Work Socials - who pays?

[StripeK]

Hello! My workplace recently put in a Social Committee following feedback from Great Places To Work Survey. I say recently, it was autumn but we've finally had information about the first department social.

It's go karting, with a cost of £44pp (although this may fall if numbers are high enough, not sure by how much). I've had a nosey and the place that's been booked and this is the price they charge. This is way out of my budget and I'm feeling a bit miffed about it as feel excluded because I cannot afford it. I guess I was expecting either cheaper activities to be booked, or for it to be subsidised by the company.

To add, we have a company wide summer party every year which is fully funded but also based around links the company have (for example, we had a mini festival last year but all bands featured at least one member of staff so were performing for free or a discounted rate). We also have department Christmas meals which are normally paid for.

YABU - work social committee events are always fully funded by the employee
YANBU - the company should be paying for part of the activity

@EBearhug yes, it can be claimed under team development. Travel policy allows for £15 alcohol with a meal.

I think £44 is valid for GoKarting. I would expect that there’d be a variety of events throughout the year at different price points so there’s something for everyone. Not everyone will be able to afford/ be free / be medically able to do go karting but I think it’s fine for the event to still take place for those that can. (As long as there’s other events that are more accessible).

Give the Social Committee feedback - say the event sounds like fun but is outwith your budget and probably a number of others are in the same situation so could the next event take that into account.

If something is compulsory, work pays. That includes social things where it would be frowned upon if you did not attend. Anything else employee pays.

I think it’s one of those things that companies can’t win on. Our company pays for a massive Christmas party every year, but it’s not my thing and as I commute 40 miles to work would either have to not drink and drive or pay for a hotel myself. Therefore I don’t go and therefore I miss out on the one event that is paid for.
If there are other things put on then usually we pay for those ourselves unless it’s an event for a particular work reason, such as an anniversary or a celebration of something.

£44 for something with people I work with rather than friends would probably be out of my budget and I wouldn’t go, but I would expect a company social committee to put on things with various budgets.

do you have somewhere you can provide feedback, maybe anonymously?

I imagine some of the higher paid people will also not want to do it if they have a lot of outgoings etc.

So you are complaining that the social committee (who are volunteering their time) aren’t putting on events which suit you, but you aren’t prepared to join said committee as your workload is too high (thus assuming that theirs isn’t)?

I joined the social committee as it’s a zoom meeting once a month to ensure that everyone had a voice that couldn’t afford the big stuff

NHS here so obviously nothing paid for. Went to a meeting for a third sector organisation the other day and we got coffee! I was overjoyed! Easily pleased 😂

Exactly this. Any pressure at all for an employee to go to any of these events, even it's simply being frowned on for not being a 'team' person, and the company should be paying for it. If it is truly optional then it's fine for employees to pay (which I wouldn't, because I wouldn't go).

I wouldn't expect the company to pay for anything other than the Christmas party (there's a 150 limit set by hmrc for social/fun eventsand then it would be classed as a benefit and youd need to pay tax on it anyway) unless it was a team build (aka taking place on a work day and everyone expected to go) or had some kind of work function. I don't think social committees fall into that camp, it's literally just fun stuff done out of work time and organised by the staff. I'd just not go to this one and feedback that you'd like to see cheaper options. In my old company it was a mix of stuff from free things (byo picnic in the park for lunch) all the way through to holidays/weekends away. You only went to what you wanted to go to, everyone paid their own way and nobody felt any pressure to go (other than mates saying please come!) It wasn't really a work thing, it was more just a group of people who liked socialising at work and put things in place to do that, it was nice for new people or those new to the area too as they had a chance to make friends.

It's very much down to company discretion. My last company funded nothing and certain teams would try to squeeze event though expenses and others funded them themselves. My new company is very generous with funding employee activities.

this. having always worked in the public sector, I've never expected an employer to pay for anything and tbh I've never cared. Even if they did have the budget spare it wouldn't be good optics for tax payers money to go on staff having a jolly. I'd rather have job security, good pension, flexible working, other benefits than a session go-karting. If I wanted to go go-karting I'd go myself, and probably with friends rather than colleagues.

tbh I just wouldn't go. If someone directly asks just say 'Can't really afford it' but otherwise leave it. Being on the social committee is a shit job, everyone says they want to do more out of work stuff but then poo-poohs everything suggested!

I don’t see an issue with the social committee putting on some more expensive activities: some colleagues will have the money to do it but perhaps don’t have friends who’d want to go with them, so this is a good opportunity for them. My company funds everything - including a very lavish Christmas and summer party and various expensive social activities such as sports games, horse trials, theatre, opera etc. It’s the norm in my industry, there’s a lot of money swilling about; but in my previous industries the only social funded by the employer was the Christmas meal out.

Thinking about it, I’ve no idea how current employer works around HMRC rules about what can be provided tax free; but we’re a fairly large multinational so I can’t imagine it’s something the HR and Finance functions aren’t apprised of.

My company funds regular monthly drinks.

All that happens is

Xmas party is tax free (£150 spent) and all other staff entertaining gets taxed on the company - approx an extra 50% cost.

staff enteraining at least is deductible against Corp tax whereas Business Ent is not.

I'd say the social commitee in first year should do a range of activities to capture different interests/budgets/abilities.

but then it can take a look and think - okay we organised that family friendly picnic in the park and no one attended. But the regular go karting/cinema/drinks after work is attended well by a certain crowd (probably single/no commitments)

so then what do you do? continue organising cheap stuff for people who don't come anyway? or focus on the ones who do want to attend? (obviously one should canvas some feedback about why things didn't work as well - maybe due to time of day or whatever to see if tweeks could make it more popular/ask for suggestions).

In my new job, a lot of events seem to be organised by the site rather than companies- it's a campus site with a lot of different companies. This week, I'm joining a wildflower walk, whuch costs nothing to attendees - it's led by the county wildlife Trust and obviously only works at sites with grounds.) They had a singer for D-day, there's a summer fun day coming up, and stuff round the Euros, dancing and other things I'm not interested in, but I expect others are.

There seem to be company outings too, which sound like bowling- which I'm crap at, but will go to if I'm free, because I'm still getting to know people - I'm only a couple of weeks in. If they arrange karting, i won't - no interest. I have no idea how they pay for it, if it's everyone for themselves or there's a company contribution. Don't know what they do for Christmas. I get the impression they try to include everyone, but I will find out later in the year.

I've worked with people who use wheelchairs, who are deaf, have visual impairments and so on - events do need to be inclusive. Even food can be a challenge if you have a hog roast at a summer do, you need alternatives for vegetarians and Muslims and so on.

The best one I has was where staff paid a membership of £10 a month, matched by the employer.
There were 10 events a year (summer and winter parties paid for out of another budget)
There was a range of activities, eg paintballing, theatre trips, coach to the seaside, coach to France for shopping, X factor.
Some had a small top up to be paid ( actually just to make sure people turned up!). There was also a monthly draw with a cash prize. Everyone had to take a turn on the committee. And everyone had to accept that not every event would suit all.

Were you offered a chance to be on the social committee? I once chaired one in a workplace, and people would join the group with all these insane ideas for work days/nights out. I think I was the killjoy putting them back in their boxes to think about cheaper options haha

In my company it’s paid for by the company. But we probably wouldn’t do anything the thick end of £50 a head.

I avoid it like the plague but they’ve organised meals out, crazy golf, an arcade type place.

Ours varies, we have a range over the year some fully subsidised (including a theme park trip for the whole family), some part subsidised and others just organised and employees pay in full.

Go karting is definitely worth £44. Take a listen to the Garfunkel and Oates song - Go kart racing.

I don't want to spend my non-work hours with people from work. Especially not unpaid. I don't particularly feel the need to socialise with my colleagues outside of work, so in order to motivate me to do so you'd have to pay me. Not just for the activity, but for my time too.

One of my workplaces last year organised go karting, and they paid for it for us... however it was a sort of regular thing, we had lots of new starters, interns, often from abroad so it was to encourage them to mix.

The only thing we paid for was our meals/drinks in the pub afterwards.

We also had (but a charity event) white water rafting - I mean I almost drowned but it was good fun and we had free food/drink afterwards.

Free socials we also did (architects) were softball and football. All you had to supply was bats and balls and you often got a kitty to spend on pub drinks and/or food drink in the park. The softball was quite a good laugh, I never took it seriously!

For me - it depends how much I want to do things - in e.g. government organisations you have to pay (unless on the odd occasion they pay), so generally unless I really wanted to do it, I wouldn't. But things like theatre outings. Yes, would pay for that.

You can still go, just dont kart, thats what i did and quite a few others. We just watched and chatted from the viewing area with a drink from the bar.

They usually have a simulator you can go on for about £10-15.

I would say 100% reasonable for the employees to fund the event but:

1. there must be no pressure to go
2. the price and activity must have been agreed upon by all potential participants

We had a staff BBQ funded by work every year. Otherwise we have a team event, funded by the individuals. When our last boss left, she covered a significant proportion of the team event as a special thank you to the team. Other than that, we pay. That being said we are 10 people, so if someone didn't like an idea, we wouldn't do it unless there was a reason they didn't want to go anyway.