Revealed: What the City is doing in place of the classic office Christmas party this year

The pandemic has put paid to the traditional office Christmas party - that annual workplace event beloved and loathed in equal measure.

We wondered what City firms and bosses at companies across London were planning to do in its stead.

It turned out that what has replaced a uniform drinks-followed-by-more-drinks pattern is far more diverse.

We found companies opting for everything from Zoom parties featuring celebrity cameos and virtual carol services led by Robbie Williams, to virtual wine-tasting and baking sessions with cocktails delivered to employees’ homes, and the abandonment of any group activity whatsoever in favour of subscriptions to mental health support apps.

Sadly, some companies reported that they are not having any office bash at all this year. Christmas was well and truly cancelled this year in some offices. 

Here is a snapshot of London’s 2020 Christmas party season:

The full-on immersive virtual experience

It became clear that the VC crowd know how to celebrate the festive season in style.

At one Farringdon-based venture capital firm, AlbionVC, did “a series of smaller events instead of a big bash” for all the tech, software and healthcare start-ups the firm is invested in.

For the UCL Tech Fund, it held a black tie cocktail party and Pictionary game on Zoom, with Nico Cocktails delivered through everyone’s letterboxes.

Marketing manager Katya Pogudina said “it was great fun although there were some questionable art skills in the team”. For the wider Albion group, they held a Zoom wine tasting session with six different wines, sourced from a wine shop in Battersea, followed by group baking in our individual kitchens.  

Next week the firm is even planning a full Christmas day on Zoom. It will involve speeches and a festive lunch, provided by Deliveroo or UberEats to everyone’s homes, followed by the annual Albion quiz.  

The party planned for next summer instead

Andrew Jones, boss of warehouses landlord LondonMetric said the firm’s staff will, instead of a Christmas party, get a case of wine each. The company has also planned a team trip away next summer in place of the usual Christmas bash. Executives have already booked a space for lunch at The George on the Isle of Wight, subject to any Covid restrictions.

The humorous take on Christmases past

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the statutory body which protects customers when authorised financial services firms fail, has been holding Christmas party Zoom calls where everyone tells a story about their worst or best ever Christmas party experiences.

The avatar parties

New platform Cosmos Video said several City firms had secured its services for holiday festivities. The platform allows people to walk around on screen as avatars to in some way recreate that sense of mingling at an event, and comes complete with spatial audio, allowing one-to-one conversations.

The very 2020-appropriate subscription alternatives

Other firms have jettisoned any attempt at a party altogether, and opted to try to find an alternative way to thank staff for their efforts over this challenging year.

More than one tech company has offered to buy staff subscriptions to mental health support app Calm, in recognition of the toll working from home has taken on many employees.

Accountancy giant PwC questioned 53 mainly FTSE 350 businesses about Christmas events this year.  It found two thirds had changed their plans for the 2020 festive period due to the pandemic, with 13 of those changing plans saying they were offering an alternative such as a gift or voucher.

PwC reward partner, Alastair Wood, told the Standard last week: “What we are hearing from clients is that they do want to find ways to acknowledge and recognise the efforts of the workforce this year and that means being creative about what they are funding.”  

The ‘virtual celebrity’ parties

Some high-end City Christmas parties included a celebrity appearance back in the pre-pandemic era, and some bosses have decided to bring some on-screen glamour to thank the troops.  

As the Standard has reported, some bosses are paying up to £20,000 for celebrities to entertain their staff during Zoom Christmas parties.

Stars on the books of event planners offering celebrity Christmas calls include chat show host Graham Norton, comedians James Corden and Katherine Ryan, we well as singers Paloma Faith and and Rita Ora.

Experts say the A-list — including Joanna Lumley, Fearne Cotton and David Walliams, who are all on the books of events company JLA— will set firms back “upwards of £20,000”.

Nick Rogers is the founder of casting and PR agency The Cast, which books celebrities or brand and marketing campaigns. He said he’d seen a “surge” in virtual bookings.

Similar to Cameo, Thrillz is another website where Londoners and businesses can book celebrities for video calls. Its planners said they have booked celebrity guests for four big accounting firms and VC funds in the UK for their Christmas parties and annual shareholder meetings.

Popular choices for speakers from Thrillz have included comedian Josh Berry, sportsman Matt Dawson, and snooker player Dennis Taylor.