Management Expert's Take on Company Happy Hours Divides Internet: 'Go Home'

Internet commenters were left conflicted after one social media creator took aim at company happy hours and other work-related social events.

In a video posted on October 30, TikTok user Ben Adkins—whose bio includes multiple certifications related to the Scrum management framework—makes it abundantly clear that business and pleasure should be kept far apart.

"Do not go out to drinks with your peers," Adkins began, responding to a separate video prompting users to share corporate survival skills they wish they knew sooner. "Do not hang out with your peers socially, do not go out to happy hours.

"Go to work, go home," Adkins added, bluntly.

Viewed nearly 800,000 times, Adkins' video has amassed more than 87,000 likes, 1,800 comments and 2,300 shares.

As an increasing number of corporate employees return to office buildings across the U.S., so have workplace traditions previously halted by pandemic-related restrictions.

Company-sponsored happy hours, as well as similar events held in states that have banned them, are common throughout the work landscape.

Commonality, however, is not always indicative of common sense. And while there are many potential advantages of grabbing drinks with colleagues after work, there are just as many potential risks.

"You have to be careful about the way that you develop relationships with your colleagues, but it's very important to get along with everybody," Art Markman, cognitive scientist and Founding Director of the Human Dimensions of Organizations at the University of Texas at Austin, told Newsweek.

"It's a setting in which everybody knows the rules," he added, speaking specifically about happy hours. "All you have to do is be a reasonable human being who can carry on a conversation."

Although enjoying a drink with co-workers can feel like the perfect way to wind down after a stressful workday, there is a fine line between colleagues and bar buddies.

Crossing that line often yields negative results, but considering the hand-in-hand relationship between alcohol and happy hour, boundaries become much harder to uphold.

Markman, whose book Bring Your Brain to Work focuses on the psychology associated with workplace dynamics, asserted that it is imperative to set hard limits when alcohol is available at work events to avoid opportunities for embarrassment and other compromising situations.

He also told Newsweek that, for employees worried about damaging their careers by skipping out on employer-sponsored social events, there are plenty of venues other than the bar to build crucial relationships with colleagues.

"There's lots of reasons why someone might skip out on an after work event," Markman said. "If you've got a family, if you're raising kids...getting home and spending good time with your kids is really important...and for many people would take precedence over having a drink.

"Grab a cup of coffee with somebody in the morning...take somebody out for lunch...find a time to engage with some of your colleagues in a way that isn't necessarily driven by a particular project," he added. "There are lots of alternatives to going out at the end of the workday."

Throughout the comment section of the viral TikTok, many users disagreed with Adkins' advice, arguing that missing out-of-office events can negatively impact an employee's future with their employer.

"Unfortunately for some, playing the corporate game involves going to these," one commenter conceded. "If you don't, you'll find yourself suddenly excluded from projects/meetings."

"That is a career killer in my field," another commenter added. "Relationships are how you get things done. We don't have to be friends, but showing up plays a big role."

"How do you get promoted then?" one commenter questioned. "All big bosses do dinners, happy hour and [other] events."

However, while many TikTok users stood in opposition of skipping company happy hours, a large number of users agreed with Adkins, echoing the sentiment that friends and co-workers are far from the same thing.

"Coworkers are not your friendsssss," one commenter asserted.

"This took me so long to figure out but it's so true," another commenter agreed. "I found they respected my time away from the office so much more."

Newsweek reached out to Ben Adkins for comment.