Regular ol’ workdays can be scary enough — boo, expense reports! — but Halloween is a virtual land mine of potential horrors. Rowdy pranks. Questionable costumes. Office parties with suspiciously strong drinks.
Don’t get sucked into these tales of terror. Here’s how to enjoy Halloween in the workplace, without your antics haunting you until next fall.
Make scares more festive than freaky. Last year, the office of Damian Garcia, regional vice president of specialized staffing firm Robert Half, had a contest for the scariest cubicle decorations. Think: cobwebs, skeletons — the works. “But one team took it up a notch and had a huge, fake spider rigged so when someone got close, it triggered a sensor and jumped out at the person,” Garcia says. The spider scare was a hit and helped that team win the contest. “Well, it was a hit with everyone except the first person to trigger the spider,” he adds. “She was so startled that she almost fell down and nearly broke into tears.”
Thankfully, in this situation, there was no use crying over spilled milk — eh, sprung spiders. “We were all able to laugh at the situation, because no one actually got hurt,” he says, adding: “Of course, it’s always important to make sure workplace competitions don’t get out of hand, and safety remains a priority.”
Opt for office-appropriate costumes. What’s scarier than an airborne arachnid? Remembering your 9 a.m. client meeting when you’re already mid-commute — and dressed as Harry Potter. Or, gather ’round the campfire and listen to this horror story from Robert Hosking, executive director of specialized staffing firm OfficeTeam: Many moons ago, his colleague showed up to the office dressed as Daisy Duke of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” (Before your time? Do a Google Image search, and you’ll see why this was a questionable decision.) “The outfit was so revealing that even Daisy Duke would have considered it inappropriate,” Hosking says. “The worker thought it was perfectly acceptable to interview candidates and go about her regular business in that getup.”
Before pulling out the booty shorts or wizard robe, ask yourself the following questions about your costume:
— Is it too revealing? Generally, if you have to ask yourself this question, the answer is probably “yes.” Here’s how U.S. News On Careers blogger Alison Green puts it in an article about celebrating Halloween at work: “Halloween isn’t license to violate the rules of decorum that are normally in play at work,” she writes. “And your co-workers shouldn’t see any more of your body than they do on any other day of the year.”
— Is this costume insensitive? Keep it politically correct by avoiding ethnic or racial tropes, Green writes. Again, if you have to question whether this costume would offend your Mexican, Asian, African-American, Middle Eastern or ______ colleague, the answer is a resounding “yep.” Step away from the geisha getup, and opt for some cat ears. “And this isn’t just a courtesy and decency issue, although that’s certainly part of it,” Green writes. “Employers in the U.S. have a legal responsibility to ensure their workplaces don’t constitute a hostile environment for employees on the basis of protected classes, which include race, ethnicity and national origin.”
— Is this costume impractical? Will you be tripping on your cape all day? Will your mask or face paint make it difficult to take calls? Will no one take you seriously if you have a lightening bolt painted on your forehead? “Here’s a good litmus test,” Green writes: “If you were called into a last-minute meeting with a potential VIP client and your company’s president, would you be comfortable in what you’re wearing? Would they be comfortable?”
— Oh wait — should I even wear a costume? If this is your first Halloween with this company, or if you just want to be extra safe, ask around about whether people even dress up. “It’s best to find out your company’s policy on dressing up for Halloween,” Hosking says. Otherwise, you might feel pretty awkward as the only khaleesi in a sea of khakis.
Don’t be a party monster. Halloween parties are common among many offices, says Bruce Tulgan, author of “The 27 Challenges Managers Face” and founder of RainmakerThinking Inc., a management and workplace research firm. “Sometimes these get out of control or go a bit awry,” he says. Take it easy on the witch’s brew, so you don’t say or do something that would make a Daisy Duke outfit look tame. “As with most things,” Tulgan says, “when alcohol gets involved is when things really have a chance to go wrong.”
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3 Tips for Celebrating Halloween at Work Without Embarrassing Yourself originally appeared on usnews.com
