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At the end of a long week, it can be good to sit back with work colleagues and have a drink but Dr Rachel Morrison, lecturer in organisational behaviour at AUT, warns Friday drinks should be handled carefully.
"Obviously, Friday drinks are quite good for things like newcomer
socialisation and networking in the organisation and so on. But, where there is an expectation or pressure to attend Friday drinks, it can almost become a work/life balance issue."
Friday evening is generally a chance for workers to increase their friendships within the office and catch up on gossip but some people don't see it that way.
"As New Zealanders, we work pretty long hours. And being expected to stay late on a Friday night as well as all those hours during the week is not always a perk," Morrison says.
To get ahead in some industries, you almost have to participate in the drinking culture.
Morrison says it's like having big decisions made on the golf course.
"There's an expectation that they will turn up and be there and get quite boozed and stay quite late every Friday. But if getting ahead or getting information is dependent on turning up on Friday, then perhaps you're not spending time with your family."
One group not very likely to shun Friday drinks is recent graduates. These young recruits are drawn in like moths to a flame.
"You've been a student for six years or four years or whatever and you've been broke. Suddenly you're in a job where you get free drinks on Friday nights. "
For people who have no idea of what the company they just joined is actually about, it's like a window into the future of their career.
"For brand new grads, that is often their first real exposure to everyone else in the organisation. It really is useful for organisational socialisation."
But Morrison warns not to abuse it.
"Don't get really, really, really drunk. I suppose we've all been there but there are the inhibitions that get lowered."
Everyone's heard the office horror stories about some co-worker who might have had a hard week and flown off the rails when it gets to Friday evening.
"You hear stories of people having sex with inappropriate people in inappropriate places at Friday drinks and Christmas parties," she says.
But for most people, a little booze at the end of the week is more likely to just loosen the lips. "Getting drunk and then having an unspoken issue brought into the open is a great way of having it blowing up completely out of proportion," Morrison says.
"For guys, they'll get over themselves and have a great night out. For women, there will be tears in the toilet. I think there are better ways of dealing with issues in the organisation than getting drunk."
But Friday drinks do serve as a chance to mend relationships which might have been frayed in the heat of battle during the week. Co-workers who haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye can regroup. And it can also be a good time to grab the boss's ear.
"Sometimes it can be the only time that people lower down in the hierarchy get access to their boss. In that way it can be really useful."
Often you can tell more about the atmosphere and attitudes of an organisation on Friday evening than you can during the week.
"There's a lot of organisational knowledge that can get passed on that's not necessarily written down."
But despite the advantages, some people prefer not to be involved with Friday drinks.
"It's great for all the people that like to drink and like to socialise and have free Friday nights. But if you have an organisation where there are genuine advantages in turning up, what it means is those people who can't turn up are disadvantaged," Morrison says.
That is particularly pronounced with the non-drinkers.
Morrison, who is pregnant, says: "People actually interact, even just after one or two glasses of wine, quite differently.
"It isn't particularly rewarding interacting with people that have had a couple of drinks if you're completely sober."
