What’s the most annoying thing you can put in a work email? A new survey of over 1,000 U.S. workers found that the biggest pet peeve is misspelled names (24.4%), followed by emojis (21.6%) and referring to coworkers as “babe” or “doll” (20.5%).

Further down the list are too many exclamation marks (17.3%) and unnecessary puns (13.1%) … or, as we’ll call them henceforth, excess-clamation marks!!!!! 🤣😂😅

Ho ho ho FOMO: Do you have to go to your office holiday party?

Infographic: Office holiday parties by the numbers

Only Murders in the Building: A multigenerational workplace dramedy

(Source: Shutterstock)

Once upon a time, it was considered bad form if employees didn’t show their face at the office’s annual holiday soiree. Staying home would be like placing coal in each coworker’s stocking.

But does that hold true in 2023?

Companies have been successful in getting butts back in seats, but for many early and mid-career employees, work-life balance and boundary-setting have replaced networking and climbing the corporate ladder. Plus, younger workers drink less alcohol, so they might not see the appeal of getting drunk with the boss while wearing itchy Santa hats.

Let’s break down whether you need to attend …

Managers: It’s mandatory

In addition to ensuring your team’s assignments get done, a manager’s job is to act as a mentor and support system. The work holiday party is a great opportunity to bond with your team in a festive environment and even meet their significant others.

By skipping it without a good excuse, you’ll deny your directs that opportunity … and risk coming across as a Scrooge who doesn’t care about them beyond their ability to meet deadlines.

Remote workers: Drop by (for a bit) on Zoom

If your holiday party has a virtual-attendance option, consider logging in briefly. Nobody expects you to stick around for hours of secondhand merriment. However, showing your face on the wall monitor to raise a quick toast will win you loyalty points. Reindeer-themed PJs are optional.

New hires: You should probably go

If you’re new to your company, it’s a good idea to attend the holiday party, demonstrating enthusiasm right out of the gate. You don’t have to stay all night — that might be awkward — but put in an hour or two of face time, make a bunch of solid first impressions, and that’s usually enough.

(Stick to one drink per hour max; you can get cheerier at next year’s party when you actually know these people.)

Longtime employees: It’s your call

If you’ve been working at your company for years and have stellar office attendance, then chances are you can get away with skipping the party. You’ll have to wait ‘til next week to hear all the hot gossip, but at least you won’t be the subject of it.

(Source: Hulu)

Hulu’s critically acclaimed comedy series Only Murders in the Building follows a trio of unlikely friends — played by Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin — as they use their true-crime podcast to solve murders that occur in their upscale Manhattan apartment complex.

OK, Martin Short and Steve Martin are likely friends, but their surprising chemistry with Gomez is what makes the show special … and it offers up some valuable lessons on the benefits of working in an intergenerational team.

Problem-solving often means drawing from experience and historical context. Your most senior team member likely has their own important input on getting out of a jam, like when Charles-Haden Savage (Martin) advises Mabel (Gomez) that it’s futile to try to extricate oneself from being handcuffed to a pre-war cement beam.

(No wonder an international survey of talent managers by 360Learning found that nearly 40% worry about “losing the knowledge the older generation takes with them when they retire.”)

Young people, on the other hand, offer fresher ideas and know when to break outdated rules. Mabel, who is more knowledgeable about the podcast market and recording technology, understands that snapping an elicit picture of a crime scene might be just the move that will help the gang crack a case.

(As for Oliver, the energetic and neurotic theater director played by Short, he’s never without a good dip to munch on. Everyone works better when the snacks are good.)

Get our top tips for managing a multigenerational workforce.

• 1913: Henry Ford instituted the world’s first moving assembly line, reducing Model T production time from 12 hours to 1.5 hours. 
• 1953: Hugh Hefner published the first edition of Playboy. Today, Playboy is no longer a magazine, but it sells millions of dollars worth of merch with a new business strategy focused on influencers. 
• 1988: NBC agreed to a record $401 million for broadcasting rights to the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. (In 2014, it bid nearly $8 billion to broadcast the Olympics for a decade.)
• 1998: Exxon paid $73.7 billion to buy Mobile, becoming Exxon-Mobil, the largest company in the world at the time.
• 2018: Japanese broadcaster NHK launched the world’s first super-high-definition 8K television channel with footage from Antarctica and the International Space Station.

Written by Rachel Brodsky, Jason Roeder, Tess Barker, and Ali Saleh. Comic by John McNamee.