Joanna Lin, W. Richard and Emily Acree Professor and associate professor in the Terry College of Business’ management department, spoke with Futurity about the effect of after-work event invitations.
“We always think that social activity is so great, right? If you’re social with your coworkers, you feel energized and connected. But those invitations are not necessarily always good,” Lin said. “There’s a social pressure that makes people feel like they have to say yes and need to be there. These outings seem like an obligation, even if they’re supposed to just be something fun.”
Lin found that social invitations extended to coworkers don’t always create a feeling of belonging.
Some workers who receive invitations to things like dinners, parties or activities such as bowling after work experience a profound sense of gratitude. The researchers found that these folks tend to already be more social beings, with higher social confidence than others.
In contrast, the study showed that workers who identified as shy or less confident in social settings felt pressured after being asked to hang out in order to appease their coworkers at the cost of their own stress levels.
“If you’re a social butterfly, you’re really good at interacting with others, so that doesn’t cause strife. When you already have a hard time being social, however, that sense of expectation contributes to the stress. You feel generally grateful for their gesture to include you in this social event but are worried about your social skills,” Lin said.
Those who anticipated that added pressure to perform socially after work also became more anxious regardless of whether they accepted the invite, causing them to be tense and unproductive at work in that waiting period.
“There’s also that uncertainty. ‘If I say yes, how long will it take? Who else is going? Or if I say no, what are the consequences? Maybe my coworker will be mad at me or I will feel left out.’ There are lots of psychological decision-making points that a simple invite causes,” Lin said.
It’s also important for those in workplaces to know each other and to consider the potential impact of invites before they’re given.
“When we initiate this invitation, it has unintended consequences to employee performance for that day,” Lin said. “I think we should be mindful of when we give it. You may think you’re going to help this person by inviting them, but on the other hand, you could be making that person think, ‘Oh my god, what am I going to do?’”