Drinks with the coworkers tonight?
Among the first day orientation, paper signing, selecting healthcare and finding out where to take my breaks, the invitations were already being exchanged for this thursday’s happy hour with the co-workers. Happy hours with the office mates is time-honored and ever present in American work culture. A ritual of sorts to figure out what’s be hind the stripped shirts and long skirts, hear the dirty from other department heads or interns and wind it down from a long, underpaid day of stress and mediocrity.
A few years ago, some lads put together a research plan and came out with a paper that social drinking was actually attributed to career-building and earning a large paycheck, via the networking created being out with like minded colleges and friends. Edward Stringham, an economics professor at San Jose State University and co-author of the study with fellow researcher Bethany Peters, argue that “Social drinking builds social capital,” and that they “are out networking, building relationships, and adding contacts to their BlackBerries that result in bigger paychecks.”
We are compelled to show that there are other studies that have show that “employees at companies that most discouraged social drinking were 45 per cent less likely to be heavy drinkers than those in workplaces with the most liberal attitudes to drinking”. If you hire employees that are heavy drinkers already, they will continue to do so. We agree that abuse of alcohol is a problem and can carry over to ones work (I’ve personally had to let go of good employees for abuse of substances) so take measure with your co-workers and help them out with a few princaples of drinking with them:
1: Don’t over indulge. Your welcome to make an ass of yourself at your local dive, at the club or on a pubcrawl, but when you’re with officemates, keep on guard and check your intake. Drink at or slower than the pace of the crowd and like our crawls, don’t kick it up to shots unless everyone in the room is partaking at the same level. Note that if you’re the more sober of the circle, you’re more likely to pick up on key intel to improve your corporate position or bank future ammo for that move.
2. Keep the shit talking to a minimum. You know when the first round comes out, and that first sip hits your lips, they get loose with professional gossip. What scandalous acts that admin did at the corporate conference last week, what vp is banging his admin, and the likes of everyone’s strategy to move up the corporate ladder. “Loose lips sink ships” still holds true in the corporate environment and we find its always better keep a professional relationship with your coworkers by being on the receiving end of these conversations than helping to stir that rumor pot.
3. Keep elaborate and illicit personal stories to yourself: Sure we all knew your husband’s been searching out playmates on manwhore.com but you don’t have to justify that pounding in the conference room by the marketing vp as a lapse in reason…we know he’s used that promotion line on three other ad reps. Tales from rehab, sex scandals, hospitals, and Ibiza are all best kept to those not in any sphere of influence of a future move up the corporate ladder. Though Dick in sales may have bought you your last three drinks, he’s heeding #1 and hoping to get enough on you to sabotage your next move…
Here’s a few good examples of what not to do with the co-workers: