Work away day- i dont want to go!

[Porridgepudding]

Hi, I have a team building away day later this month. At the last team meeting it was decided it would be at a physical activity day ( think assault course / ninja warrior type thing) I wasnt in the meeting as I was away at another meeting or I could have objected. Originally it was going to be bowling and food after.
Added to this we have to pay for the day (£50) I really dont want to go, but I'm unsure how this will be perceived. I have been with the organisation almost 2 years. Last year it was a more typical team building type day- group activities, a talk, buffet spread.
What should I do?

If it’s something as physical as an assault course or ninja warrior then it’s a not a team building day as people will be excluded based on levels of fitness and ability / injury etc
and as for paying £50 to go……it’s a firm no from me!
let me guess, it’s not even in work time??

Yanbu , I hate that sort of thing and then they expect you to pay for the privilege

I hate bloody team building days - they're utter shit!

Always arranged by bright young things doing stuff that they want to/are good at, with no consideration of anyone else!

I sat our last one out - I am not physically able to do some of them and I'm putting myself at risk of injury/further pain for nobody!

Having to pay for that crap would push me over the edge!

I agree. In my last job attendance at the away day was mandatory unless you'd previously booked annual leave and had it approved. However they didn't have exclusionary activities or expect employees to pay for it.

Likewise or even a quiz or craft activities

What the hell kind of workplace is this?

Apart from making you pay, which is appalling, this is the most non-inclusive event they could come up with.

Unless you're going to tell me that you work in a job where a certain level of physical prowess is essential.

Or if it's some gigantic corporate and you're on six figures and this is just part of their psychological territory.

I didn't go to our team day because they expected what would have been for me an extra hour and a half each way commute. Also it was to be a morning of boring presentations and an afternoon of children's sports day games which involved getting touchy feely with random colleagues. No thank you. I got pressured but at over 40 now my boundaries are good and I made the firm excuse of the travel.
Asking to pay to do a mandatory work day? The audacity! Is that even legal? Say you don't have a spare 50 quid and see what they come up with.

The thing is, when people plan these sort of things it is because HR / the People Group / overall manager of the office gets brownie points for “employee engagement and cohesiveness”. So it is outrageous that employees are expected to pay for it.

It might be fun

Wow this is terrible.

Yes you should go, no you should not do the activity or pay - wtf!

This is incredibly exclusionary for those who don't want to or can't participate or can't afford it.

I’m glad I don’t work in a place that does this team building nonsense. If I did, I wouldn’t care what anyone thought, I would absolutely refuse to go.

Jeez, I hate these types of activities, too! We've had netball and paintball, but that was after work/on the weekends. I never went. I did bowling once and I was awful at it, it was so embarrasing, and the comments from the manager...! My DH avoids these events too, but he's generally a social weirdo.

It won't!

I suspect that if you push on the cost thing they will, reluctantly, say that you have the choice to not go. That doesn't mean they won't judge you and hold it against you if you don't go... This pattern - having to pay your own money to go to a work event where non-attendance is held against you - is a very familiar one in the public/non-profit sectors!

Given that people pay money to partake in ninja warrior type activities, i reckon some think its fun

I had to do paintball for a work thing once. Freezing cold and wet forest somewhere on the outskirts of Sevenoaks in February. I found a vantage point and had a good crack at being a sniper. That was OK but the rest of it was shite. Plus a bunch of Rambo wannabes from the elite sales team at United Holdings (Holdings) plc turned up and were as predictably tedious as you might imagine. Won’t be doing that again. Ever.

Generally speaking you need to turn up to such things occasionally

i have never heard of having to pay to attend though! No way should it be compulsory in that case

The only 'Building of the Team' that happens on these cringy away days is that it unites the team on how much nobody wants to be there.

Having said that, very few places don't do them, and smarmy, over confident 'facilitators' make a fortune from them.

There's two obvious problems with yours

1. You shouldn't have to pay - that's ridiculous and tone death in the current economic climate

1. Never, ever put a physical activity on the agenda, even if it's just walking round on a treasure hunt. It's not inclusive and always demotivating.

Your management aren't very bright or thoughtful, are they?

It’s outrageous to expect you to pay.

Not alongside their work colleagues! Most of whom don't want to be there in the first place. Not my idea of fun!

It's a good day for the arselickers and the brown nosers though, with their over-enthusiastic fake jollity. Makes you very cynical watching them in action.

That is nuts you’re expected to pay!! Totally negates the whole point. I’d be mega unkeen too

“dear boss/hr/organiser,

I do not pay to attend work (other than my own commuting costs).

regards”

Absolutely not. Not a chance I would pay to attend a work thing. £50 is a lot of money as well!!

Ninja warrior assault course? Wow, that sounds inclusive 🤔

I'd tell them to shove it. How could they force someone to take part in that? How would most average office slobs be fit enough? I'm fit but I couldn't do an assault course to save my life as I hate heights so much - some sets of stairs and escalators make me dizzy.

Sounds like a health and safety nightmare too, a recipe for anything from broken bones to heart attacks.

I never heard of an employee paying to attend an awayday. Is it meant to be more of a social thing? In that case you can just decline to attend. But you should go if it's in your paid time.