If you ask the internet "Why do companies host corporate happy hours?" you'll find excerpts claiming that happy hours can improve collaboration, engagement, and productivity. You'll find articles stating that they are tools for team-building and building company culture. In my experience, however, after 10 years in corporate environments and many a workplace happy hour, I object!

In my experience, workplace happy hours were often breeding grounds for juicy gossip and awkward attempts at socializing on my part. I remember at times early in my career feeling excited at the prospect of free drinks and appetizers on my company's tab. I couldn't, however, remember feeling closer with my teammates or more engaged post happy hour. Quite the opposite actually. With that in mind, and the growing alcohol-free trend, I was curious if others felt the same way I did. I reached out to some family members from different industries and roles, and asked them their thoughts. Here's what they said:

Healthcare Business Owner: "They (workplace happy hours) are toxic. So much drama and gossip comes about with people drinking. I've known of people who've been fired because of things they did while intoxicated at one of these events"

Hospital Director: "I always feel pressured to go. People don't mingle with new people, they just stick with their cliques. I just stay long enough to make an appearance and go."

Architect: "I think I liked them more when I was younger, but now that I am a parent I don't participate in them as much. And I feel guilty missing them because I don't want my teammates to think I am not as invested in my work as they are."

Of all the folks I spoke with, surprisingly no one was taking the corporate happy hour's side. How could this be? If employees don't like it, then why does it continue to be the main "team-building" tool so many companies cling to? Why do they remain so strongly ingrained in corporate culture? The truth is that addressing workplace collaboration, engagement, team-building, company culture, etc. isn't easy. In fact, even for the best instructional designers, it's basically impossible to address these things via a learning management system. Building internal skills and behaviors is hard enough, and improving what's been broken is even harder. Doing so in our new hybrid/remote environment adds even greater complexity to the challenge. So companies know the importance of building and maintaining a healthy team culture, and are still clinging to the one tool they know.

So if employee drinking is no longer the way to go then what can be done to build and improve company engagement, culture, team-building, communication, etc? I am excited to say that I have a shiny new and inclusive tool to recommend. It's WitWorks. With WitWorks you don't have to gamble on "social lubricant" to get folks talking. We work with clients to understand what challenges they want to address, and we bring fun exercises and games to address them. We lead the activities and exercises so no one has to worry about awkward conversation starters and maintaining dialog. We set the expectation on workshop tone so no one has to worry about toeing the line between professionalism and casualness. We provide an inclusive workshop so teammates can transcend the "clique frontiers". Time and time again we see social barriers come down and meaningful connections are made.

Keep your happy hours if they work for your team, but we challenge you to really consider whether they are doing for your team what you want them to do. If you're looking for more, consider a new approach! Cheers to having the courage and agility to find new tools when the old ones stop working. Cheers to WitWorks!

It's Time to Ditch the Corporate Happy Hour

Why Fostering Positive Human Connection at Work is More Important Than Ever

Harnessing Improv: Transforming Remote Work and Company Conferences for Success