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

My current firm part pays for social events eg meal paid but buy your own drinks.

£44 is steep for one activity. Why not suggest alternatives or join the committee yourself to have input? You can't complain about things people if you don't bother to give them any feed back or suggest alternatives

I also work in a public company with no social budget, but we do have a social committee that mostly organises events within work time - lunch time walks, visiting artists, talks, bring a dish, cake breaks etc. I think some of the funding for this comes from charitable donations (specifically to the staff) and any prizes won.

There are also occasionally events outside of working hours. I have mixed feeling as I do think these can be exclusionary, either financially, or time-wise. Those with commitments outside of work are less likely to attend and miss out on the valuable networking and bonding, which has also led to some little cliques to develop.

Ive always had fully funded work events, it must depend on the company looking at these posts

Surely these functions are not compulsory. Don't go if you can't afford it.

My work is very generous on this front, we get summer and Christmas parties, all food and drink, travel and hotel. Then quarterly socials in our teams with travel, hotel and dinner or an activity (sip and paint or escape room or whatever we choose). We are very lucky.

I’m in the voluntary sector and budgets are tight
Xmas do - we all pay our own food and as CEO I pick up the drinks tab, coffees etc and buy everyone a gift
team building events are free to all staff including refreshments
social events a mixture so recently bought team tickets for a scavenger type game - staff wanted to meet first for food so paid for that themselves
theatre and music events are optional and everyone pays for their own

Was just about to say that.......

Probably a stupid question but does public school mean the same in Scotland as it does in England?

A company that does this would not be on my "Great Places to Work" list.
Work socials should be paid for by work - or go out for a meal with colleagues who are friends.

If a work social isn't fully paid for by work, I'd give it a swerve.

To be honest, it sounds like a shitty tick box exercise that some numpty who talks only in buzz phrases has come up with. Ugh! 😂

Oh i don't know.

If u have just moved to say London on a graduate scheme, then having a range of organised options for me to attend would be great, even if I am paying.

If you've moved to a new area and are lonely I can see you might want to do it. All depends on circumstances doesn't it.

I’ve worked in a range of places and it really varies. Some did nothing for socials, some gave a measly amount (£10 a head towards a Christmas party), some regularly threw lavish parties all expenses paid. One firm did awesome free events often internationally, river cruises with entertainment and all drinks and food, ski trips, regular free dinners and drinks, free drinks in the office every week, free breakfasts, party nights including decent djs and bands, climbing the O2, wine tasting events, sports events, arts classes etc. sadly they went bust!

I’m a teacher and I’ve never had any sort of meal paid for. I fact not even a cup of coffee. We all have to pay for tea/coffee in the staff room!!

HMC lists over 20 schools in Scotland, so one would assume so.

Ask if it could be booked further in advance and to pay bit by bit next time ?

The manager/ boss on the company card

I work in the public sector. Our sports and social club has a weekly membership fee of 75p which is deducted at source by payroll (but it's voluntary so you have to sign up to it before paying).

The SSC organises the annual Christmas party and usually a summer event - we have to pay for the tickets but get a reduction if a member. Costs normally kept low anyway.

The SSC also organises occasional groups wanting to go to the cinema or theatre - to get a group together for a group discount and usually gives a contribution which works out about an extra €5-10 off the ticket price, depending on numbers. Sometimes there might be a group organises a karting event or bowling (I can remember about 3 of those over 15 years) - again facilitates group discount and they will give a fixed contribution to be split between everyone who attends.

And they gave a contribution to 1st set of yoga and Pilates classes at lunchtime, and to 1sr term when we set up a workplace choir and paid for conductor (so members still paid but it was cheaper 1st term to get off the ground).

SSC also organises various charity events like quizzes or groups for charity races etc - where they do the legwork but everyone pays same entrance fee - those are more about getting a good crowd together using an existing network.

If we organise an event like a section lunch, or meal at Christmas for our division, we each pay our own way fully, although managers often cover cost of wine with a meal and everyone on the team team generally adds a bit extra each (maybe €4 on top of €25 for own meal) which covers cost of meal of the secretarial staff.

What’s wrong with treasure hunts? I think that sounds fun.