No sooner has the December issue of Business Life hit the seatbacks, complete with an invaluable guide to how to lay on the perfect Christmas party, than an email hits my inbox from Ebenezer Scrooge. At least I assume it's the old curmudgeon himself because the line in the subject box reads: "Vision of Christmas yet to come: no office party!"
In fact, it's from a recruitment agency called Office Angels, which is 'celebrating' its 25th anniversary with a piece of research that predicts the office party will be a thing of the past within 25 years.
As new technologies make remote working more and more viable, goes the argument, so social interaction between work colleagues will become increasingly virtual.
As someone who has spent much of the past few years as a freelancer operating from home, where the great challenge at the beginning of the working day was to ensure that I put my feet under the table rather than on it, my impression is that home working makes you more likely rather than less to seek out a little festive cheer.
Each year, I would email round friends in a similar position and organize the mother of all Christmas lunches.
There was only one downside to this cheery celebration. You've guessed it: there was no corporate sugar daddy to pick up the tab!
Dominic Midgley is acting editor of Business Life
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