We have one, tonight. It’s off-site at a country club, and may last 4-ish hours. I already RSVP’d, but now my wife is sick, and I am not really enthusiastic about “mandatory fun” with work people.
Someone at my job asked about tuxedos-sort of OT, but how much money do you need to make to have a tux handy, or rent one for a job function?
Does your workplace still do holiday parties? your thoughts on attendance are appreciated.
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My team did a virtual one last year, which was fine. About an hour at the end of the day, just chatting and getting to know each other.
The company did a big gala affair this year. Some of my colleagues who are more local to the home office went and had a good-enough time, but afterwards, I’ve heard some chatter that it quickly became apparent that the event was a) mostly a circle jerk for senior-level people and b) a massive expense that could have been better spent rewarding employees monetarily.
My current work has one and honestly they are something I am mixed on. If I am in a work environment that is like this all year long and it’s got a feel of “getting to know/bond” then sure this is great. But a holiday party and really not much the rest of the year – I’m good without attending.
How I’ve felt about them has varied wildly depending on where I was working.
At a shitty warehouse I used to work at, I haaated them. Corporate bigwigs would fly in to visit the branch and brag about their profits for the quarter while we were still begging for raises and basic maintenance. Like, thanks for the cold pizza and congratulations on your 10-year gold watch award but can you maybe pitch in to get the water fountain fixed in the hallway?
At the small company I work for now, I actually look forward to it. Everyone’s pretty cool with each other and we do fun shit like Top Golf or just rent a room at a nice restaurant.
Our team was usually just a decent lunch and then we got the afternoon off without having to use PTO.
My new team is all work from home. Our boss reimburses a door dash order up to $50 and then we eat it while on teams together.
I would hate a really fancy event like yours. I hate getting dressed up.
I always dreaded but enjoyed them back in the before times but on the whole I’d rather do without. Especially since attending the holiday party means getting on a plane for me.
This year, instead of a party we’re closing the office for the last week of the year. If the alternative to holiday parties is several extra days of PTO, I hope I never attend another one.
We just do our own team one, the company contributes with some money that we claim back. I really like my team so that’s pretty cool.
I enjoy ours. Only the people who want to have fun go. It’s fun. Bring something to play if you want to interact without small talk.
It just depends on the job/people. I like almost everyone at the small company I work for now and I’m looking forward to getting mildly drunk with them all tonight.
My dad was a C-level executive at a huge company for awhile and he taught me a trick: if you’re not feeling it, go around the room and talk to as many people as you can in an hour, then sneak out.
I own a small business, I always hated holiday parties so I just give them $$$ and say “have fun with your friends”. My partner had more corporate holiday parties, this year was a new job that pays well and is very generous.
It was a lot more enjoyable, bosses didn’t cheap out, we won expensive sports tickets and there’s just no bitterness. It wasn’t like “thanks for dinner I’d rather a bonus” vibe
I’m not a huge fan of them, but it depends on what I want to get out of them. For instance, I’m relatively new at my company and it’s large, so I don’t know many people. I went to ours specifically for networking and putting names to faces, but my social anxiety had me walking in 30 minutes late because I had to convince myself to go.
Absolutely hate them. I get enough of my coworkers during the week and don’t want to spend any part of my weekend or after hours with them. This year I managed to dodge my wife’s and my own and it was great.
The funnest one I had was a 50 person MSP I worked at where most of us were in mid to late 20s and they had great tech-related door prizes (sweet keyboards, gift cards etc). It was very focused on the employees and the company would pay for a taxi if you needed it (before Uber days).
Now I just don’t really care. It was fun when the people I worked with were fun.
I love them but I was at a company for 12 years that occasionally did a small group thing Intermittently, so my new job flys us out to head quarters and puts us up in a hotel for it. I don’t even care how shitty it maybe or fast paced… I just appreciate that the company is doing something for us.
I am going to my third one tonight. Over invited to all our office parties. It’s cool, I like it Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. I normally don’t do all three, but it’s good to see everyone this year.
We don’t have a dress code but I normally get a holiday blazer for the events.
I don’t mind ours – it’s an informal thing, but it’s good to see everyone from out of town. We have a decent catered meal with pizza for the kids and the picky. The dress code is “wear clothes”.
It’s about 2 hours of loud extroverts having their fun chatting away, until the alcohol slows them down and they head home, and then another couple hours of us nerds playing board games.
After being in the corporate world for some time, I found they can be hit and miss. Best ones were small gatherings, while the worst ones were the “mandatory fun” you were talking about.
One thing’s for sure though – the virtual Zoom parties are no bueno.
It’s a work event, be professional. I attend, but I don’t love them.
My current job had one when I first started at a bowling alley which was a lot of fun. My wife and I went and they gave out drink vouchers and had catered fajitas from a very good fajita place. We didn’t drink, so we gave our vouchers away because drinking with coworkers is weird and just seems like a bad idea. If I wasn’t working remotely, then I would probably go to another holiday party if it is something active, like bowling. They had one at a distillery, which seems fun, but I just can’t bring myself to drink with coworkers, so I didn’t go to that one.
The last place I worked at had what I consider to be the best holiday party. They had someone just constantly grilling steaks/fajitas at our warehouse (I love eating!) and they had gifts for every employee. Like real gifts, some people got tvs, that kind of stuff. The higher ups also got envelopes full of cash, which is the best way to get a holiday bonus hahaha.
I don’t mix my work life with my personal life. If I’m not in the clock, I’m not interested.
I look at it as some mandatory fun. Get a few drinks, maybe some food, and talk to the same people in a different context.
I’ve never had a formal company event with tuxedos and such, but I’d probably skip that because it’s more overall trouble than it’s worth. Parties shouldn’t be a burden.
I’m okay with work parties if they are on company time during normal business hours, and not involving family. The family members don’t know anybody there anyway so it’s just long and awkward for them.
I don’t have extra hours in my life to give to work for things that I’m not being paid for. Outside of work hours I have my own goals and uses for my time, and my own social circle if I choose to do something with them.
If I like my co-workers then they’re great. Otherwise I avoid them like the plague.
I’ve worked corporate jobs for the near entirety of my career. A few things stick out to me:
1. Any gathering after work should be treated as some sort of networking event. Networking makes it seem like it’s a slimey thing, but you never know anything until you start talking to people. Even if it’s finding out that a co-worker’s cousin is a handyman and can help fix a problem at your home. You wouldn’t have found out if you hadn’t attended that party and talked to somebody or found out something you didn’t know before.
2. Drink in moderation. I learned this the hard way early in my career. Got really drunk at a summer party, was thrown in a cab. Upchucked everything outside my apartment. Longest night ever. Boss thought it would be “funny” to box up everything at my desk. I guess I can laugh at it now, but lesson learned.
3. Zoom parties suck. No way, no how. You invite me to a Zoom after hours … fuck. that.
4. While it’s nice to allow for +1’s, they are kind of in a shitty situation. They don’t know anybody except for you and when you talk to work colleagues, they’re kind of the odd one out in conversations unless you’re talking non-work stuff. In my entire working career so far, I can only think of one or two years that my spouse was formally invited. She’s OK if I have a work party and doesn’t attend. She doesn’t work with these folks, I do. It’s actually OK from her view to NOT attend.
Since I’ve become a fireman they are the best
we’re having our holiday party in January since a bunch of the team is out/traveling the next few weeks.
we had a bunch of folks in the office this week for some 2023 product/project planning. there was catered lunch and we went out to a pub/restaurant for dinner and drinks. granted, we’re a small company with less than 20 people (with a handful of them living overseas), so with 10 of us there it was pretty much “yeah, it’s our unofficial holiday party”.
one place I worked at would always have a big catered spread. but it was a very family-oriented place so people would bring their kids (and extended families) and there’d be costumed characters, magicians, etc for the kids. I would usually pack up and go after eating, since there wasn’t much reason to hang around.
another place would rent out a restaurant/venue. it was a branch of a multinational manufacturer, the specific office was in the New York City area. it was fun but there was also a lot of pressure to stay until closing (granted, they’d usually have a good DJ, and the folks who worked in the factory/manufacturing area were a blast to party with).
I prefer having something smaller and casual.
I’ve had good ones and bad ones in the past.
One previous company rented a room at a country club/resort, had an open bar, and paid for half of the hotel room if we wanted it.
Another had a shitty buffet during working hours two blocks from the office, but we had to attend in shifts so the office had staffing during the event, business casual required, snow and slush to trudge through to get there.
Current company is fully remote and international, so they just send us a nifty branded gift.
Pop in, wear a suit, talk to enough people to make sure they remember you were there, then let them know you have to take care of your wife and you gotta leave. Perfect excuse to cut it short if it sucks.
The more money I make the less inclined I would be to wear a tux.
That being said, my lady and I went to our last one and it was a surprisingly fun time. I expected to hate it and wasn’t going to go
We had one yesterday in our building. Started at 4p, ended at 6p. Three different orgs within the company who all routinely work together. Even had several people who have been remote for a few years come in and it was great to see them in person. Spouse/partners were invited but not mandatory. Food and drinks and hanging out. Was a nice time and just enough holiday time socialization for my taste. Proud of our leaders who actually listened to their teams about no “after work” parties but wanted to have something to promote connection. We are working in a hybrid environment so it’s been tricky for sure.
The bigger corporate ones were fucking awful and I avoided them at all costs, but since I’ve been working for smaller, more independent companies they’re a lot more genuine and enjoyable.
I feel like the corporate ones were bullshit pandering and team building bullshit to try and make people feel like they actually gave a fuck and the smaller ones are actually just for fun and more intimate, for lack of a better word. When you work along side the guy that owns the company instead of 50 rungs under them it’s a way better vibe and actually makes me feel valued as a person rather than an expendable asset.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, a paid for trip and all the amenities are nice, but when the job sucks the life right out of you it’s not even remotely close to worth it. I’d rather have a barbeque with 15 coworkers than a “vacation” in vegas with 200 people I don’t know, but maybe that’s just my age speaking.
Either way, they’re not really my thing, but I’ll go every once in a while.