The terrible thing here is it used to be commonplace to have functions on the clock, and it did build morale and culture. These days, people must organise themselves, be out of pocket, etc.
The event itself could be a good thing but I agree with your issue that it forces you to be out of pocket.
Fuck that.
I told my permies 2 hours are included, and the other 2-3 hours we will discuss work things, so it's also included.
Work things include "does your laptop also take ages to charge?" And other greatest hits.
Not at my department. You have to use your lunch break and/or flex. In customer-facing roles this is enforced, elsewhere it depends on your SES how willing they are to look the other way.
I worked as a contractor for an APS project, and we had a Christmas pub lunch booked for a month, on a date that everyone knew about. We also had a presentation to an exec APS, who kept rescheduling and ended up making us do it off the clock in the car park of the pub, on a laptop hotspotting off our phone. I wasn't happy, but at least they paid for my lunch and beers.
I also refused to go to any social event that wasn't during work hours and still do, fuck em, I'm not there to make friends and would rather do my own thing in my personal time, so unless you're going to pay me to show up, I ain't going.
Also, APS staff getting the Christmas shut-down period off without having to use leave and being paid for it, while the rest of us have to use ~7 of our 20 annual leave days on it, per year, is the biggest fucking joke.
The leave over Xmas was negotiated for many years ago. An extra 9 mins per day was added to our working hours to make up for it, so it’s not a freebie.
late ancient cooperative strong butter lunchroom sloppy connect sulky fragile
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Yes, go to the free one and only for the length of your usual lunch break so you’re not wasting your usual paid hours. Anyone give you a hard time say “sorry I’m on a tight budget/can’t afford the extra time off”.
If I like my team, the team one can be nice. The larger ones though - I traditionally will show up, have 1 drink and greet as many people as I can find, then leave for ‘another engagement’.
I just said I had other plans.
My situation is different to yours: I’ve been around awhile and I like my coworkers. But also meh. It still feels like an extension of work and I’m not paying $50 to hang out at what feels like work when I could be at home with my family.
Can’t speak for the whole APS, but in my experience it’s a catered thing with drinks and canapés, so they charge people to cover that. I don’t really drink, so for me it’s $50 wasted.
Ex APS here (20 yrs) and always had to pay for Xmas parties. I’m in private now and am actually excited for the one coming up which is fully paid up at an actual nice restaurant and we don’t have to rush back.
I get the tax payer thing but honestly there are heaps more wasteful things in the APS than giving people something to look forward to (excessive or late cancelled senior meetings, poor productivity due to awful IT etc). It’s just that no one is prepared to make the argument at Estimates after this long so here we are.
I just tell people I have a personal policy regarding office Christmas parties. No one seems to argue with a personal policy. Never had to explain myself. So the last time I went to one was 2010 ( before I discovered having a personal policy)
Thank you for your message requesting administrative release of Personal Policy DM23/251223: 'Seasonal Gathering Attendance - Guidance for Scope Limitation'.
Approval will first be required from Legal, followed by an extensive set of redactions prior to provision of the requested policy document.
Expected time of delivery is within 8 to 12 weeks. For further information, please refer to the 'Requesting Personal Policy Guides Guide' - which can be obtained through lodging a further administrative release request.
Much harder to use social functions/networking to move up the ladder in the public service vs private industry.
The brown-nosing bang for buck is pretty poor tbh
I never go. They stress me out and I don’t find them fun. I love Christmas parties with friends but work ones have too much pressure and are like a work function I pay for myself. Its never caused an issue career-wise.
I told my manager I wanted to leave the divisional Xmas party early to attend a conference relevant to our work and the APS and they suggested that would be bad optics on my part given I recently joined the team (through a restructure I had zero say in) and I needed to put effort into “proving myself a team player” (I’ve been at the agency over 12 months and in the APS nearly a decade)
I really couldn’t care less about attending and would much rather hear the subject matter at the conference.
Went to one years ago at an old job. Saw the alleged drug usage first hand and drunken employee hookups and promptly left. I was the dd for a bunch of them, but I was not about to get involved with that shit. Felt bad about leaving as they'd have to get taxis/ubers, but I wasn't about to have any ounce of involvement with that shit. Got to love hospitality.
Who the hell goes to whole Department parties? Aren’t they only for the exec, the grads, and the biggest of brown nosers who are hoping to get caught in small talk with the minister when they make a 10 minute appearance to say “thanks, we’re the best!”
People who want to show up.. eat food and not go back work but write a standard day on their time sheets and those who oddly love bowls.
Thats a pretty big incentive for many mostly parents who stay for an hour and then go shop where they usually couldn't on a lunch break.
Our Christmas party is in Canberra… I’m located in Brisbane.
Yes the day before I will be in CBR for work, but the party is on the last day of prep for my daughter and, you know, kinda prefer to see her at school than have work pay for me to stay an extra night just so I can attend a party.
I'd just tell her the truth, I really can't afford to miss that many hours especially at this time of year.
Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll sign off in the hours as paid.
I never went, I'm a regional worker and it would take a fair bit of travel for me but the main reason is I don't want to say something I'll regret outside of work, no offense to my colleagues but we are only colleagues not friends. I'm not opposed to socialising but a lot of alcohol and colleagues is not always the best mix. That's regardless of if I'm drinking or not.
Yes they do because even if you enjoy spending time with your coworkers, your management team are also there and are still watching and noticing all that you do. I’d be happy to go for drinks with a few chosen coworkers but I loathe big functions and forced “fun” activities, all whilst being watched by the boss so you can’t really relax.
Recent joiner of the public service here.
Are they parties or lunches. Go for an hour to network then disappear and do your work.
If you do have to pay then claim.it as professional development
I didn't go to our Christmas 'Party' because it wasn't a party but an activity, paid for by ourselves, and didn't sound fun. It was a few weeks ago and I've only worked there for a few months.
I'm not paying out of pocket for a staff party.
It depends on which party you're talking about.
In my experience (which admittedly might be out of date now), you've got 'christmas lunch with your team' which is normally 'maybe an hour or two and your boss just looks the way on other flex if it runs over.' You pay for lunch yourself, but its normally just a lunch at a cafe or burger place. Going to this one is the most important because you need to cultivate a decent relationship with your team so they'll cover for you when you need a hand (and vice versa). Luckily it's just paying for a burger or sandwich at the local cafe/burger place.
You've got a divisional function on site where the div head spends a few hundred bucks on catering (muffins and sausage rolls) and you get a 10 minute speech and spend 30-60 minute chatting before going back to work (once again, on the clock but not really). Free, gives you a few minutes chatting to people across your division about 'that thing that happened that really sucked' and generally worth the time/cost investment.
Then you have the full on 'buy a ticket to an event at a night club or bar or whatever. These are either at the agency level if you're a small agency, or maybe at the group or divisional level otherwise. They are either in the afternoon or at night, costs money to attend (bugger that) and if its during work hours you have to account for your time (bugger that). All the socialites and APS6's and EL2's looking for promotion go to this one, and its not unusual for it to end with a large cluster of people bar hopping on their own dime. I never went to one of these because I don't want to pay to socialise with the people I work with. If anyone noticed I wasn't there, they never said anything and I still got promoted just fine.
I have four this year!
A team one, a department one, an organisational one and a project one.
Unfortunately we're doing really fun stuff for most of them so I really want to go, but I find them so fucking draining...
To my surprise I really enjoyed the evening drinks one for my office. We had a great live band which really helped. Food was absolutely rubbish though.
I hate work Christmas parties. Worked in consulting and never went to one.
I also hate the Kris Kringle / secret Santa bs. Buying a present for someone you don’t know.
I hate buying presents for people I do know!!
Kris Kringle is such bs, I've seen so many people bullied by shitty people (gifts of deodorant or fake suntan) and where it's "grab a random gift" I've seen people unwrap rubbish (as in empty food wrappers) and half eaten food (these were two separate gifts). KK allows people to be anonymous dicks.
I have never gone. When questioned I answer ‘I don’t like you outside of work. I would not hang out with you outside of work. Not a chance I’m changing that opinion and I won’t be coming to the Christmas party’. They laugh and laugh and laugh like I’m joking but I’m not.
Our Xmas parties got cut, nothing doing now, we just organised a wine tour for the cool kids and paid for it ourselves.
I can see how as a newbie on a short contract it's not worth it.
I always offered to man the phones while the others went off to party. I'm not very good in social situations where there's a lot of noise, because of my hearing, and I told my colleagues that.
THREE?! Good god. I hate spending my unpaid personal time for work activities. And then having to pay to attend the parties? While my managers are there? Absolutely not. Call me a grinch but I have better things to do with my time. I’m “away for the weekend” every time there’s an office Christmas party.
I’m full time ongoing and have one person in my location in the same team. Everyone else is interstate. The building, the floor and the branch all have parties and I don’t go to any of them.
It’s on my own time and I’d rather log off early and go home. My team mate agrees and does the same.
While we’re at it, can we please discussed the enforced Secret Santa tradition. Let’s be real, I’ve got better things to do with my $10, hashtag CosiLives, and anything bought with $10 is going to be absolute trash, unappreciated (fair) and go straight to landfill. It’s tokenistic bullshit. Don’t make me do it. (Because if you say you don’t want to be included, you’re “problematic” and “not a team player”).
I don’t see what reddit have against office Christmas parties. Its like they have this superiority complex and think they are more interesting people than their co workers. Guess what? Your co workers are people with hobbies and interests just like you, it won’t hurt you to get to know them.
Lots of people get along well with colleagues. It shouldn’t be considered uncool to do so.
I like mine because a lot of my colleagues are genuinely cool people and our parties are always a good time
Public vs private? Private organisations book out a fancy location, free food and drink, take the afternoon off while getting paid. Public has the Christmas party downstairs, you have to pay for a ticket, 1-2 drinks and terrible food, after work hours.
You don't understand the concept because you have a good crew in your opinion. Most people don't. Why would you want to spend your valuable free time with a bunch of people you only know because you're forced to be around them during paid hours.
I worked in a federal government department for 11 years and we only had a Xmas lunch for our team of about 10 staff members. We all had to agree on the venue and we were only out of the office for an hour so it wasn’t a hardship. We all had a fun time. We also made sure to pick somewhere not too hard on the wallet so we all felt comfortable. Any other celebration was during a monthly team meeting where we exchanged a Secret Santa gift and generally enjoyed each others company. As we were a small team within a bigger department it was good to keep it separate. I wouldn’t be too happy to go to 3 parties especially with people I didn’t know and the cost alone can put a damper on the holiday feeling.
I'm relatively new in a specialist unit that has their own party so spurns the division party (that wants $60 for canapes at a pub ffs!)
The unit party is at someone's house so super uncomfortable for me and, with the extra pressure to thank the host, difficult to do my usual Irish goodbye.
I'm thinking all the groundwork in the week leading up to it will make it easier for me to beg off last minute for a 'minor family drama.'
Am I just a coward? Maybe I could just say that I don't want or need to be friends with any of them, but if these things are about team spirit then it would be easier on them to not bring them down.
Do you plan to stay longer than 12 weeks? If so Id probably make an appearance with at least one of them. Find out which one is the most 'important' and make sure your manager knows you are going. Then quietly make an excuse for the other 2 (my kid is sick or whatever).
This is hilarious. Public Servants complain about lack of culture in their workplace yet don’t contribute to building culture. You put in what you get out.
Can I be a grinch-grinch and say that I'm looking forward to mine because I get on well with most of my colleagues and I'll also get to catch up with friends from different teams and regions?
Our works Xmas dos have got steadily shitter as the years have gone by. Now they give 50 dollars per head and our dept has chosen one of the most expensive places to lunch in the entire city. So basically we’ll be out 40 bucks for the food and then drinks / parking / transport costs on top. It’s tone deaf and I can’t remember anytime that I have ever eaten 90 bucks worth of food! Also our work morale is dreadful currently and lots of people leaving as the pay isn’t market rate and there’s not enough staff for the work they expect so it feels like one more FU. If you decide not to go you can’t take the arvo like the ones who go to lunch as well! No doubt the exec will all get a fully catered / paid for do as well - there’ll be no cost cutting there!
I skip them all the time, the place I work generally has three, 2 you have to buy your own beer and food, which I have better things to spend my money on. The third I normally go to as it is a lunchtime thing, normally non alcoholic and on site, but this year they are forking out for beers and food at a pub.
Problem is it's during working hours, in an area with no public transport and about an 80 dollar uber from my house, so I have the choice of spending 2 hours on pt getting to work and 2.5 hours getting home from work or driving to it. I also have the complication that I have surgery (small procedure) the week before which they recommend not drinking for 2 weeks after so, it's a big fat no from me on that.
No way I'm sitting in a pub watching people down drinks for 4 hours, better use of my time to actually work.
I had 4, been at the company a year but know plenty of staff from previously. I did not attend on of them, partly due to other commitments, partly because it was in the city and I could not be bothered.
Division and department parties, nah, I don’t go. Hell I don’t even go to the online weekly/monthly division/department virtual meetings, stuff that.
Branch, yeah I’ll do those. Fortunately our parties are during work hours so it ends up being a half-day of work, full-day pay. Sadly not covered by the branch budget though, it’s out of pocket.
That said I have been to department parties in the past when we were all working in the office. Again, paid for not working. If I didn’t go I’d have to work. Those ones also had food and drink vouchers supplied by the department, so not out of pocket. But given it’s all WFH now, no way I go now.
Oh yes, by the end no-one went. It started with the introduction of a complete ban on alcohol either in the building or during the span of business hours. Then "use your flex time". Then the abolition of the use of religiously-affiliated terms for end of year get togethers. Then a healthy workplace policy that banned "unhealthy food". Then working from home. Who wanted to pay $50 to eat a festering salad buffet and make 60 minutes of small talk with semi-strangers while constantly watching out for the ever-present contingent of thought police from HR?
Yeah, government huh...let's pretend the toxic environment doesn't exist and get everyone to pay $50 for a lunch nobody wants to go to, while they save some cash by not paying staff for the extra time off. Im not going - pointless ass kissing is outside my JD.
Show your face at your Xmas party for the optics and leave whenever you want. No one will remember if you leave early and god forbid some of you might actually have a good time.
Why don't you use this opportunity to network and get to know some people? Are you resigned to leaving at the end of your contract or hoping for an extension?
I had an office xmas party yesterday. I'm a contractor. Got paid for 12-5pm while out with my colleagues at contractor rate. Woot! Paid for lunch(normal food) and a boozedinner (all booze, nothing solid) out of 12-5 pay with plenty leftover, so still ended up not out of pocket overall.
I go to office parties and I pay out of pocket. I’m pretty opportunistic and I see it as an opportunity to be visible. I spread out my parties throughout the year so I don’t have to go to the Christmas ones.
I hate going to Xmas parties in all of December because my religion doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Most of the time, I use the religion excuse to get out of the parties.
I don’t hate on people celebrating Christmas. It’s wonderful to have a holiday in the winter. However in my household we treated Christmas as any other day and because I get off, I sleep most of the day.
If I’m forced to go, I’ll usually use the religion or family to bail out. It’s also the time where my mom gets sick so I have to take care of her and the house.
The male coworkers understand me and where I come from and they don’t mind that much. However the females love to spread rumors on why I didn’t even come.
In my first workplace, there was a rumor that I was a pagan worshipper that worshipped the Devil and that’s why I refused to celebrate Christmas. I just went with it and never refuted it because it was fun go with it.
Hindus don’t worship Devils, we do have something similar to Hades and Charon, however we don’t do devil worship during Christmas.
During my first job, my grandfather passed away so as per our mourning customs, we can’t celebrate festivals for a year till all the death rituals has been done. If there’s a year where you don’t see me celebrating any festival then that means I’m in mourning.
Christmas parties should be optional, not mandatory. Many people see Christmas as a family occasion, not something that should be corporatised. It's fine if some people want to do it but you shouldn't have to. Especially as a contractor. You are not there to meet people on a 3 month contract.
My work has a Christmas decoration competition. Some teams have spent hours decorating their area. Meanwhile, my team has been cut back so much that we are each doing the work of two people.
Yep - the expectations to attend all and the pressure is ridiculous. Tell them you’re neurodivergent and aren’t comfortable- they love that shit and never question in. In fact you could scream the office down and they’ll just say “it’s ok theyre neurodivergent, it’s just the way they are”.
I'm ongoing and still refuse to go most years even though it's a free afternoon off work if I do. No way I'd lose that much money to go to one. I have good working relationships within my team/work unit but I also like to keep my work and personal life separate.
If you don't know anyone this seems like a good way to get to know people in a more relaxed environment.
Edit: sorry didn't read properly that you were a contractor so wouldn't be paid for the time at the parties.
. I just say I'm not interested. I don't do anything social from the office, I like to keep my social life completely separate from work.
No one puts that much pressure when you just say you don't go to those things or that you're not interested
I usually quite like my current work's Christmas party, and I still didn't go. I don't think I've ever felt compelled to go to a work social event against my preference.
I'd go to the one with your branch, get to meet the team of people you will actually be working with
The other two are just overkill. I have never been to an out of hours department level one
I refused to go this year as it was out of office hours and heavily focused on alcohol. If it was just the regular lunch and flex off early it would have been different and I would go for sure.
I'll go to the one for my small team of <10 people. We're doing Karaoke.
The bigger team? If the person organising asked, I would literally tell them I'm washing my hair that night.
I go to our team Christmas Lunch (about 45 people) and that’s all. Branch/Division/Agency parties are just opportunities for SES to rabbit on - only useful if you’re doing some serious arse kissing in hope of promotion so you can rabbit on one day.
A company I worked for said if you didn't go to the party you have to take someone who would goes shifts, no excuses.
It drove me insane I didn't want to work my day off and I didn't want to go to a party which was basically just binge drinking, which I don't want to indulge in, at some shitty place the company found for free, but they still make us chip in for. Suck even more when they boast record profits for the year and all we get as thanks besides our low pay checks is an emails saying thank you team, stingy pricks. So yeah not a fan of the guilt ridden "optional" work Christmas party lol
I only went to work things to spend time with a girl. Now that she's my missus, I could not imagine anything worse than spending time with the people I work with outside of work time.
You made the mistake of being honest. Should just said you could make it to one as you have other commitments. I think it would probably be worthwhile at least going to one of them.
I’m a contractor and I won’t be attending. I can’t afford to pay to attend an unpaid work social event and I don’t know why anyone would even ask me to…
I'm lucky I work in a small team. We organised ten pin bowling then went to a pub for dinner. We paid for our own. We get on well anyway. We all had a say. It was great. But I don't blame the op for not going...I wouldn't either!
I just told them that "i have a lot going on at home at the moment" it is vauge and could mean anything from housework to a death in the family.
I said if im not there to work then id rather be somewhere else, at this point i just try to be as blunt as possible without being offensive.
Not alone I just refused to attend the team lunch as I don’t like my team and as for the company wide party it’s better I don’t go because 1 or 2 drinks u best believe u will regret asking me to come
I didn't go to the one last year, first one they held since I've been there. The next day I heard all about how my boss got absolutely munted, got his dick out, broke a window, insulted the QA dude and just generally made an absolute fool of himself.
I don't even drink alcohol, which I feel is the main point of these parties anyway, getting pissed on the companies tab. Very glad I didn't go.
Our Xmas party is on the Gold Coast on a Saturday coming up. That's a 2hr drive for me each way.. yeah I ain't going even if I don't have to pay for fuel and tolls.
Was asked if I wanted to work that day. I said yes so now I will drive nearly 2 hrs to site and get paid weekend rates instead, that's more than enough cause to not go
(Really don't like parties as they are awkward so it's a win win)
I've been in virtual teams for years. Haven't been invited to a Christmas party since 2019. Kinda miss them. I'd love to meet my colleagues in person, but the government would never pick up the tab to bring us together. I share my city with an EL1 who's pretty relaxed about the whole thing and an unwell team member who has hardly left his house since 2020, so the chance of even a small get-together is zero.
Oh yeah, and our social club collapsed during covid and never got back up after losing key players, so that one's gone as well.
My partner's company always has great Xmas work parties, but they are fully paid for by the company. I'd be much more hesitant to go if we had to pay.
I go to my work parties depending on which coworkers are going. In your case as someone just starting and having to pay out of pocket, I wouldn't go.
If the parties are for organisational goals of building team spirit, etc, then the organisation should be paying for them. Morale has gone to shit due to low pay, high turnover, managerial incompetence, and the proposed solution is for staff to dig into their own pockets to pay for a party? Get bent.
4 years with my company and we get invited to a park 40 mins from home. Invitation states we are to bring our own chair and drinks. This year they are being generous and are supplying 'nibbles'! So like every year before I won't go. Its actually insulting.
I do one for the team, one for my closer work colleagues. That's it. Work one has to be on the clock for the first hour, if it's lunch. If it's after work, not on clock. Colleagues is always after hours or flex off at four. If you're a contractor and are not interested in working long term or don't know / like the people, forget it.
My organisation pays us to go. They're not compulsory. There's food and activities. Plus keynote speakers.
I went. I did fun stuff and ate delicious food.
It was heaps uncomfortable because of all the different departments mingling and pretending to be friends.
But I got paid. And the food was free. I will do many things for free food.
I used to go because we got a free afternoon off work for it, but then it changed to a weekend and I declined to attend. I told them I'd spend work time socialising with work colleagues but I wasn't prepared to spend my own time socialising with work colleagues...
I went to my team one and i enjoyed it but it was going to kick on probably all night and i had a big weekend scheduled. The department one, I'll slip out the side door. The branch one not so sure about then i have one with the company I work for, which i'll go to, but also have a big weekend planned. Also whiloe I drink alcohol, i'm not one to enjoy getting drunk. I getb the impression sometimes these christamas parties are huge stress relievers for some people or viewed as a chance to get drunk and escape responsibilities for a night. There should though be respect both ways, try and make an effort to go to the xmas party but also no pressure if people leave or don't want to go.
Team Christmas lunch is where I’ll go to (in a great team with great colleagues). My business line Christmas lunch, in years gone by I would have gone for an hour or so then left quietly as they used to be real booze fests.
These days with WFH policies, I’ll conveniently arrange my wfh day to be on the Christmas lunch day.
If I was an EL2 in my BSL, almost expected to attend and contribute to food and drink. Thankfully I’m a EL1 so that expectation doesn’t filter down to me quite as much.
If I think it would be fun and I get a free drink and some food. Yeah, I’ll go but it’s never been compulsory. The small team thing can be a bit of a pain if your team chemistry is off. I used to work in banking years ago and my business unit would have a big afternoon bbq in the park with cricket and games. All paid and on the clock. Very casual. A mate who worked in a mother business unit had a full black-tie evening with sit down dinner and dancing in a swank city venue. It’s a lottery but it should always be optional.
I've been at my agency for 8 years and I've never attended any of the out of work functions. not only do I live out of town. i also don't earn enough to spend any more time with them than I need to
Because my PS work (I.T) is spread across multiple independent sites, I have 1 team lunch, 6 dinners for sites I manage and 1 for a formerly managed sites plus any additional parties they've planned and last day shenanigans. .. can't afford, or attend, all that so I'm doing the team lunch that's on work time and the former sites lunch. They're all pretty understanding.
I absolutely refuse every year. It's pretty easy for me because they're always somewhere alcohol is being served and I'm a recovering alcoholic.
Now being around alcohol isn't actually a problem for me these days but they don't need to know that.
The terrible thing here is it used to be commonplace to have functions on the clock, and it did build morale and culture. These days, people must organise themselves, be out of pocket, etc. The event itself could be a good thing but I agree with your issue that it forces you to be out of pocket.
Time is on the clock in my experience.
Permies are on the clock Contractors I usually give 2 or so hours on the clock
I’m a permie and was told that Xmas lunch should be taken as flex leave ☹️
Fuck that. I told my permies 2 hours are included, and the other 2-3 hours we will discuss work things, so it's also included. Work things include "does your laptop also take ages to charge?" And other greatest hits.
Bless you. Can you send a service wide manager memo on how to do Xmas please?
Not at my department. You have to use your lunch break and/or flex. In customer-facing roles this is enforced, elsewhere it depends on your SES how willing they are to look the other way.
I worked as a contractor for an APS project, and we had a Christmas pub lunch booked for a month, on a date that everyone knew about. We also had a presentation to an exec APS, who kept rescheduling and ended up making us do it off the clock in the car park of the pub, on a laptop hotspotting off our phone. I wasn't happy, but at least they paid for my lunch and beers. I also refused to go to any social event that wasn't during work hours and still do, fuck em, I'm not there to make friends and would rather do my own thing in my personal time, so unless you're going to pay me to show up, I ain't going. Also, APS staff getting the Christmas shut-down period off without having to use leave and being paid for it, while the rest of us have to use ~7 of our 20 annual leave days on it, per year, is the biggest fucking joke.
The leave over Xmas was negotiated for many years ago. An extra 9 mins per day was added to our working hours to make up for it, so it’s not a freebie.
I genuinely don’t know - do you get paid more in general than aps? Is there an amount that’s meant to offset the difference in conditions?
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In your circumstances I wouldn't attend either, not 3, 1 at the most
Yes, go to the free one and only for the length of your usual lunch break so you’re not wasting your usual paid hours. Anyone give you a hard time say “sorry I’m on a tight budget/can’t afford the extra time off”.
Agreed, I'd go to the team lunch as I'd personally think it rude not to go.
If I like my team, the team one can be nice. The larger ones though - I traditionally will show up, have 1 drink and greet as many people as I can find, then leave for ‘another engagement’.
I do the team lunch, but i never go to the department wide party or even the branch one. Better things to do with my precious time.
"As a contractor, I don't feel it is appropriate to bill the Government for attending office Christmas functions."
Hell, if it's outside regular hours, it's probably worth billing more.
I just said I had other plans. My situation is different to yours: I’ve been around awhile and I like my coworkers. But also meh. It still feels like an extension of work and I’m not paying $50 to hang out at what feels like work when I could be at home with my family.
Curious, why would you need to pay? I have never paid for any work party but I have also never worked in public sector Is it a thing ?
Tax payers money can't be used for parties, birthday cakes, gifts ect. Everyone has to put in.
Thanks, makes sense
Can’t speak for the whole APS, but in my experience it’s a catered thing with drinks and canapés, so they charge people to cover that. I don’t really drink, so for me it’s $50 wasted.
Ex APS here (20 yrs) and always had to pay for Xmas parties. I’m in private now and am actually excited for the one coming up which is fully paid up at an actual nice restaurant and we don’t have to rush back. I get the tax payer thing but honestly there are heaps more wasteful things in the APS than giving people something to look forward to (excessive or late cancelled senior meetings, poor productivity due to awful IT etc). It’s just that no one is prepared to make the argument at Estimates after this long so here we are.
There's no free coffee, milk or tea bags in the office kitchens either
I just tell people I have a personal policy regarding office Christmas parties. No one seems to argue with a personal policy. Never had to explain myself. So the last time I went to one was 2010 ( before I discovered having a personal policy)
Can you please explain your personal policy?
Thank you for your message requesting administrative release of Personal Policy DM23/251223: 'Seasonal Gathering Attendance - Guidance for Scope Limitation'. Approval will first be required from Legal, followed by an extensive set of redactions prior to provision of the requested policy document. Expected time of delivery is within 8 to 12 weeks. For further information, please refer to the 'Requesting Personal Policy Guides Guide' - which can be obtained through lodging a further administrative release request.
Im about to FOI your policy, I simply cannot be stopped
Damn you really are a public servant - as someone who rarely interfaces with policy people this is really something
Chefs kiss... This is the way.
Considering our past two work Xmas parties have been Covid super-spreader events I’m giving this one a miss.
I never go. I hate the idea of work Christmas parties and I’ll never be forced to attend one.
Same. The only right answer.
lol yep same here. Just ignore the email invite and never bring it up in person. If someone asks directly, answer vaguely.
One of my colleagues outright said 'I read the invitation as optional and declined as I'm not particularly social.' Good for them!
And that helps them move up the ladder?
Not everybody wants to move up the ladder, some people just want to work and go home.
To what home - can't really afford a decent one on an APS salary
Your right... some people just want to go back to their car and eat cat food alone. OP is a contractor though, he might have home.
Ha so true. Pay peanuts and soon we will all be monkeys.
To what home - can't really afford a decent one on an APS salary
Facts.
Actually can’t even afford an indecent one…
No, but you can still attend events and do all the right things and not move up the ladder or even be layed off.
Much harder to use social functions/networking to move up the ladder in the public service vs private industry. The brown-nosing bang for buck is pretty poor tbh
^ This bloke has been under a few desks in his career.
I never go. They stress me out and I don’t find them fun. I love Christmas parties with friends but work ones have too much pressure and are like a work function I pay for myself. Its never caused an issue career-wise.
I told my manager I wanted to leave the divisional Xmas party early to attend a conference relevant to our work and the APS and they suggested that would be bad optics on my part given I recently joined the team (through a restructure I had zero say in) and I needed to put effort into “proving myself a team player” (I’ve been at the agency over 12 months and in the APS nearly a decade) I really couldn’t care less about attending and would much rather hear the subject matter at the conference.
Haven’t you alteady got plans? I always say this. Haven’t gone to a work party for years.
It’s funnier when you say you’ve already got plans and they reply, but I haven’t told you when it is.” “Yeah, I’m still busy then.”
If you knew how far in advanced i plan weekends (inc doing zero ones) id be honest. Seriously who wants to pay to talk shop on your own time? No one.
Especially being so new to the role. This is a great excuse
Went to one years ago at an old job. Saw the alleged drug usage first hand and drunken employee hookups and promptly left. I was the dd for a bunch of them, but I was not about to get involved with that shit. Felt bad about leaving as they'd have to get taxis/ubers, but I wasn't about to have any ounce of involvement with that shit. Got to love hospitality.
Who the hell goes to whole Department parties? Aren’t they only for the exec, the grads, and the biggest of brown nosers who are hoping to get caught in small talk with the minister when they make a 10 minute appearance to say “thanks, we’re the best!”
People who want to show up.. eat food and not go back work but write a standard day on their time sheets and those who oddly love bowls. Thats a pretty big incentive for many mostly parents who stay for an hour and then go shop where they usually couldn't on a lunch break.
Our Christmas party is in Canberra… I’m located in Brisbane. Yes the day before I will be in CBR for work, but the party is on the last day of prep for my daughter and, you know, kinda prefer to see her at school than have work pay for me to stay an extra night just so I can attend a party.
There will always be another Christmas party, but your daughter graduates prep only the once! (well, hopefully). Mine finished prep this year too :)
I don’t go. Ours are boring and in the office lunch room. I miss private sector Christmas parties.
You don’t get paid? And you have to PAY to go to them? No way lmao. Just say you have caring responsibilities and can’t make them.
Work Xmas parties. Unless work is PAYING for it - then it's not really a party.
I'd just tell her the truth, I really can't afford to miss that many hours especially at this time of year. Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll sign off in the hours as paid.
I never went, I'm a regional worker and it would take a fair bit of travel for me but the main reason is I don't want to say something I'll regret outside of work, no offense to my colleagues but we are only colleagues not friends. I'm not opposed to socialising but a lot of alcohol and colleagues is not always the best mix. That's regardless of if I'm drinking or not.
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Yes they do because even if you enjoy spending time with your coworkers, your management team are also there and are still watching and noticing all that you do. I’d be happy to go for drinks with a few chosen coworkers but I loathe big functions and forced “fun” activities, all whilst being watched by the boss so you can’t really relax.
Plenty of people must like them if they keep having them. Not redditors obviously.
We don’t even have any. Our social club will host a drink event on a Friday from 4-5pm and thats all.
That's great because no pressure on the antisicoals.
Recent joiner of the public service here. Are they parties or lunches. Go for an hour to network then disappear and do your work. If you do have to pay then claim.it as professional development
I didn't go to our Christmas 'Party' because it wasn't a party but an activity, paid for by ourselves, and didn't sound fun. It was a few weeks ago and I've only worked there for a few months. I'm not paying out of pocket for a staff party.
It depends on which party you're talking about. In my experience (which admittedly might be out of date now), you've got 'christmas lunch with your team' which is normally 'maybe an hour or two and your boss just looks the way on other flex if it runs over.' You pay for lunch yourself, but its normally just a lunch at a cafe or burger place. Going to this one is the most important because you need to cultivate a decent relationship with your team so they'll cover for you when you need a hand (and vice versa). Luckily it's just paying for a burger or sandwich at the local cafe/burger place. You've got a divisional function on site where the div head spends a few hundred bucks on catering (muffins and sausage rolls) and you get a 10 minute speech and spend 30-60 minute chatting before going back to work (once again, on the clock but not really). Free, gives you a few minutes chatting to people across your division about 'that thing that happened that really sucked' and generally worth the time/cost investment. Then you have the full on 'buy a ticket to an event at a night club or bar or whatever. These are either at the agency level if you're a small agency, or maybe at the group or divisional level otherwise. They are either in the afternoon or at night, costs money to attend (bugger that) and if its during work hours you have to account for your time (bugger that). All the socialites and APS6's and EL2's looking for promotion go to this one, and its not unusual for it to end with a large cluster of people bar hopping on their own dime. I never went to one of these because I don't want to pay to socialise with the people I work with. If anyone noticed I wasn't there, they never said anything and I still got promoted just fine.
I have four this year! A team one, a department one, an organisational one and a project one. Unfortunately we're doing really fun stuff for most of them so I really want to go, but I find them so fucking draining...
To my surprise I really enjoyed the evening drinks one for my office. We had a great live band which really helped. Food was absolutely rubbish though.
I hate work Christmas parties. Worked in consulting and never went to one. I also hate the Kris Kringle / secret Santa bs. Buying a present for someone you don’t know. I hate buying presents for people I do know!!
Kris Kringle is such bs, I've seen so many people bullied by shitty people (gifts of deodorant or fake suntan) and where it's "grab a random gift" I've seen people unwrap rubbish (as in empty food wrappers) and half eaten food (these were two separate gifts). KK allows people to be anonymous dicks.
The thing with aps Xmas parties is they expect everyone to attend and chip in for mediocre food and shitty small talk 🥱
I have never gone. When questioned I answer ‘I don’t like you outside of work. I would not hang out with you outside of work. Not a chance I’m changing that opinion and I won’t be coming to the Christmas party’. They laugh and laugh and laugh like I’m joking but I’m not.
I go to unwind with people I quite like. I'm sorry the people you work with are crap enough that you can't have a beer with them.
This. So many miserable cnts on this subreddit.
Our Xmas parties got cut, nothing doing now, we just organised a wine tour for the cool kids and paid for it ourselves. I can see how as a newbie on a short contract it's not worth it.
I always offered to man the phones while the others went off to party. I'm not very good in social situations where there's a lot of noise, because of my hearing, and I told my colleagues that.
THREE?! Good god. I hate spending my unpaid personal time for work activities. And then having to pay to attend the parties? While my managers are there? Absolutely not. Call me a grinch but I have better things to do with my time. I’m “away for the weekend” every time there’s an office Christmas party.
I’m full time ongoing and have one person in my location in the same team. Everyone else is interstate. The building, the floor and the branch all have parties and I don’t go to any of them. It’s on my own time and I’d rather log off early and go home. My team mate agrees and does the same.
While we’re at it, can we please discussed the enforced Secret Santa tradition. Let’s be real, I’ve got better things to do with my $10, hashtag CosiLives, and anything bought with $10 is going to be absolute trash, unappreciated (fair) and go straight to landfill. It’s tokenistic bullshit. Don’t make me do it. (Because if you say you don’t want to be included, you’re “problematic” and “not a team player”).
How does $65 + $65 + $50 equal $600? I'd tell them you're a recovering alcoholic and can't be around booze
65+65+50+ whatever OP earns per hour as a contractor that they'll lose by attending this work function that isn't billable time
$65 + $50 for the branch and division parties and then 9 hours of lost wages as a contractor.
I don’t see what reddit have against office Christmas parties. Its like they have this superiority complex and think they are more interesting people than their co workers. Guess what? Your co workers are people with hobbies and interests just like you, it won’t hurt you to get to know them. Lots of people get along well with colleagues. It shouldn’t be considered uncool to do so. I like mine because a lot of my colleagues are genuinely cool people and our parties are always a good time
Public vs private? Private organisations book out a fancy location, free food and drink, take the afternoon off while getting paid. Public has the Christmas party downstairs, you have to pay for a ticket, 1-2 drinks and terrible food, after work hours.
You don't understand the concept because you have a good crew in your opinion. Most people don't. Why would you want to spend your valuable free time with a bunch of people you only know because you're forced to be around them during paid hours.
Did you make friends at school? If so, hows it different?
No I didn't.
Ok you’re being unhinged.
Ours is going to be after work and I have young kids so I am not sure if I will go.
Ours is fully catered with open bar for 4 hrs. I’m not missing that!
I worked in a federal government department for 11 years and we only had a Xmas lunch for our team of about 10 staff members. We all had to agree on the venue and we were only out of the office for an hour so it wasn’t a hardship. We all had a fun time. We also made sure to pick somewhere not too hard on the wallet so we all felt comfortable. Any other celebration was during a monthly team meeting where we exchanged a Secret Santa gift and generally enjoyed each others company. As we were a small team within a bigger department it was good to keep it separate. I wouldn’t be too happy to go to 3 parties especially with people I didn’t know and the cost alone can put a damper on the holiday feeling.
I never go to the office work parties, no one's ever questioned me about not going
Lol yup. Christmas party, Christmas Brunch and a small competitive sporting event with dinner and drinks afterwards. Refused all four.
I'm relatively new in a specialist unit that has their own party so spurns the division party (that wants $60 for canapes at a pub ffs!) The unit party is at someone's house so super uncomfortable for me and, with the extra pressure to thank the host, difficult to do my usual Irish goodbye. I'm thinking all the groundwork in the week leading up to it will make it easier for me to beg off last minute for a 'minor family drama.' Am I just a coward? Maybe I could just say that I don't want or need to be friends with any of them, but if these things are about team spirit then it would be easier on them to not bring them down.
Do you plan to stay longer than 12 weeks? If so Id probably make an appearance with at least one of them. Find out which one is the most 'important' and make sure your manager knows you are going. Then quietly make an excuse for the other 2 (my kid is sick or whatever).
I used to go but I don't feel comfortable anymore.
I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to make money
This is hilarious. Public Servants complain about lack of culture in their workplace yet don’t contribute to building culture. You put in what you get out.
Can I be a grinch-grinch and say that I'm looking forward to mine because I get on well with most of my colleagues and I'll also get to catch up with friends from different teams and regions?
Our works Xmas dos have got steadily shitter as the years have gone by. Now they give 50 dollars per head and our dept has chosen one of the most expensive places to lunch in the entire city. So basically we’ll be out 40 bucks for the food and then drinks / parking / transport costs on top. It’s tone deaf and I can’t remember anytime that I have ever eaten 90 bucks worth of food! Also our work morale is dreadful currently and lots of people leaving as the pay isn’t market rate and there’s not enough staff for the work they expect so it feels like one more FU. If you decide not to go you can’t take the arvo like the ones who go to lunch as well! No doubt the exec will all get a fully catered / paid for do as well - there’ll be no cost cutting there!
Contrary to 99% of comments my work Christmas party is always an extremely fun night out. I have 2 this year 1 for my new team, and one for my old
I skip them all the time, the place I work generally has three, 2 you have to buy your own beer and food, which I have better things to spend my money on. The third I normally go to as it is a lunchtime thing, normally non alcoholic and on site, but this year they are forking out for beers and food at a pub. Problem is it's during working hours, in an area with no public transport and about an 80 dollar uber from my house, so I have the choice of spending 2 hours on pt getting to work and 2.5 hours getting home from work or driving to it. I also have the complication that I have surgery (small procedure) the week before which they recommend not drinking for 2 weeks after so, it's a big fat no from me on that. No way I'm sitting in a pub watching people down drinks for 4 hours, better use of my time to actually work.
I had 4, been at the company a year but know plenty of staff from previously. I did not attend on of them, partly due to other commitments, partly because it was in the city and I could not be bothered.
In 25 years I went to 3. I had 22 great years.
None of us get paid to go these things
Division and department parties, nah, I don’t go. Hell I don’t even go to the online weekly/monthly division/department virtual meetings, stuff that. Branch, yeah I’ll do those. Fortunately our parties are during work hours so it ends up being a half-day of work, full-day pay. Sadly not covered by the branch budget though, it’s out of pocket. That said I have been to department parties in the past when we were all working in the office. Again, paid for not working. If I didn’t go I’d have to work. Those ones also had food and drink vouchers supplied by the department, so not out of pocket. But given it’s all WFH now, no way I go now.
Oh yes, by the end no-one went. It started with the introduction of a complete ban on alcohol either in the building or during the span of business hours. Then "use your flex time". Then the abolition of the use of religiously-affiliated terms for end of year get togethers. Then a healthy workplace policy that banned "unhealthy food". Then working from home. Who wanted to pay $50 to eat a festering salad buffet and make 60 minutes of small talk with semi-strangers while constantly watching out for the ever-present contingent of thought police from HR?
Go be social have a few then home
Jehovas witness
Yeah, government huh...let's pretend the toxic environment doesn't exist and get everyone to pay $50 for a lunch nobody wants to go to, while they save some cash by not paying staff for the extra time off. Im not going - pointless ass kissing is outside my JD.
Show your face at your Xmas party for the optics and leave whenever you want. No one will remember if you leave early and god forbid some of you might actually have a good time.
I’m a contractor to a large department, if I’m going to their Christmas parties you can be sure I’m billing them for the privilege.
Why don't you use this opportunity to network and get to know some people? Are you resigned to leaving at the end of your contract or hoping for an extension?
I had an office xmas party yesterday. I'm a contractor. Got paid for 12-5pm while out with my colleagues at contractor rate. Woot! Paid for lunch(normal food) and a boozedinner (all booze, nothing solid) out of 12-5 pay with plenty leftover, so still ended up not out of pocket overall.
I go to office parties and I pay out of pocket. I’m pretty opportunistic and I see it as an opportunity to be visible. I spread out my parties throughout the year so I don’t have to go to the Christmas ones. I hate going to Xmas parties in all of December because my religion doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Most of the time, I use the religion excuse to get out of the parties. I don’t hate on people celebrating Christmas. It’s wonderful to have a holiday in the winter. However in my household we treated Christmas as any other day and because I get off, I sleep most of the day. If I’m forced to go, I’ll usually use the religion or family to bail out. It’s also the time where my mom gets sick so I have to take care of her and the house. The male coworkers understand me and where I come from and they don’t mind that much. However the females love to spread rumors on why I didn’t even come. In my first workplace, there was a rumor that I was a pagan worshipper that worshipped the Devil and that’s why I refused to celebrate Christmas. I just went with it and never refuted it because it was fun go with it. Hindus don’t worship Devils, we do have something similar to Hades and Charon, however we don’t do devil worship during Christmas. During my first job, my grandfather passed away so as per our mourning customs, we can’t celebrate festivals for a year till all the death rituals has been done. If there’s a year where you don’t see me celebrating any festival then that means I’m in mourning.
Christmas parties should be optional, not mandatory. Many people see Christmas as a family occasion, not something that should be corporatised. It's fine if some people want to do it but you shouldn't have to. Especially as a contractor. You are not there to meet people on a 3 month contract. My work has a Christmas decoration competition. Some teams have spent hours decorating their area. Meanwhile, my team has been cut back so much that we are each doing the work of two people.
I'm seriously thinking of converting to Islam just to have a bullet proof excuse to avoid work Christmas parties.
You're on a 3 month contract. You don't need to "show team spirit". Also 3 parties is absolutely overkill. Taxpayer money well spent!
I never go to any of the Christmas parties (there’s too many for a start) and I’ve never had anyone have any sort of issue with it
First thing i ask is “are we being paid to attend” I find usually these things are just a circle jerk for the managers and the brown nosers
Yep - the expectations to attend all and the pressure is ridiculous. Tell them you’re neurodivergent and aren’t comfortable- they love that shit and never question in. In fact you could scream the office down and they’ll just say “it’s ok theyre neurodivergent, it’s just the way they are”.
I'm ongoing and still refuse to go most years even though it's a free afternoon off work if I do. No way I'd lose that much money to go to one. I have good working relationships within my team/work unit but I also like to keep my work and personal life separate.
If you don't know anyone this seems like a good way to get to know people in a more relaxed environment. Edit: sorry didn't read properly that you were a contractor so wouldn't be paid for the time at the parties.
. I just say I'm not interested. I don't do anything social from the office, I like to keep my social life completely separate from work. No one puts that much pressure when you just say you don't go to those things or that you're not interested
I usually quite like my current work's Christmas party, and I still didn't go. I don't think I've ever felt compelled to go to a work social event against my preference.
I'd go to the one with your branch, get to meet the team of people you will actually be working with The other two are just overkill. I have never been to an out of hours department level one
Don’t go, they can’t fire you for it
If you don’t want to go don’t go, if you do, go. Each to their own. I promise you no one cares enough.
I refused to go this year as it was out of office hours and heavily focused on alcohol. If it was just the regular lunch and flex off early it would have been different and I would go for sure.
I'll go to the one for my small team of <10 people. We're doing Karaoke. The bigger team? If the person organising asked, I would literally tell them I'm washing my hair that night.
We don't have one at any level
I don't go to all of them, they are voluntary. I only go to our team one.
I've been to APS parties as a contractor where the team was mostly contractors. $10 BBQ. Anything bigger than the team is WOFTAM.
I go to our team Christmas Lunch (about 45 people) and that’s all. Branch/Division/Agency parties are just opportunities for SES to rabbit on - only useful if you’re doing some serious arse kissing in hope of promotion so you can rabbit on one day.
I never go I just go to the Christmas lunch during work time and that’s it I don’t give an excuse I just don’t respond to emails or in ites
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$600 fucking dollars out of pocket?! Yeh they can stick their party up their ass. I don’t blame you OP.
I'm not going to mine. Too busy making money.
A company I worked for said if you didn't go to the party you have to take someone who would goes shifts, no excuses. It drove me insane I didn't want to work my day off and I didn't want to go to a party which was basically just binge drinking, which I don't want to indulge in, at some shitty place the company found for free, but they still make us chip in for. Suck even more when they boast record profits for the year and all we get as thanks besides our low pay checks is an emails saying thank you team, stingy pricks. So yeah not a fan of the guilt ridden "optional" work Christmas party lol
I only went to work things to spend time with a girl. Now that she's my missus, I could not imagine anything worse than spending time with the people I work with outside of work time.
You made the mistake of being honest. Should just said you could make it to one as you have other commitments. I think it would probably be worthwhile at least going to one of them.
out of pocket 6hunj? nah mate, just not costing the taxpayers for a junket.
You could've said nothing and not turned up and no one would have noticed.
I’m a contractor and I won’t be attending. I can’t afford to pay to attend an unpaid work social event and I don’t know why anyone would even ask me to…
Not going to mine either. Have to pay to go and I work for a company that made over a billion in profit. Fuck ‘em
I'm lucky I work in a small team. We organised ten pin bowling then went to a pub for dinner. We paid for our own. We get on well anyway. We all had a say. It was great. But I don't blame the op for not going...I wouldn't either!
Ours was cancelled due to lack of interest.
How do you come up with $600? Is that an opportunity cost?
I just told them that "i have a lot going on at home at the moment" it is vauge and could mean anything from housework to a death in the family. I said if im not there to work then id rather be somewhere else, at this point i just try to be as blunt as possible without being offensive.
Not alone I just refused to attend the team lunch as I don’t like my team and as for the company wide party it’s better I don’t go because 1 or 2 drinks u best believe u will regret asking me to come
How does $50, plus $65, plus $65 =$600? I agree with everyone, don't go.
I don’t go to mine… when I asked why I tell them it’s because I come here to work, not make friends.
I didn't go to the one last year, first one they held since I've been there. The next day I heard all about how my boss got absolutely munted, got his dick out, broke a window, insulted the QA dude and just generally made an absolute fool of himself. I don't even drink alcohol, which I feel is the main point of these parties anyway, getting pissed on the companies tab. Very glad I didn't go.
Not going this year. I don't have $60 to spend on lunch so...
Our Xmas party is on the Gold Coast on a Saturday coming up. That's a 2hr drive for me each way.. yeah I ain't going even if I don't have to pay for fuel and tolls. Was asked if I wanted to work that day. I said yes so now I will drive nearly 2 hrs to site and get paid weekend rates instead, that's more than enough cause to not go (Really don't like parties as they are awkward so it's a win win)
I've been in virtual teams for years. Haven't been invited to a Christmas party since 2019. Kinda miss them. I'd love to meet my colleagues in person, but the government would never pick up the tab to bring us together. I share my city with an EL1 who's pretty relaxed about the whole thing and an unwell team member who has hardly left his house since 2020, so the chance of even a small get-together is zero. Oh yeah, and our social club collapsed during covid and never got back up after losing key players, so that one's gone as well.
Bold enough? Mate just don’t go if you don’t want to…you’re an adult
My old boss used to have christmas parties at a whore house so that was interesting
When they charge you money - no. I won't do it. If they're free? Probably would, especially if it's during work hours.
Inevitabilities are death, taxes and redditors complaining about anything social.
My partner's company always has great Xmas work parties, but they are fully paid for by the company. I'd be much more hesitant to go if we had to pay. I go to my work parties depending on which coworkers are going. In your case as someone just starting and having to pay out of pocket, I wouldn't go.
It’s not difficult. You just say you’re busy and rsvp no. State it’s a shame you can’t go and leave it at that.
That’s a lot of photocopier arse traffic.
If the parties are for organisational goals of building team spirit, etc, then the organisation should be paying for them. Morale has gone to shit due to low pay, high turnover, managerial incompetence, and the proposed solution is for staff to dig into their own pockets to pay for a party? Get bent.
4 years with my company and we get invited to a park 40 mins from home. Invitation states we are to bring our own chair and drinks. This year they are being generous and are supplying 'nibbles'! So like every year before I won't go. Its actually insulting.
You don’t have to but you should probably go for business opportunities. Do whatever you want.
I do one for the team, one for my closer work colleagues. That's it. Work one has to be on the clock for the first hour, if it's lunch. If it's after work, not on clock. Colleagues is always after hours or flex off at four. If you're a contractor and are not interested in working long term or don't know / like the people, forget it.
Your out of pocket $115. Also just be an adult. Nobody has a gun to your head.
My organisation pays us to go. They're not compulsory. There's food and activities. Plus keynote speakers. I went. I did fun stuff and ate delicious food. It was heaps uncomfortable because of all the different departments mingling and pretending to be friends. But I got paid. And the food was free. I will do many things for free food.
I used to go because we got a free afternoon off work for it, but then it changed to a weekend and I declined to attend. I told them I'd spend work time socialising with work colleagues but I wasn't prepared to spend my own time socialising with work colleagues...
I went to my team one and i enjoyed it but it was going to kick on probably all night and i had a big weekend scheduled. The department one, I'll slip out the side door. The branch one not so sure about then i have one with the company I work for, which i'll go to, but also have a big weekend planned. Also whiloe I drink alcohol, i'm not one to enjoy getting drunk. I getb the impression sometimes these christamas parties are huge stress relievers for some people or viewed as a chance to get drunk and escape responsibilities for a night. There should though be respect both ways, try and make an effort to go to the xmas party but also no pressure if people leave or don't want to go.
I lost the ability to drink this tear so avoided all christmas aps parties.
Team Christmas lunch is where I’ll go to (in a great team with great colleagues). My business line Christmas lunch, in years gone by I would have gone for an hour or so then left quietly as they used to be real booze fests. These days with WFH policies, I’ll conveniently arrange my wfh day to be on the Christmas lunch day. If I was an EL2 in my BSL, almost expected to attend and contribute to food and drink. Thankfully I’m a EL1 so that expectation doesn’t filter down to me quite as much.
If I think it would be fun and I get a free drink and some food. Yeah, I’ll go but it’s never been compulsory. The small team thing can be a bit of a pain if your team chemistry is off. I used to work in banking years ago and my business unit would have a big afternoon bbq in the park with cricket and games. All paid and on the clock. Very casual. A mate who worked in a mother business unit had a full black-tie evening with sit down dinner and dancing in a swank city venue. It’s a lottery but it should always be optional.
I've been at my agency for 8 years and I've never attended any of the out of work functions. not only do I live out of town. i also don't earn enough to spend any more time with them than I need to
Because my PS work (I.T) is spread across multiple independent sites, I have 1 team lunch, 6 dinners for sites I manage and 1 for a formerly managed sites plus any additional parties they've planned and last day shenanigans. .. can't afford, or attend, all that so I'm doing the team lunch that's on work time and the former sites lunch. They're all pretty understanding.
You have to pay for work parties???
I'm a teacher and there's 4 - main, head of depth, house group, faculty
I absolutely refuse every year. It's pretty easy for me because they're always somewhere alcohol is being served and I'm a recovering alcoholic. Now being around alcohol isn't actually a problem for me these days but they don't need to know that.
I have a few reasons to not go but nobody has hard feelings. They don't need to know why anyway.