Office parties are traditionally about getting drunk and embarrassing yourself in front of the boss. But some companies have found a more fulfilling way of getting together at Christmas, reports Catherine Foley

There's a sparkle in Dolores Devey's eyes as she sits in her house in Kimmage, Dublin, delighted with the chance to tell a story. A sense of fun and drama bubbles up as she remembers how an individual burst into song one day, to the amazement of those in the quiet offices of Premier Dairies, where she worked as a ledger clerk keeping track of the milkmen's accounts. "Don't let the stars get in your eyes," she sings with gusto, her arms going up automatically to still us.

Ciara Cauldwell, who visits Devey for a couple of hours each week, is delighted she decided to do so. The two of them have become firm friends and Devey's Monday-to-Friday isolation has ended.

Visits to the elderly, fun runs, carol singing, serving up Christmas dinners or organising seasonal parties and sing-songs have taken on a great significance in recent years for some employees and their companies, acting as an antidote to the excess of the annual staff do. A change of seasonal attitude is afoot among some in the business world, with the focus shifting from the traditional knees-up to a more measured outlook and a greater degree of engagement with communities.

"A lot of people are fed up with Christmas parties and just want to get away from them," says Dermot Kirwan, development officer with Friends of the Elderly, a voluntary organisation which aims to alleviate loneliness and isolation among elderly people. Christmas parties tend to bring up "all the old hostilities, and animosities come to the surface", he says. For many, the looming social splurge is simply part of an annual extended beer-fest and, to combat this, says Kirwan, "a lot of companies are cancelling Christmas parties or putting them off until January" while others "are taking a more positive approach, with a charity aspect on the night that makes it a bit more meaningful".

Some companies have started to take even bolder steps, organising their own fundraising events and volunteering initiatives throughout the year, all of which become more intensive during the Christmas season. Kirwan lists Eircom, Vodafone, Hibernian Insurance, Axa Insurance and Guinness as examples of companies who are involved in doing something for charity at this time of the year.

"It adds a different complexion to the office environment," he says.

Michael O'Hara, managing director of Data Solutions, which supported charity Christmas cards in the past, says his company decided five years ago to do something that would get the staff more involved. Its Circle of Life Christmas fun run turned into a great success "and pretty much, they all got involved", says O'Hara. Last year, 1,000 people ran and the company raised €100,000 in aid of Barnardos and Friends of the Elderly. The Christmas party is still held, but O'Hara says the fun run has changed the focus somewhat.

"Typically, we'd have a Christmas party on the Friday and the fun run on the Sunday," he explains. "It's just evolved in the last few years. We go down to the country for the night together as a team. It's still a very important thing, but it's not about going out and getting jarred. It's about spending time with your work colleagues."

The fun run has become "part of the weekend and part of the annual celebrations", he adds. "It's very good from a physical and mental health point of view."

Because it's the season of goodwill, "it's a really good time to go to people and say, 'I'm doing this, would you like to sponsor it'." Instead of "eating and drinking to excess, it's refreshing to do this run", O'Hara says. "Now we will have dinner and a few beers and say our goodbyes until Sunday." Instead of the easier option of Christmas charity cards, he feels that not only is the run a great leveller but that the physical exertion of the run kakes the subsequent "heartfelt satisfaction" of the achievement unquantifiable.

THE FESTIVE SEASON is the busiest time of the year at Axa Insurance offices all around the country, as the company's involvement in a range of different volunteering and fundraising exercises intensifies. Jacki Fagan, co-ordinator of the company's community-based volunteer programme, Hearts in Action, explains that it's the busiest time because people like to do something useful and feel a sense of achievement, of giving back to the community at Christmas time.

"This is the time that people will get involved, are very open to the different projects."

The Hearts in Action programme, she adds, is about forging ongoing relationships with local charities and developing strong links between community organisations and Axa employees. Since the programme began in 2000, staff in city- centre offices have volunteered to assist the Friends of the Elderly organisation in a range of activities. They take part in the charity's weekly get-togethers for the elderly, help out at its fun events, and collect and donate gifts for its raffles and draws.

"While it benefits Friends of the Elderly members, it also has a huge positive impact on staff by being able to give back to the local community," says Fagan.

Mary Cregan, of Hibernian Insurance, says the company's commitment to get involved in local communities where its offices are based started two years ago.

"As distinct from money-raising, we wanted to give time off, so the company allows time off [for volunteering]," she says.

Hibernian also has a full-time co- ordinator whose sole job is to organise and promote volunteering initiatives. In 2006, employees spent 699 hours doing voluntary work, from carol singing to hamper packing and distribution, while raising €251,680. "The benefits are huge," says Cregan.

The company organises challenge days, when teams of employees go out to transform or clean an area in a youth hostel or an old folks' home within a certain number of hours. Managers are now looking for more challenge days, Cregan says, because of their team-building element.

The next big initiative for their volunteer teams is to help celebrate the UN International Day of the Volunteer tomorrow, when teams will assemble hampers containing food, clothes and toys, and distribute them to the homeless, older people, youth and new communities.

The need for companies and individuals to get involved in volunteering work has never been greater, says Kirwan.

"We have ladies who ring up the talking clock just to hear a human voice," he says. He also describes the elderly men, whose identity had always been tied up with work, going into town to "walk up and down, do some harmless shopping and go home again without have contact with anyone".

There are 31,000 elderly people (defined as those aged over 70) living alone in the greater Dublin area and 121,000 throughout Ireland, according to the Central Statistics Office 2006 survey.

"We are getting calls from all over the country," says Kirwan. "People can almost lose the drive to socialise after a lifetime of rearing children and activity. Isolation and loneliness is the cause of depression.

"We just get the tip of the iceberg. More and more, we are getting calls from people living alone in the leafy suburbs in Ranelagh and Clonsilla. The further they are from the main street, the more isolated they are."

These are people who "just won't see anyone from Monday to Friday", he adds.

CIARA CAULDWELL, AN account director at Wilson Hartnell PR, heard about Friends of the Elderly earlier this year through her colleague at work, Lorraine Dwyer, who was already involved in a range of charity-based activities.

Cauldwell, one of 152 volunteers working in conjunction with Friends of the Elderly in the Dublin area, says she and Dolores Devey now "have a bit of a routine . . . we watch something on television together, we have a few cups of tea. We sit in the kitchen and we have a chat and catch up on gossip."

"It's a nice feeling to know that you are giving back something," she adds. "She was probably quite a character in her day. She's very astute and clued in. She surprises me how much she takes an interest. She knows current affairs . . . It's definitely something that grows with you."

Friends of the Elderly is based at 25 Bolton Street, Dublin 1.

Information: info@friendsoftheelderly.ie, cork@friendsoftheelderly.ie, 01-8731855 or (Cork) 086-0564390