoid injuries or car accidents due to late nights or tired participation.

Make Participation Voluntary

Although team building exercises and company-wide community service projects are great ways to build team unity and foster better work relationships, they can also pose a risk for employees if they are forced to participate.  For example, mandatory community service projects may result in physical injury for employees forced to stand for hours collecting donations, or gathering trash for road-side clean up projects.  Although team building exercises and company community service projects have value, participation should always be mandatory to avoid liability issues caused by employee personal injuries.

Workers Compensation Liability can be reduced for businesses simply by making a few small changes before planning company functions and team building events this holiday season. Aegis Insurance and Financial Services can also help protect companies further by offering reliable, top-quality commercial insurance solutions at competitive rates. Aegis offers a full range of commercial insurance policies, including Workers Compensation, Business Owners Policy (BOP), Commercial Property, Commercial Auto, General Liability, and Excess Liability coverage.  Contact Aegis today at 713-850-7622 for more information, or go online to request a free quote today!