Having to pay for work team building day

[Notanawayday]

Name changed for this.

I work part time for the NHS band 3 with colleagues who are band 6/7 so obviously better paid.

Every year we have no choice but to go on an afternoons team building day. Patient diaries are blocked out so my colleagues can go and admin have to attend too.

Last year it was bowling, year before pottery painting so not too expensive.

We have raised before about the trust we work for paying for us to go as it is on work time and we have no choice but to attend. Last year a couple of colleagues couldn’t afford the bowling had to sit there and watch.

There is no way our trust will pay for this forced team building day so there is no point even raising it again.

I was on annual leave last week when it was decided by our clinicians team lead that we will all be getting the train then a tube to Canary Wharf where we will be going to some sort of quiz event involving completing puzzles. Entry fee is £25 and then have to pay for food and drinks and of course train and fare tube which we can’t claim back. Whole cost will be around£60 and we will be there longer than our work finish time.

Im so fed up. I don’t want to spend money to attend a work team building day. A lot of the clinicians I work with are looking forward to it because it means half a day of not having to see patients and of course they earn way more than us lowly admin.

I think I will have to say I can’t afford to attend and will stay at work and actually do my job. I know already how it will pan out, constantly being pressurised to attend, being told I will have a good time and how I have to go to be part of the team etc etc

I’ve worked in further education and the civil service and never had to pay to attend a work team building day and yet the NHS managers think this is ok?!!!

Urgh - the issue is people like you who think we all enjoy shit away days with crappy colleagues! Nice to me would be being given the afternoon off to walk my dogs, read a book and eat chocolate. Away days are not doing something nice with colleagues, they're awful - I’d rather work.

Define "important". There would literally be no patient care without admin staff - who do you think books the appointments/buys chairs for the waiting room/makes sure everyone gets paid/and a million other things that we don't even know needs doing? You could get clinical staff to do these things, but it would be a stupid false economy.

Are you paid for the day of the outing if it would be a normal work day? Or are you expected to take a day unpaid AND pay for this?

If you're paid, and it's basically a free day's holiday, I would say you should go, as your day's pay would more than cover the outing.

If you're not paid, I'd be writing a letter saying they have no legal right to force me to attend this, and pay for the honour. Job done, and stick to your guns.

That is outrageous that people are shamed into sitting watching because they can’t afford to pay.
I hate team building stuff, but if I have to organise one I make sure it’s paid by the company. I get so angry at people who can’t understand why there could be people who are barely making it from month to month, and don’t have money to spare on this nonsense that doesn’t actually benefit work, truth be told.
I agree with other posters about outing this farce

but what if you need your day's pay to pay for other stuff? Basically what you suggest means that the OP is losing pay (and possibly more than they would earn after tax etc) to do something they don't want to do with people they don't want to do it with.

Are you in a Union? If so, I'd take this up with them. It seems like bullying to me.

If one of you says no, then others will follow. Any company doing a team building day, should pay for it. The staff shouldn't. Yes you may pay for food & drinks after the event, but not the team building itself. It sounds to me that its just a jolly/night out to get the team together & nothing to do with team building.

This is how teamwork should work!

@Notanawayday You’re absolutely right to think the employer should be footing the bill here.

This isn’t a voluntary social outing. It’s work time, work-mandated, and work-organised. That makes it a work activity, not a hobby day out. In any normal organisation, that means the employer chooses the activity, pays for the activity, covers travel or holds it on-site and that staff are not financially penalised for attending something they cannot opt out of. The NHS is not exempt from basic employment principles just because it’s the NHS.

A few things stand out as you have already said:

Cost disparity: Band 3 admin staff simply do not have the disposable income that band 6/7 clinicians do. A £60 enforced spend is a big chunk of a weekly budget.
Mandatory attendance: If you must attend, then you cannot be expected to pay. Full stop.
Travel into London: Train + tube + entry fee + food/drink? That’s not “team building”, that’s a pricey day trip.
Longer than contracted hours: They’re asking staff to stay beyond finish time and pay for the privilege.
Colleagues previously excluded by cost: The fact some had to sit and watch the bowling last year is a huge red flag. Team building that excludes part of the team isn’t team building.

This is a classic case of senior staff choosing something they fancy doing, assuming everyone else can absorb the cost, and forgetting that lower‑band colleagues don’t have the same financial cushion.

It’s also a cultural problem: some NHS managers treat “team building” as a perk for themselves rather than a professional development activity for the whole team.

Your instinct is spot on, saying you can’t afford it and will remain at work is entirely reasonable. You’re not refusing to participate, you’re refusing to subsidise your employer.

If they pressure you, the line to hold is: “I’m happy to attend any team-building activity organised during work hours, but I cannot personally fund a mandatory work event.” Or if you are feeling firm on this, send your line manager an email something along the lines of :

“Hi [Manager], I’ve seen the plans for the upcoming team‑building day. Unfortunately, I’m not able to cover the personal cost of the travel, entry fee and food, so I won’t be able to attend an off‑site paid activity. I’m of course happy to work my normal hours on site that afternoon and support the team from here. If the trust decides to fund the event, I’m very happy to join.”

I'm ex NHS and Civil Service and I have never been asked to pay for a team building exercise or additional travelling expenses/time for one and any additional time needed for such events has been covered on my flexi.

Call in sick on the day

sounds completely ridiculous. and i don't know where you are but probably cost more than 60 to come into London to do all that

If there is the "two tribes" thing going on, then it is the obligation of the employer to pay for any team building required.

The fact is that not only is this annual event mandatory, but also mandatory paid attendance at leaving events or for people going on maternity leave, and even as the OP states having the clinic shut down for a half day for mandatory paid for attendance at a leaving event for someone who works at a different site!

None of these things should be mandatory, as Christmas Lunch shouldn't be, or anything at all costing the employees personal money other than the costs required for them to attend their job in a professional manner e.g. commuting costs, clothing that fits with the office dress code.

I have worked in the Civil Service, private industry and Local Government and nowhere have I been told it's mandatory to pay for any work organised event - it's either mandatory so paid for by the employer, or it's optional without any pressure or obligation to attend. From the sound of it, the "democratic" decisions are being made by the people on a much higher salary as they outnumber the admins, and they take zero consideration of the needs of others.

You also need to take into consideration the fact that this is a front line NHS function, and these extra long lunches and half days here and there are a) being paid for from public funds and b) are reducing clinical service availability.

Why do you work with “crappy colleagues”? Why do t you work somewhere you want to with people you like?

Seems odd to spend time working with people you don’t like

I know how keen some NHS departments /public sector are about team building. My personal opinion is that if you can't build a team simply by working together what hope do you have? Why do they think they have a right to spend taxpayers money on welly throwing or whatever leisure activity they choose to do in the name of improving team dynamics? I think team building/ away days should be banned unless they are actively planning service development. If day to day team dynamics are being ruined by idiots, give them some targeted CBT.

We can't all choose what jobs we do! When there are 30-40 people applying for every job out there it can be a lottery whether you even get an interview. And once you're in a secure job, people aren't going to risk having a regular income.

I happen to very much like the vast majority of the people I work with, but even if I only tolerated them I would only be spending a maximum of 8 hours a day in their company and working in that time, not being expected to socialise with people I have nothing in common with bar having a mutual employer.

It would of course be much better if you didn't have to but you are going to have to develop a thicker skin. Every time you are asked for money, repeat: I would have loved to but sadly I can't afford it/it's not in my budget. And also offer to man the desk while others go out bowling or whatever. If you look like a kill joy, so be it.

If you feel able to stick your head above the parapet, I'd write an email to your line manager suggesting that the wording for these events and requests for money be adjusted to ensure people don't feel that they are compulsory to be more inclusive or whatever.

With the cost of living crisis they can’t rationally argue that you should be able to pay for it. And apart from that it’s totally unreasonable to expect you to pay for it on work time. Just say no, you can’t be expected to go into debt over it and damage your mental health. That should shut them up. Point out you earn a lot less than the clinicians. And check your contract.

She can't afford the activities. She is willing and happy to work. I think anyone on an NHS waiting list might prefer NHS staff to be working the hours they are paid for.

Because managers are not allowed to reject otherwise good applicants becuse someone else in the team doesn't like them. Getting on with other people who you may not want to be friendly with is what good manners are for.

This.

And again salary should not come into it. The amount of disposable income can vary hugely between two people on the same salary and having a good amount of disposable income doesn't make a person want to hang out with work colleagues doing something they don't want to do.

that phrase "its not in my budget" is a very useful one. I have used it to politely decline items at antique fairs, high quotes from tradesmen, clothes I wouldn't be seen dead in, invitations that I would die sooner than accept.....loads of stuff.

this

Do the NHS actually sanction events like this? So say 10-15 people (e.g. 10 clinicians and 5 professional services staff for the sake of argument) with an average day rate of about £170 take the day off to go into London to fanny about in an escape room or whatever is a cost to the organisation of over £2k with no clear outcomes or outputs, and it’s compulsory, and staff have to pay for themselves even if they can’t afford it, or even if they can afford it but the timings don’t work easily, or they have no interest in axe throwing/roller derby/2 man bob sleighing, etc. This is ridiculous. The Daily Mail would have an absolute field day over it.