Working at Coca Cola was not the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. It was pretty much the same thing every day: stack cases of soda on to a pallet, wrap it in plastic and then do it again. It wasn’t what I’d call fulfilling. I’m fairly certain that if most of the people who work there won the lottery they would probably quit their jobs. But at least when the shift was over, that was it. No one was calling you on a Saturday or sending emails about work. There was nothing to take home, the weekends were your own.

Imagine working sixty hours over the course of a week. Friday comes and you’re thinking, “Thank God. I am having dinner and drinks tonight. I am going to sleep in tomorrow, have brunch at eleven, watch some Netflix, read a book, go for a hike…” In a word, relax. Do what you want to do, whatever that happens to be. It is your choice.

Then you get the email reminder. Your manager has organized a 5K run as a “team building” event”. Everyone is meeting at the park at 8am.

“Can’t wait to see everyone there!” she writes. “And it’s going to be chilly so dress warm!”

Dear God.

Are you required to go? Well, no. The company can’t legally require you at attend an event outside of work.

But, do you have to go?

Well, if you want a positive performance review you might have to. In doing research for my podcast, The Working Experience, I have come across more than one account of job performance ratings being tied to attending these “voluntary” events. One woman, whom I will call Janice, revealed that she had received negative performance reviews from her manager that specifically cited her lack of participation in events that the manager had organized. Her manager was about seven years younger than Janice and a real fitness buff. The events she organized involved ten mile hikes and five mile runs, tasks that were rather extreme. Janice has some health issues that do not allow her to participate in those types of activities and yet her manager was calling her out for not being a “team player”.

Another woman worked at Facebook, which seems to excel at invading employees personal time and headspace. They are really into extracurricular activities to promote a positive, cohesive culture and reinforce the idea that everyone loves working at Facebook (the word “cult” was used more than once in the article). She was going through a divorce at the time and had a young child so she could not attend these functions and this was counted against her in her evaluations.

Can’t people just show up and do their goddamn job without having to spend the weekend rolling though a field of mud laced with barbed wire with their idiot managers? Why do companies insist on these outings?

One of the reasons might be that these jobs are so unfulfilling that they feel the need to try and convince everyone that there is some sort of higher purpose. I feel that if I like my job and find it fulfilling then that is just evident; I don’t need to be told how rewarding it is to work for the company. If I like my coworkers and want to spend time with them outside of work, even better. But that should be my decision. I think what bothers people is the obligation. They are being forced into these activities and told that they are worthwhile. If a person has to be coerced into participating in one of these events, there is something wrong with it.

Perhaps another reason is control. The more of your time that is monopolized by your job, the less time you have to think about other avenues for your life. If your job keeps you on edge all the time and jumping through hoops, it becomes harder and harder to see an alternative. Maybe they are afraid that, if left with too much free time, people will discover their true calling in life and quit their jobs.

We didn’t do any team building at Coca-Cola. They just wanted us to stack the fucking cases.