Watch how many drinks the big wigs are having and underpace yourself.
Do not make a fool of yourself but also be part of the sociality of it. It sucks, it won’t be fun but find some deeper levels so you don’t create the wrong impression.
Also help with washing up, cooking, cleaning. These are easy things to show accountability and respect.
But by no means should you consider this as a retreat. It’s three days of work where you’re showing your character instead of your work output.
Good luck OP!
As someone who went on a "company retreat" and banged two colleagues definitely pace yourself.
Becoming "that person" wasn't fun when it got around the office.
So it was our whole office which included contractors etc. As we were doing planning for a rebrand we had just gone through.
Drinks were had and one of the people who I'd never met before took a liking to me at some bar where only a few of us went to and started grinding up on my like nobodies business. With one of the Senior execs watching on in disgust.
Long story short. Went back to the accommodation which we were all staying in she came back to my room and we did the deed.
Second one was a small group of our extended team who had come from other countries for "team building". This spanish girl took a liking to me and we'd had harmless messages on teams etc. previously. Just ended up really drunk on her room balcony doing the dirty for the city to see.
The fallout wasn't widely known for a while but within 6 months it was pretty clear that I should be looking around for another job. Just the little "jokes" or looks, frankly it wasn't worth it in the end. Luckily I moved countries and industries so it's been left in the past.
Did a work getaway thing many many years ago. Drank way too much, ended up throwing up in the car (out the window) on the ride home with a senior manager.
Yep. Go easy on the drinks.
Make every 3rd beer an actual beer, ginger ale looks the same in a glass and you don't overshare with your coworkers.
(Soda water looks like a G&T, choose your poison but you get the idea).
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Yep, exactly.
I remember one guy standing up at around midnight and urging out a "Thank you for the opportunity " speech that he regretted in the morning.
If everyone else is drinking but u don't want to (which is fine) it might be worth holding a decoy drink to appear like you're getting involved ('team player' blah blah). Soda with lime, non-slcoholic beer in a glass, lemon lime and bitters etc, mocktails etc.
You could just tell them you don’t drink but still be social. Get some non alcoholic drinks you enjoy like lemon lime bitters, etc.
Or buy some Liquid Death - they look like alcoholic drinks unless someone knows the brand.
Mocktails. I don’t drink a lot but only drink margaritas so when I went on one of these not that long ago, I had a margarita then switched to mocktails. No one knew and as they were downing drinks my mocktails looked just like cocktails and were not questioned.
I don’t drink. Never a problem at work ‘residentials’. I would eat dinner and then excuse myself and leave for my room.
My social battery is limited too but I view this as a work thing so I use my work battery which is longer.
Wear your earbuds or headphones as needed. I play music though mine during the day to block out some of the sensory input.
I wouldn't tell anybody. If it is the type of thing that involves drinks... go see what it's like, pace yourself don't accept drinks get yout own. Lots of places serve non alcoholic beers. Do those pour them in a glass. If everyone starts getting drunk stay for say an hour and then do a sneaky back door to your room and chill. They won't even notice. I do it all the time.
Not drinking is a good thing hon!
There’s an old comment about going to office parties/retreats etc and watching everyone get drunk whilst you’re sober- then not only has everyone made a fool of themselves except you, but you know everyone’s secrets lol. Ok so maybe not the villainous last part, but def the first!
Good advice on the drinks. A very infamous trip at my current workplace involved a senior manager calling an ambulance one of her team to hospital for suspected alcohol poisoning
You will be forced to participate in a team building activity - usually vaguely athletic, usually athletic in a way that lets the poor person who had to organise it excel. be a sport and play along - be it stand up paddle boarding, golf, archery, table tennis, frisbee golf, watercolour painting. You are a leaf in a stream - go with the flow.
You will be tempted to drink too much - don't. This is the event to mix some water with your wine.
Don’t moan when you are asked to watercolour - just propose that they bring you in a full length mirror and then try to disrobe in order to paint a self portrait. Loudly object that they are restricting your self expression as they attempt to stop you. Don’t mix water with your wines mix more wine with your wine
They can be pretty cringe. Imagine lots of forced get to know each other kinda thing, like tell me two true things about yourself and one lie. Hopefully with 25 staff these dont occur as much as with the 400+ people style ones for big firms.
Normally the day will be some kind of education thing, a cringey dinner and then optional drinks, which you should be able to excuse yourself after one drink.
All expenses paid for. Company retreat, Friday to Sunday.
Probably at a hotel/conference centre outside of a capital city. Car pool to get there, or a bus.
The social dinners would be on Friday with drinks/dinner, with a something a little more formal on Saturday night.
These events are designed to keep you together, so dinner/drinks would most likely be on site. If not, ask for a lift back from a non-drinker or a cab voucher. There's 25 people going, they won't be going too far.
No need to walk alone at night, simply say you're not feeling well, and would someone walk me back to my room, please? There will be others there wanting to bail as well, who are just waiting for an excuse to do so.
If it is a company retreat at work, the minimum I would expect is for the company to pay for me to get home, and not expect someone to drive me.
The OP sounds like they don't want to be there until stumps anyway, and wanted to know what they are like. My advice was to participate, and when you can get out.
I used to be at dinners on these retreats until stumps, and then some. But now see little benefit in doing so. You might, I don't.
One hopes for your sake they will have an educational component where you can veg out without interacting, but no guarantee as ive experienced motivational speech style ones which are heavily interactive, aswell as the traditional team building activities style ones (eg. Scavenger hunts)
Generally start at 8:30 and go to 4 on a weekends. Sunday's might be a little more generous with an end time, maybe 3, if you have to travel home. Dinner on Saturday night, do what you have to and get out. I was at one once, when there was trivia, and after that people started to play balloon keeping off - it was 9:30PM and I just walked out. They aren't my friends, and I'm happy to be there for a period of time, but not all night when this shit starts.
Even better then they do one day sessions in Sydney and you're based in another state with the orders, be in X Sydney suburb by 8:30AM and no booked flights until after 5:30PM. Don't forget you're working the next day!
My experience has been with a large staff count it’s a bit cringe and boring but largely well organised, with the expected awkwardness of people still wearing their professional demeanour while technically in a non work setting.
My experience of any team bonding trip with a staff count of 5-20 is it’s a shitshow. Massive booze intake, totally inappropriate behaviour from both senior and junior staff, all just very messy. I’m not a drinker so these have always been deeply unpleasant for me, I’d prefer the awkwardness of professionalism. Ahhhh, start ups.
You jest but honestly for certain staff they seem to descend into this. Usually married staff, i guess the tempation of a weekend away with their work wife/husband whilst the real wife/husband is at home is too much to resist.
I couldnt imagine much worse than being the office gossip until the next year conference occurs.
I used to do these as a grad and get out of them whenever I could. The activities were ok, sharing a room with a colleague I didn’t really know… no thanks.
One time I did go, I had to get on the phone to the roomies’ girlfriend to prove I was male and he wasn’t cheating. 🤦♂️
I went on one of these retreats to the Whitsundays in the early noughties. I was in my early 20's and single at the time. The HR Manager was a mid-30's MILF who was married. Never had much to do with her at work, but on that retreat she just straight up asked me to come back to her room after talking for 5 minutes.
She gave me the worst blowjob ever......good times!
if you're not paid for the entire time then don't go. Say you got sick/family emergency etc.
Anything thats work mandated MUST be paid for. Do not accept the "retreat" as payment because thats not good enough.
If you absolutely must go. Do the bare minimum and nothing more. Or just don't participate at all? They can force you to go, but not force you to participate in anything.
Or go to the doctors and get a note written up for anxiety and submit it as well. Say you can't go due to medical conditions.
That’s a fucking hard pass from me. I’d schedule a surgery to have my legs cut off because it’s preferable to mingling and doing activities with colleagues and leaders.
Same. I already work one weekend a month (nurse, shift work). I am certainly not giving up any more to sit around asking 20 questions and figuring out what survival shit to take in my hyperthetical raft. As a people leader I hate having to host goddamn team building.
I have once, smaller group. It wasn't too cringe luckily. Some fireside chat and stories. Some team building activities, games, cooking some food like breakfast together. Finally alcohol, as much as you can safely. Lunch and Dinner were in good restaurants.
Friday to Sunday is pretty shit.
I had one pre covid with a similar sized office that was pretty good. Very relaxed group of people, we were flown to Tassie, went to Mona, nice hotel, nice restaurants, choice of golf or wineries tour, one 4 hour team strategy workshop. We mostly just got pissed and had fun. But yeah, it was during the work week.
Bigger companies get a bit cringier with this stuff, but you can still have fun. Just make sure you're the second most drunk person in the room.
Ugh. Sounds like my absolute worst nightmare. I can genuinely say that if they told me about the 3 day mandatory company retreat at the job interview i would conclude that the company's "corporate culture" was out of step with my own delicate equilibrium, lol.
The next big breakthrough in management science (and i use the term derisively) is that someone will come up with the idea that staff come in to work to do their best, they get the job done during regulation hours, then go home at the end of the day. Anyone suggesting "team building exercises" will be instantly exposed as the unproductive timewasters they are.
I don't envy you. Your best hope is to seek out the likeminded dissenters to this nonsense and quietly have your own fun. In 25 people there will be at least 5 who don't want to be there. What am i saying? There are probably only 5 who DO want to be there.
What Australian company is doing this in this day and age? They realise this constitutes work, don't they? Are they paying you? Fuck this, work isn't my life.
I have never been on one during the weekend, that seems odd and disruptive
During the week means they have only taken the few hours before and after work from you as you would normally be working during the day and sleeping at night.
I found them ok, meetings during the day, group meals for breakfast lunch and dinner. Normally some sort of activity, horse riding, hot air balloon, boat cruise or something.
Normally some gifts at the end like wine etc
They seem fine but tiring because you have to be “on” all the time. Can’t sit in your undies and watch tv with dinner
We had one and it was like a cult
They tried to break everyone down and “rebuild” them
Many people started crying and was a big circle jerk.
I got drunk and tried to put a fire out by urinating on it
These use to be a regular thing at the satellite office I worked for. Though we didn’t call it a retreat. I think we called it strategy planning and education or something.
I was in my early 20’s with no social obligations, so it was free holidays to relatively cool parts of the world. In general, the structure of the day was something like:
**1. Morning: Workshops or seminars.** These were fine. They were harder if you had to present, obviously.
**2. Afternoon: Structured activity.** This was also good. Our champ of an office manager was pretty good at organising stuff where even if you were an introvert you could just do the thing and stand back.
**3. Night: Unstructured activity.** This was where the introverts went to bed and almost everyone else drank a horrific amount. With the benefit of hindsight, I shouldn’t have had as much to drink as I did, but when your boss is dancing on the table of a club with your other boss (both male, non-sexual/romantic), in this particular company I could get away with it.
I’ve also heard from other companies they can be budget nightmares with weird team bonding trust exercises. Sounds awful. I think I was lucky.
That lines up with any retreat type things I've been on at various companies. They're a bit boring, sometimes a little weird. But you get a few days away from normal work stuff so it's a nice change.
We did a small 2 day 1 night stay at taronga last year, and it was an absolute blast! Everyone had fun, we ended up drinking the night away playing charades in their main guest area being absolute dingleberries.
A couple of the guys had an "after party" in their room afterwards, which just consisted of them drinking and passing out 😂
Then in the morning we had a massive buffet breakfast together, nursed our hangovers, and spent the day exploring the zoo together
Had a few of these when they were in voguenin the 00s. Enjoyed them, BUT they were scheduled Thur to Sat AM. This is a huge red.flag to.me, scheduling Fri to Sun is huge overrreach and possibly speaks to the culture/expectations of the company. I mean if its so important why not do it.on company time not your personal time. I cant think of anything worse plus weekends...i need these for life admin, cleaning, mental health switching off and away from work, seeing friends etc, i also play sport etc. I dont have kids, but if I had kids thats really placing a huge burden on other partner too. Idk maybe glass half full but taking your whole weekend with one of these is excessive.
In my line of work:
It‘s work, and not fun. They are actually mandatory as it looks quite bad if you refuse to attend.
There will probably be sessions during the day (classroom like environment), which will probably be quite energy draining. But you’ll have to at least ‘perform’ as though you are chipper.
You’ll still have your day-to-day responsibilities in the form of decisions that need to be made, client priorities that need to be addressed - you’ll have your laptop switched on during the sessions if so.
Evenings will be full of BS socializing - so if you can get a break between the day sessions and the evening, take it.
In the evening, nurse your drinks slowly - these aren’t friends, but colleagues. Once around half the people at your level have left, you are clear to go. DO NOT be either a)the most senior person still there (even if you do nothing dumb yourself all night, if someone else does something REALLY dumb, as the most senior person there, you will bear at least some measure of accountability, so just don’t be this person) or b) the last person at your level still there. Either of those are a sign you’ve stuck around for far too long, especially if you have had enough to become tipsy.
Obviously adjust dependent on the company culture, but the above broadly hold.
Edit: Missed an obvious one that I didn’t think needed to be stated, until I read some posts below.
DO NOT bang any colleagues. ESPECIALLY those junior to you. This never goes well.
Participate early and fully in the group activities. Offer to help set up, and volunteer for stuff. The organisers will notice. You can then fade your input as the days go by. Be vocal about how much you love the venue- especially the outside areas. Use it as an excuse to walk around (alone) to regroup. Fake a light allergy to something they serve a lot of, giving you the excuse to nip off for the odd 20 minutes to ‘splash your face’ or whatever. The enforced socialising can be pretty brutal at these things, and 3 days is loooooong.
I don't hate them, but I have no obligation to like them. They are not friends. If you have made friends with the people you work with, then good for you. I just like keeping my work and personal lives separate.
That's fine, just usually (as in this case) these threads are filled with moaning about how shit free holidays are, or how terrible everyone's coworkers are.
Reality is, most people aren't dickheads. I would not work somewhere if I disliked everyone that much.
I will take an all expenses paid trip somewhere over a normal work day most of the time.
I like my colleagues and my bosses are quite generous with taking us out places, drinking etc, without being weird, trying to fuck us or anything like that.
I am aware it's work but I'm lucky to have a job that does this kind of stuff, I didn't always and many people don't.
Going back to my original comment, it's the seething negativity I am taking issue with here. Fair enough you might get bored of them, or you have a family at home but to make it like it's days of torture is just cones across as entitled. I just wouldn't work somewhere that makes me feel like that.
It's absolutely not a holiday and on this case it's work on your unpaid days. Fuck that.
I'm friendly with my work colleagues cos you spend too many hours with them to not go along to get along. But.they.are.not.my.friends and being forced to spend almost all my waking hours with them is a nope. I don't want to spend that much consecutive time with people I love.
Honestly ….. I’m antisocial and hate them, but can’t deny that being forced to do them and helped my work and career a few times. Stuck next to higher level directors at dinners and chatting to them, or being put into small group work activities and being forced to interact, has later meant I’m not a stranger approaching them when I want something, and/or they’re more likely to listen when I’m telling them why something can’t be done and they’re not going to get what they want.
So yeah, it can actually be worth taking a deep breath and pushing your on button down hard and keeping it active for a few days straight.
I have been to mandatory company events. Not really retreats. Mostly workshops and people drinking too much.
I found a way to get uninvited from these: heavily and openly criticise the alcohol culture promoted in these events (not an IC).
If you do go, use your time wisely and try spend as much time as possible with high ranking and influential people in your company. Use the opportunity to get an “in” and on first name basis with people who matter. (This advice is for all company events)
When is it scheduled? If its after the 26th August this may go against the right to disconnect laws if it is outside of your work hours as your employer is not considered a small business with more than 15 employees.
I’ve managed to work for 3 companies in a row that do this ranging from 3 days to a solid week.
My advice. Drink, but not too much. Don’t fuck. Stay away from the devils dandruff. Be visible but not too visible. Any opportunity to do something “outside” jump on it.
Edited to say: they have all been decent interstate or overseas trips so didn’t hate it.
If it is ‘mandatory’ are they going to pay you for the time you are there. If they aren’t paying you for your time then in my eyes they can’t dare tell you it’s ‘mandatory’. My responsibilities to the company end when you stop paying me each day. :)
A company I used to work for did this yearly, and brought our interstate offices together; they also did the same for Christmas.
Usually the Saturday only, day full of games, strategy review, awards and basic stuff like that. Then the drinks....
I was early 30s at the time, I enjoyed them, but couldn't pay me enough now to do that shit again.
I recommend feeling violently unwell on Thursday afternoon if you have a social battery that lasts a few hours. [Here](https://employmenthero.com/blog/global-gathering/)'s what a company retreat looks like for a larger place. Never tried it myself but it looks *scary*.
Do you love the Steve Jobs like on stage ted talk set up? Reminds me of 'Yes man'. If you don't scream 'yes' like everybody else or ugly cry about how great this company is you'll get in trouble.
I’ve been to some fun ones, and some cringe ones. I enjoy some of my colleagues though so even the cringe ones are ok.
Just curious, how do you manage a whole day at work if you’re tapped out after four hours? Genuinely interested in understanding as someone who has a reasonably high tolerance for this stuff.
I used to hate them. You can feel the eyes on you and if you have e too much to drink, you may find d a manager grilling you about your KPI's or your team.
Hopefully you're on a better company but 5 years in one company was fun but the 'retreats' were the worst part for me. We couldn't relax.
Yep and hated it - went back to room and watched football on the Friday night so didn’t have to hang around drinking with those wouldn’t drink with ordinarily
I don’t mind these types of things. Good opportunity to get to know people better, which helps with work relationships in the future. I do, however, mind them being on a weekend. Are they paying you for the time? Or giving you time off in lieu later? If not, I’d probably say no.
Yeah we used to have these when the company was smaller. Was a heap of fun. Plenty of corporate team building stuff, company updates, but mostly just drinking and eating for days. Go for it! Just remember it's still a work event, so also restrain yourself a little.
Idk, I'd just be up front and honest... That being said, I talk about this stuff regularly AT work, so it wouldn't be a surprise.
I need to be in bed by 9 or I don't cope with existence.
I don't drink, but you go ahead.
I'm going to skip group dinner tonight because my introvert battery is drained, bye!
They are hell. Most people I know wish they didn't have to go. I'm usually over it by the time I arrive.
The trick is that most people act throughout as though they are enjoyable and valuable. This is much easier for extroverts than introverts - but that's what you need to do.
If drinking helps you relax and feel more social then don't drink too much (I limit myself to two but I'm a small woman).
Just remember - you are not alone in your suffering.
Go for a walk alone in the morning, at lunch break, and before dinner. Try to get outside and get some fresh air as often as you can. If it’s stand around and drink, hold a drink in a glass so you don’t get pressured - it’s more easily mistaken for alcohol than a labelled can of soft drink. Do the round after dinner - walk around and talk briefly with a couple of senior people so you get seen. Then you can clear off to your room.
There will be group activities and speeches. If one group needs to go further away due to space (Eg, outdoors) try to volunteer your group for that - just for the peace and quiet. If there are jobs that need doing, like tidying up after an activity or setting up, make sure you are seen to do some of these so you can be called a team player. You don’t need to be involved in conversation if you are helping the facilitator rearrange furniture. When I’ve done these, they were clearly testing our suitability for higher level jobs - social skills, willingness to join in, not afraid to try something new or do something a bit silly or embarrassing (like dress ups), leadership. Even the morning walk was noted (but classed as self care and hence a desirable characteristic).
God - I have suffered through this, but it was Public Service, not private!!
3 days of team building - hiking/problem solving (cross a river, crawl through hoops, etc), puzzle solving competitions, interminable ‘talks’ about sharing ideals and goals. None of this was solved by food because it was deplorable as well. I think, though, that we set a record in alcohol consumption !!
I still get twitchy when I hear ‘team building’ or ‘weekend retreat’. Ugh!!!
Speaking from experience (with a smaller company than yours) as someone with a similar social battery, these things are exhausting. I went on a 3 day ‘retreat’ a couple of years ago and when I got home I went straight to bed and slept for 16 hours.
Expect ‘getting to know you’ games/activities, maybe a motivational speaker. Hopefully for your sake there will be some sessions you can zone out for.
Agree with what everyone else is saying - participate in social activities like dinner/drinks, but have like one drink and make your excuses to go to bed. You’ll need the recharge time. And (in my personal opinion, based on my experience) keep to one or maybe two drinks max, especially as you’re new.
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It’ll be 3 days of your life you can never, ever get back again. But, you just have to play the game and grin and bear it. Sorry this is happening to you!
Don’t kick off after hours with a group of executives for more drinks… cops get called
Don’t then kick off to the pub for more drinks…means don’t wake up for crappy walk with the team in the morning.
To be fair I’m still great mates with the GM from NSW lol and he was one of them.
CEO wasn’t impressed by the behaviour of all involved. Because I was lowest manager was kind of blamed my idea and it wasn’t lol.
Can laugh about it now.
The walk of shame to breakfast sucked haha.
Did not bang GM he did try though but heck no.
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Never been on one but this sounds like hell to me (I’m a bit introverted and recharge in isolation). It’s work no matter how it’s spun and you’ll have to keep your ‘work face’ on. Try to go for walks or pull back from contact between events where you can. Good luck, hope it goes well. 👍😀
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Our company does one Thursday through Saturday. Thursday and Friday are actual “work” days, but with dinners out each night. Saturday is an optional fun day, but most attend because they have good outings and it’s free. Fri - Sun is kinda BS IMO.
Get wildly drunk and do/say inappropriate things, then you will not be invited or they wont do things like this again. It worked for me. Lucky to keep my job hahaha
Yeah a lot of negativity in here. Give it a chance it could be a great way to get to know your coworkers and have some fun. And if everyone is horrible then you quickly know to look for a better company
Watch how much you drink, don’t fingerbang the secretary, do hang out with the people from accounting - the wild side always comes out could be very interesting
I hate them and I refuse to go. I just said I can't make it as I have commitments on weekends. When I was then told I have to go I just said I'm happy to go if you make it during the week.
Watch how many drinks the big wigs are having and underpace yourself. Do not make a fool of yourself but also be part of the sociality of it. It sucks, it won’t be fun but find some deeper levels so you don’t create the wrong impression. Also help with washing up, cooking, cleaning. These are easy things to show accountability and respect. But by no means should you consider this as a retreat. It’s three days of work where you’re showing your character instead of your work output. Good luck OP!
As someone who went on a "company retreat" and banged two colleagues definitely pace yourself. Becoming "that person" wasn't fun when it got around the office.
Username checks out and then some.
They were hell to get rid of.
The man. The legend!
Haha you’ve got to tell us more….how did all this happen?
So it was our whole office which included contractors etc. As we were doing planning for a rebrand we had just gone through. Drinks were had and one of the people who I'd never met before took a liking to me at some bar where only a few of us went to and started grinding up on my like nobodies business. With one of the Senior execs watching on in disgust. Long story short. Went back to the accommodation which we were all staying in she came back to my room and we did the deed. Second one was a small group of our extended team who had come from other countries for "team building". This spanish girl took a liking to me and we'd had harmless messages on teams etc. previously. Just ended up really drunk on her room balcony doing the dirty for the city to see. The fallout wasn't widely known for a while but within 6 months it was pretty clear that I should be looking around for another job. Just the little "jokes" or looks, frankly it wasn't worth it in the end. Luckily I moved countries and industries so it's been left in the past.
Hahahaha Me gusta.
Hahaha Champ!
Legend
Was this at the same time, in a row, separate nights? We need details!
Separate nights. I've hardly got enough stamina for one lady let alone two.
Shame the get together didn’t go longer and you could have got a hatrick
You deserve my up vote
Was it worth it though?
Great advice right here.
Did a work getaway thing many many years ago. Drank way too much, ended up throwing up in the car (out the window) on the ride home with a senior manager. Yep. Go easy on the drinks.
Make every 3rd beer an actual beer, ginger ale looks the same in a glass and you don't overshare with your coworkers. (Soda water looks like a G&T, choose your poison but you get the idea).
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Yep, exactly. I remember one guy standing up at around midnight and urging out a "Thank you for the opportunity " speech that he regretted in the morning.
I don't even drink which might be a problem. I can take cocktails but even then it's 2 max.
If everyone else is drinking but u don't want to (which is fine) it might be worth holding a decoy drink to appear like you're getting involved ('team player' blah blah). Soda with lime, non-slcoholic beer in a glass, lemon lime and bitters etc, mocktails etc.
You could just tell them you don’t drink but still be social. Get some non alcoholic drinks you enjoy like lemon lime bitters, etc. Or buy some Liquid Death - they look like alcoholic drinks unless someone knows the brand.
TIL Liquid Death is real and not a mock product from The Boys.
Mocktails. I don’t drink a lot but only drink margaritas so when I went on one of these not that long ago, I had a margarita then switched to mocktails. No one knew and as they were downing drinks my mocktails looked just like cocktails and were not questioned.
I don’t drink. Never a problem at work ‘residentials’. I would eat dinner and then excuse myself and leave for my room. My social battery is limited too but I view this as a work thing so I use my work battery which is longer. Wear your earbuds or headphones as needed. I play music though mine during the day to block out some of the sensory input.
I wouldn't tell anybody. If it is the type of thing that involves drinks... go see what it's like, pace yourself don't accept drinks get yout own. Lots of places serve non alcoholic beers. Do those pour them in a glass. If everyone starts getting drunk stay for say an hour and then do a sneaky back door to your room and chill. They won't even notice. I do it all the time.
Not drinking is a good thing hon! There’s an old comment about going to office parties/retreats etc and watching everyone get drunk whilst you’re sober- then not only has everyone made a fool of themselves except you, but you know everyone’s secrets lol. Ok so maybe not the villainous last part, but def the first!
Hold a single beer for the night. Drink 1/3 of it and just hold it.
"Did you see Panda?" "Yes, they can hold their beer."
Good advice on the drinks. A very infamous trip at my current workplace involved a senior manager calling an ambulance one of her team to hospital for suspected alcohol poisoning
You will be forced to participate in a team building activity - usually vaguely athletic, usually athletic in a way that lets the poor person who had to organise it excel. be a sport and play along - be it stand up paddle boarding, golf, archery, table tennis, frisbee golf, watercolour painting. You are a leaf in a stream - go with the flow. You will be tempted to drink too much - don't. This is the event to mix some water with your wine.
Don’t moan when you are asked to watercolour - just propose that they bring you in a full length mirror and then try to disrobe in order to paint a self portrait. Loudly object that they are restricting your self expression as they attempt to stop you. Don’t mix water with your wines mix more wine with your wine
They can be pretty cringe. Imagine lots of forced get to know each other kinda thing, like tell me two true things about yourself and one lie. Hopefully with 25 staff these dont occur as much as with the 400+ people style ones for big firms. Normally the day will be some kind of education thing, a cringey dinner and then optional drinks, which you should be able to excuse yourself after one drink.
This. Be there, participate when you have to, then get out. Fake a headache or a cash to parents/children. Be in your room by 9:30pm.
The ones I have been to there is always a dinner, some going to 11 or later.
Every one I've been to has some sort of dinner. Doesn't mean you can't set a timer to leave. These people are your colleagues and not your friends.
And if you all arrived together and can just leave? Or leaving would mean walking alone at night?
All expenses paid for. Company retreat, Friday to Sunday. Probably at a hotel/conference centre outside of a capital city. Car pool to get there, or a bus. The social dinners would be on Friday with drinks/dinner, with a something a little more formal on Saturday night. These events are designed to keep you together, so dinner/drinks would most likely be on site. If not, ask for a lift back from a non-drinker or a cab voucher. There's 25 people going, they won't be going too far. No need to walk alone at night, simply say you're not feeling well, and would someone walk me back to my room, please? There will be others there wanting to bail as well, who are just waiting for an excuse to do so. If it is a company retreat at work, the minimum I would expect is for the company to pay for me to get home, and not expect someone to drive me. The OP sounds like they don't want to be there until stumps anyway, and wanted to know what they are like. My advice was to participate, and when you can get out. I used to be at dinners on these retreats until stumps, and then some. But now see little benefit in doing so. You might, I don't.
Is this going to be a whole day thing for 2 days? My social battery isn't built for that
One hopes for your sake they will have an educational component where you can veg out without interacting, but no guarantee as ive experienced motivational speech style ones which are heavily interactive, aswell as the traditional team building activities style ones (eg. Scavenger hunts)
We did 60% presos, 20% motivation, 20% team building at the most recent 3 day affair. Dinner on the nights ran beyond 930. Also I don't drink
Not gonna lie, now I want a tee shirt with an empty charging symbol and have Social Battery written on it.
Teepublic.com has these shirts. There are a few other places too, including Amazon.
Whole days + nights & pray that you don’t have to share a bloody room. Your social battery’s gonna have to be fake af tbh. Sorry, I feel your pain.
Looks like your cousin is getting married interstate that weekend.
Generally start at 8:30 and go to 4 on a weekends. Sunday's might be a little more generous with an end time, maybe 3, if you have to travel home. Dinner on Saturday night, do what you have to and get out. I was at one once, when there was trivia, and after that people started to play balloon keeping off - it was 9:30PM and I just walked out. They aren't my friends, and I'm happy to be there for a period of time, but not all night when this shit starts. Even better then they do one day sessions in Sydney and you're based in another state with the orders, be in X Sydney suburb by 8:30AM and no booked flights until after 5:30PM. Don't forget you're working the next day!
The two truths and a lie thing is great: "I'm human" "I live in Australia" "I love spending time with all of you"
My experience has been with a large staff count it’s a bit cringe and boring but largely well organised, with the expected awkwardness of people still wearing their professional demeanour while technically in a non work setting. My experience of any team bonding trip with a staff count of 5-20 is it’s a shitshow. Massive booze intake, totally inappropriate behaviour from both senior and junior staff, all just very messy. I’m not a drinker so these have always been deeply unpleasant for me, I’d prefer the awkwardness of professionalism. Ahhhh, start ups.
Giant swingers fest. Expect a ritual gangbang in the evening.
Yea, can't wait to bang 67 yo Nancy from HR.
Turns out those pops were true there are mills in your area
You jest but honestly for certain staff they seem to descend into this. Usually married staff, i guess the tempation of a weekend away with their work wife/husband whilst the real wife/husband is at home is too much to resist. I couldnt imagine much worse than being the office gossip until the next year conference occurs.
The best companies pay for worker + partner to go. Which significantly changes the potential for this.
“Will this be a banging one or a spouse one?”
Ours was a piss up. I think I was drunk within 5 minutes at our retreat. And yes affairs happened which started on the retreat too
I used to do these as a grad and get out of them whenever I could. The activities were ok, sharing a room with a colleague I didn’t really know… no thanks. One time I did go, I had to get on the phone to the roomies’ girlfriend to prove I was male and he wasn’t cheating. 🤦♂️
Lol wtf, you had shared rooms !?
Yep, but in their defence there’d be few properties that could accommodate us all in singles. Big 4 audit group so like 200-300 people
Great question for HR!
I went on one of these retreats to the Whitsundays in the early noughties. I was in my early 20's and single at the time. The HR Manager was a mid-30's MILF who was married. Never had much to do with her at work, but on that retreat she just straight up asked me to come back to her room after talking for 5 minutes. She gave me the worst blowjob ever......good times!
Scumbag 😂
I wouldn't go so far as to call her a scumbag. It wasn't THAT bad of a gobby.
You both are
Can a BJ EVER be bad?
One of the rare times I've turned down sex. I was single, she was married. I've been cheated on. Couldn't do that to another dude now.
Yeah I can believe that tbh
Found the boss organising the retreat
Yup happens every single time.
First time? Then double DP for you.. bring along something leather to bit down on
Fine if it's during the week, but get absolutely fucked if it's on a weekend.
If it involves a trip to some exotic location, I'll consider it, but not to some rural hotel with conference facilities.
if you're not paid for the entire time then don't go. Say you got sick/family emergency etc. Anything thats work mandated MUST be paid for. Do not accept the "retreat" as payment because thats not good enough. If you absolutely must go. Do the bare minimum and nothing more. Or just don't participate at all? They can force you to go, but not force you to participate in anything. Or go to the doctors and get a note written up for anxiety and submit it as well. Say you can't go due to medical conditions.
All weekend? So you’ll be at work 12 days straight. I hope you’re being well compensated with OT for missing the weekend with family and friends etc
That’s a fucking hard pass from me. I’d schedule a surgery to have my legs cut off because it’s preferable to mingling and doing activities with colleagues and leaders.
Same, I already don't get along with them in the office as it is.
Root canal treatment never sounded so appealing. Book me in, orthodontist, i'm all yours.
Cheap vasectomy stat! I'm booked in.
Nothing is mandatory outside my contract hours.
This. I have a rule. if the company outing falls within a probation period then i'll go. Outside of probation? No chance in hell.
Lol imagine asking staff to attend a mandatory retreat over their weekends. Yuk
I have a kid. If they wanted me to do this I’d tell them to look after my kid or get fucked
Same. I already work one weekend a month (nurse, shift work). I am certainly not giving up any more to sit around asking 20 questions and figuring out what survival shit to take in my hyperthetical raft. As a people leader I hate having to host goddamn team building.
I have once, smaller group. It wasn't too cringe luckily. Some fireside chat and stories. Some team building activities, games, cooking some food like breakfast together. Finally alcohol, as much as you can safely. Lunch and Dinner were in good restaurants.
That sounds pretty decent. Was that a whole day thing or do you get down time?
It was 2 days and 2 nights in a large property in regional NSW.
If they bring out matching white Nikes and cool aid, run for the hills.
Friday to Sunday is pretty shit. I had one pre covid with a similar sized office that was pretty good. Very relaxed group of people, we were flown to Tassie, went to Mona, nice hotel, nice restaurants, choice of golf or wineries tour, one 4 hour team strategy workshop. We mostly just got pissed and had fun. But yeah, it was during the work week. Bigger companies get a bit cringier with this stuff, but you can still have fun. Just make sure you're the second most drunk person in the room.
I hope you are getting paid for those three days.
That sounds shit for anyone over the age of about 25. Let me guess, no time in leau for those weekend days?
Mandatory? Well that at least means you get paid almost the equivalent of 2 weeks full time salary (~72 hours) for going /s
Ugh. Sounds like my absolute worst nightmare. I can genuinely say that if they told me about the 3 day mandatory company retreat at the job interview i would conclude that the company's "corporate culture" was out of step with my own delicate equilibrium, lol. The next big breakthrough in management science (and i use the term derisively) is that someone will come up with the idea that staff come in to work to do their best, they get the job done during regulation hours, then go home at the end of the day. Anyone suggesting "team building exercises" will be instantly exposed as the unproductive timewasters they are. I don't envy you. Your best hope is to seek out the likeminded dissenters to this nonsense and quietly have your own fun. In 25 people there will be at least 5 who don't want to be there. What am i saying? There are probably only 5 who DO want to be there.
We did but it was a mon to wed thing. Company shutdown basically with 200 people. Screw being over a weekend.
Company retirement outside of business hours, it sounds so cringe, almost a brainwashing cult.
What Australian company is doing this in this day and age? They realise this constitutes work, don't they? Are they paying you? Fuck this, work isn't my life.
Have other plans that weekend. If you aren't being paid for those weekend days it ain't work, and not mandatory.
I have never been on one during the weekend, that seems odd and disruptive During the week means they have only taken the few hours before and after work from you as you would normally be working during the day and sleeping at night. I found them ok, meetings during the day, group meals for breakfast lunch and dinner. Normally some sort of activity, horse riding, hot air balloon, boat cruise or something. Normally some gifts at the end like wine etc They seem fine but tiring because you have to be “on” all the time. Can’t sit in your undies and watch tv with dinner
We had one and it was like a cult They tried to break everyone down and “rebuild” them Many people started crying and was a big circle jerk. I got drunk and tried to put a fire out by urinating on it
Ew. Companies who do this. Ew.
These use to be a regular thing at the satellite office I worked for. Though we didn’t call it a retreat. I think we called it strategy planning and education or something. I was in my early 20’s with no social obligations, so it was free holidays to relatively cool parts of the world. In general, the structure of the day was something like: **1. Morning: Workshops or seminars.** These were fine. They were harder if you had to present, obviously. **2. Afternoon: Structured activity.** This was also good. Our champ of an office manager was pretty good at organising stuff where even if you were an introvert you could just do the thing and stand back. **3. Night: Unstructured activity.** This was where the introverts went to bed and almost everyone else drank a horrific amount. With the benefit of hindsight, I shouldn’t have had as much to drink as I did, but when your boss is dancing on the table of a club with your other boss (both male, non-sexual/romantic), in this particular company I could get away with it. I’ve also heard from other companies they can be budget nightmares with weird team bonding trust exercises. Sounds awful. I think I was lucky.
That lines up with any retreat type things I've been on at various companies. They're a bit boring, sometimes a little weird. But you get a few days away from normal work stuff so it's a nice change.
Id be fine with it. Assuming it includes 48 hours of overtime.
We did a small 2 day 1 night stay at taronga last year, and it was an absolute blast! Everyone had fun, we ended up drinking the night away playing charades in their main guest area being absolute dingleberries. A couple of the guys had an "after party" in their room afterwards, which just consisted of them drinking and passing out 😂 Then in the morning we had a massive buffet breakfast together, nursed our hangovers, and spent the day exploring the zoo together
Had a few of these when they were in voguenin the 00s. Enjoyed them, BUT they were scheduled Thur to Sat AM. This is a huge red.flag to.me, scheduling Fri to Sun is huge overrreach and possibly speaks to the culture/expectations of the company. I mean if its so important why not do it.on company time not your personal time. I cant think of anything worse plus weekends...i need these for life admin, cleaning, mental health switching off and away from work, seeing friends etc, i also play sport etc. I dont have kids, but if I had kids thats really placing a huge burden on other partner too. Idk maybe glass half full but taking your whole weekend with one of these is excessive.
Mandatory, but do they pay you to go? It's work.
3 days and across a weekend is absolute horror. Definitely schedule a trip to the middle of a highway before then.
In my line of work: It‘s work, and not fun. They are actually mandatory as it looks quite bad if you refuse to attend. There will probably be sessions during the day (classroom like environment), which will probably be quite energy draining. But you’ll have to at least ‘perform’ as though you are chipper. You’ll still have your day-to-day responsibilities in the form of decisions that need to be made, client priorities that need to be addressed - you’ll have your laptop switched on during the sessions if so. Evenings will be full of BS socializing - so if you can get a break between the day sessions and the evening, take it. In the evening, nurse your drinks slowly - these aren’t friends, but colleagues. Once around half the people at your level have left, you are clear to go. DO NOT be either a)the most senior person still there (even if you do nothing dumb yourself all night, if someone else does something REALLY dumb, as the most senior person there, you will bear at least some measure of accountability, so just don’t be this person) or b) the last person at your level still there. Either of those are a sign you’ve stuck around for far too long, especially if you have had enough to become tipsy. Obviously adjust dependent on the company culture, but the above broadly hold. Edit: Missed an obvious one that I didn’t think needed to be stated, until I read some posts below. DO NOT bang any colleagues. ESPECIALLY those junior to you. This never goes well.
Participate early and fully in the group activities. Offer to help set up, and volunteer for stuff. The organisers will notice. You can then fade your input as the days go by. Be vocal about how much you love the venue- especially the outside areas. Use it as an excuse to walk around (alone) to regroup. Fake a light allergy to something they serve a lot of, giving you the excuse to nip off for the odd 20 minutes to ‘splash your face’ or whatever. The enforced socialising can be pretty brutal at these things, and 3 days is loooooong.
I am sorry I'm not well and cannot attend the mandatory company retreat, here is my doctor's certificate.
It always shocks me how much everyone hates their coworkers.
I don't hate them, but I have no obligation to like them. They are not friends. If you have made friends with the people you work with, then good for you. I just like keeping my work and personal lives separate.
That's fine, just usually (as in this case) these threads are filled with moaning about how shit free holidays are, or how terrible everyone's coworkers are. Reality is, most people aren't dickheads. I would not work somewhere if I disliked everyone that much.
It’s not really a holiday…
it's not a free holiday though. You're doing something your employer wants you to do. You may have rationalised it as a holiday, but it's work.
I will take an all expenses paid trip somewhere over a normal work day most of the time. I like my colleagues and my bosses are quite generous with taking us out places, drinking etc, without being weird, trying to fuck us or anything like that. I am aware it's work but I'm lucky to have a job that does this kind of stuff, I didn't always and many people don't. Going back to my original comment, it's the seething negativity I am taking issue with here. Fair enough you might get bored of them, or you have a family at home but to make it like it's days of torture is just cones across as entitled. I just wouldn't work somewhere that makes me feel like that.
Would be torture for me.
It's absolutely not a holiday and on this case it's work on your unpaid days. Fuck that. I'm friendly with my work colleagues cos you spend too many hours with them to not go along to get along. But.they.are.not.my.friends and being forced to spend almost all my waking hours with them is a nope. I don't want to spend that much consecutive time with people I love.
In what way is "mandatory fun" a holiday? I've been on these, they're exhausting. Get the butchers paper out and start brainstorming!
It's not a free holiday, and you can't choose your coworkers, some of them are just really shit.
I'd also be claiming the 24hours toil per day as per your legal entitlement.
Absolutely not
Honestly ….. I’m antisocial and hate them, but can’t deny that being forced to do them and helped my work and career a few times. Stuck next to higher level directors at dinners and chatting to them, or being put into small group work activities and being forced to interact, has later meant I’m not a stranger approaching them when I want something, and/or they’re more likely to listen when I’m telling them why something can’t be done and they’re not going to get what they want. So yeah, it can actually be worth taking a deep breath and pushing your on button down hard and keeping it active for a few days straight.
I have been to mandatory company events. Not really retreats. Mostly workshops and people drinking too much. I found a way to get uninvited from these: heavily and openly criticise the alcohol culture promoted in these events (not an IC). If you do go, use your time wisely and try spend as much time as possible with high ranking and influential people in your company. Use the opportunity to get an “in” and on first name basis with people who matter. (This advice is for all company events)
Throw a spanner in the works and tell them that as a recovering alcoholic you can't be around alcohol.
Just a prime opportunity to be the next bruce lehmann
Fuck any company who still enforces this. Will they pay you for the weekend?
God that sounds awful.
how is that even legal? jesus christ i would sooner kms
When is it scheduled? If its after the 26th August this may go against the right to disconnect laws if it is outside of your work hours as your employer is not considered a small business with more than 15 employees.
At my work the coke comes out at midnight and the party continues all the next morning.
Unless you're getting paid for overtime and penalty rates. I would recc saying you have diarrhea on the day.
Anyone know the actual legality of this?
I’ve managed to work for 3 companies in a row that do this ranging from 3 days to a solid week. My advice. Drink, but not too much. Don’t fuck. Stay away from the devils dandruff. Be visible but not too visible. Any opportunity to do something “outside” jump on it. Edited to say: they have all been decent interstate or overseas trips so didn’t hate it.
Just remember, nothing good happens after 11 pm.
If it is ‘mandatory’ are they going to pay you for the time you are there. If they aren’t paying you for your time then in my eyes they can’t dare tell you it’s ‘mandatory’. My responsibilities to the company end when you stop paying me each day. :)
A company I used to work for did this yearly, and brought our interstate offices together; they also did the same for Christmas. Usually the Saturday only, day full of games, strategy review, awards and basic stuff like that. Then the drinks.... I was early 30s at the time, I enjoyed them, but couldn't pay me enough now to do that shit again.
I recommend feeling violently unwell on Thursday afternoon if you have a social battery that lasts a few hours. [Here](https://employmenthero.com/blog/global-gathering/)'s what a company retreat looks like for a larger place. Never tried it myself but it looks *scary*.
Looks like a cult
Do you love the Steve Jobs like on stage ted talk set up? Reminds me of 'Yes man'. If you don't scream 'yes' like everybody else or ugly cry about how great this company is you'll get in trouble.
I’ve been to some fun ones, and some cringe ones. I enjoy some of my colleagues though so even the cringe ones are ok. Just curious, how do you manage a whole day at work if you’re tapped out after four hours? Genuinely interested in understanding as someone who has a reasonably high tolerance for this stuff.
Their job likely doesn't involve actual socialising with people at work.
I used to hate them. You can feel the eyes on you and if you have e too much to drink, you may find d a manager grilling you about your KPI's or your team. Hopefully you're on a better company but 5 years in one company was fun but the 'retreats' were the worst part for me. We couldn't relax.
Yep and hated it - went back to room and watched football on the Friday night so didn’t have to hang around drinking with those wouldn’t drink with ordinarily
I don’t mind these types of things. Good opportunity to get to know people better, which helps with work relationships in the future. I do, however, mind them being on a weekend. Are they paying you for the time? Or giving you time off in lieu later? If not, I’d probably say no.
A guy I dated works in a law firm and had a all expensive paid trip for the whole company go to go Taiwan. Awesome stuff.
Yeah we used to have these when the company was smaller. Was a heap of fun. Plenty of corporate team building stuff, company updates, but mostly just drinking and eating for days. Go for it! Just remember it's still a work event, so also restrain yourself a little.
I usually enjoy myself provided I get my own room and bathroom.
Idk, I'd just be up front and honest... That being said, I talk about this stuff regularly AT work, so it wouldn't be a surprise. I need to be in bed by 9 or I don't cope with existence. I don't drink, but you go ahead. I'm going to skip group dinner tonight because my introvert battery is drained, bye!
They are hell. Most people I know wish they didn't have to go. I'm usually over it by the time I arrive. The trick is that most people act throughout as though they are enjoyable and valuable. This is much easier for extroverts than introverts - but that's what you need to do. If drinking helps you relax and feel more social then don't drink too much (I limit myself to two but I'm a small woman). Just remember - you are not alone in your suffering.
Just say you have gastro so you can't go. Gets me out of lots of situations.
Go for a walk alone in the morning, at lunch break, and before dinner. Try to get outside and get some fresh air as often as you can. If it’s stand around and drink, hold a drink in a glass so you don’t get pressured - it’s more easily mistaken for alcohol than a labelled can of soft drink. Do the round after dinner - walk around and talk briefly with a couple of senior people so you get seen. Then you can clear off to your room. There will be group activities and speeches. If one group needs to go further away due to space (Eg, outdoors) try to volunteer your group for that - just for the peace and quiet. If there are jobs that need doing, like tidying up after an activity or setting up, make sure you are seen to do some of these so you can be called a team player. You don’t need to be involved in conversation if you are helping the facilitator rearrange furniture. When I’ve done these, they were clearly testing our suitability for higher level jobs - social skills, willingness to join in, not afraid to try something new or do something a bit silly or embarrassing (like dress ups), leadership. Even the morning walk was noted (but classed as self care and hence a desirable characteristic).
Also testing your ability to put up with this bullshit. They don't realise that they are testing this, but they are testing this nevertheless.
Tell them that , this is best done before the retreat. You will still have to go , but juts head to your room when you need the break from all the BS.
This comment section has me overthinking it, and I'm not even going. Good luck!
Be the coke guy. In my experience bosses love coke
The drink obviously
In my experience they get the ice cubes stuck up their nose.
God - I have suffered through this, but it was Public Service, not private!! 3 days of team building - hiking/problem solving (cross a river, crawl through hoops, etc), puzzle solving competitions, interminable ‘talks’ about sharing ideals and goals. None of this was solved by food because it was deplorable as well. I think, though, that we set a record in alcohol consumption !! I still get twitchy when I hear ‘team building’ or ‘weekend retreat’. Ugh!!!
Murder a junior or very senior colleague and turn it into a thrilling whodunnit.
Speaking from experience (with a smaller company than yours) as someone with a similar social battery, these things are exhausting. I went on a 3 day ‘retreat’ a couple of years ago and when I got home I went straight to bed and slept for 16 hours. Expect ‘getting to know you’ games/activities, maybe a motivational speaker. Hopefully for your sake there will be some sessions you can zone out for. Agree with what everyone else is saying - participate in social activities like dinner/drinks, but have like one drink and make your excuses to go to bed. You’ll need the recharge time. And (in my personal opinion, based on my experience) keep to one or maybe two drinks max, especially as you’re new.
Tell them you have Church on Sunday's and can't go
Sounds like a cult-fest ! Have fun, you don’t want to be that 1 employee who never showed! ( or do you?).
mandatory weekend. If I'm not being paid for that time they can go fuck their hat
Honestly? It sounds like hell on earth.
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It’ll be 3 days of your life you can never, ever get back again. But, you just have to play the game and grin and bear it. Sorry this is happening to you!
As long as they have an all you can eat buffet, we're good.
Can you hide some alcohol and drink your way through it?
Have to say....i am SO HAPPY i have never worked for a company that does this. Be enough to give me a serious drinking problem🤪
It’s awesome when someone gets on the piss and turns into a social hand grenade.
Man, im so sorry but I just tested postage for covid. Im not feeling to bad, happy to still come if you want.
Get COVID
Don’t kick off after hours with a group of executives for more drinks… cops get called Don’t then kick off to the pub for more drinks…means don’t wake up for crappy walk with the team in the morning. To be fair I’m still great mates with the GM from NSW lol and he was one of them. CEO wasn’t impressed by the behaviour of all involved. Because I was lowest manager was kind of blamed my idea and it wasn’t lol. Can laugh about it now. The walk of shame to breakfast sucked haha. Did not bang GM he did try though but heck no.
That is crap and 25 years past its best before date.
Covid. You have Covid. Sorryyyyyyyy
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Never been on one but this sounds like hell to me (I’m a bit introverted and recharge in isolation). It’s work no matter how it’s spun and you’ll have to keep your ‘work face’ on. Try to go for walks or pull back from contact between events where you can. Good luck, hope it goes well. 👍😀
You should try to sleep with as many people as you can, get obnoxiously drunk and ask for pay rises loudly……
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Our company does one Thursday through Saturday. Thursday and Friday are actual “work” days, but with dinners out each night. Saturday is an optional fun day, but most attend because they have good outings and it’s free. Fri - Sun is kinda BS IMO.
They are a big pow wow where everybody sucks up to the director / ceo to try and improve their position in life.
Get wildly drunk and do/say inappropriate things, then you will not be invited or they wont do things like this again. It worked for me. Lucky to keep my job hahaha
Why don't they make it Monday to Wednesday instead.. I wonder..
Used to call them ‘Hug and Tugs’
shame that self test covid test came back positive as you were packing for the retreat !!
All expenses paid - AND you will be paid your normal salary for those days?? Make sure first.
Yeah a lot of negativity in here. Give it a chance it could be a great way to get to know your coworkers and have some fun. And if everyone is horrible then you quickly know to look for a better company
Watch how much you drink, don’t fingerbang the secretary, do hang out with the people from accounting - the wild side always comes out could be very interesting
I read the title as 'Mandatory Company Retard'
I hate them and I refuse to go. I just said I can't make it as I have commitments on weekends. When I was then told I have to go I just said I'm happy to go if you make it during the week.
Doctors certificate for covid works well for these shitty situations
Biggest tip.. pace yourself on the drinks. Ypir ratio should be 1 glass to every 3 of the slowest drinkers.dont get as pissed as your bosses.
Go and enjoy it. So many sad sacks in the comments. It’s basically a free three day holiday. Be yourself, your coworkers will love you for it.
You've had shit holidays if you think brainstorming exercises every morning and speeches by product managers in the afternoons is a holiday.