Productivity alert. According to researchers, businesses should anticipate a signficant drop in productivity beginning December 11th-- in part because we are now officially entering the Holiday Office Season.

While the years after 9/11 saw a decline in holiday office cheer, it seems that that holiday office party has made a comeback. This from Inc.com

Of more than 100 businesses surveyed nationwide, 94 percent said they were planning some kind of year-end bash, up 7 percent from 2005, according to Battalia Winston International, a New York-based executive-recruiting firm.

Most of those parties will take place at night, somewhere outside the workplace, and with a full-stocked bar, the survey found.

What they won't include are clients, spouses, or gifts.

Almost every business surveyed said they were not inviting clients this year -- a growing trend signaling the end to an old-school practice of using company parties to network with prospective customers, the survey said.

Likewise, less than 40 percent said they would be exchanging gifts this year, a 10 percent decline from the economic boom years of the late 1990s, the survey said.

With that, bloggers have been sharing their advice on what to and not to do at the party.

From Minneapolis,
a top ten list.

1.Have it at a place you can't afford to eat at otherwise. We had our at Mission. Knowing the GM of a restaurant means that you will get great service and free desert.
2. Don't start drinking until all of the work is done.
3. Once you start drinking, make friends with the seriously cute waiter who is working the room. Make statements like, "Seriously, I'm as bored as you are." This will ensure that you are never in need of a refill. (The guy must have followed me around with the wine bottle.)
[edit]
10. Be at work early, the next day.

Joyous also offers some advice

You’re going to have to talk to someone.
If the thought of party small talk makes you sweat, don't panic. People who blather on are usually the ones who embarrass themselves—not the quiet type. Simply think before you speak. Have a list of potential topics in mind that will help you get a conversation going—or consult a popular magazine or two for ideas. Try to avoid yes or no questions. "What are your plans for the holidays?" will generate a more detailed response than "Are you traveling for the holidays?" And remember, the wallflower near the buffet is probably looking for a conversation just as much as you are.

In responding to the surveyCindy Kirscher Goodman writes,

Most of us appreciate some gesture from our employers to celebrate the season. But I'm convinced most employees don't appreciate the lavish parties some employers host for the holidays. My advice, ask your employees what they want

And so I share my own cautionary tale of the holiday office party.

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a land far far away, two young female reporters would get together for a weekly home-cooked meal. One night, as they dined on Chun King Chicken Chow Mein over Minute Rice and a bottle of Nouveau Beaujolais, the silly young girls decided it would be fun to rank their male co-workers. And so, long before David Letterman had a Top 10 list, these two ingenues created their own top 10 -- ranking their news director as the potentially best lover in the newsroom.

Several months passed. The two girls never breathed a word of the list. But then, on the night of the holiday party, one of the girls, who had one too many rum-and-cokes, decided it was time to go public with the list.

And so it came to pass that one of the young reporters could never quite get excited about going to a holiday office party again.

The moral of the story: Don't share secrets with girls who like rum-and-coke, and leave the Top 10 List to David Letterman.

Image Credit: Flickr member Mandy Moritz.

Elana blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness