It turns out happy hour with your co-workers may not be so happy for everyone.
New research from the University of Georgia suggests that there are both positives and negatives to getting an invite to after-work events, but that impact depends on the person.
While extroverts tend to feel good about themselves and their workplace when they get after-work invites, those with more reserved personalities can become more withdrawn and stressed when invited.
"We always think that social activity is so great, right? If you're social with your co-workers, you feel energized and connected. But those invitations are not necessarily always good," said Joanna Lin, corresponding author of the study and a W. Richard and Emily Acree Professor of Management in the UGA Terry College of Business.
"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."
Employees less confident in social interactions feel pressure with invitations
Across multiple experiential and field studies and surveys with hundreds of full-time employees, Lin found that social invitations extended to co-workers 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 a higher social confidence than others.
Contrarily, 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 co-workers at the cost of their own stress levels.
'If I say yes, how long will it take? Who else is going? Or if I say no, what are the consequences?' … There are lots of psychological decision-making points that a simple invite causes."
-Joanna Lin, Terry College of Business
"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 if 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 co-worker 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.
Understanding yourself can help you navigate workplace relationships
Acknowledging your own preferences and well-being in the workplace can make you feel better overall, the researchers found. That could make you more equipped to handle the possible added stress of social gatherings.
It's also important for those in workplaces to know each other and to consider the potential impact of invites before they're given. It doesn't hurt to consider when you ask someone to hang out either.
"When we initiate this invitation, it has unintended consequences to employee performance for that day," she 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?'"
Researchers also said there is a need to understand additional factors in the invite process, like if it's a supervisor giving the invite or if you say yes when you don't want to, if you feel more socially confident, and likely to say yes again after the event concludes.
This study was published in Personnel Psychology and was co-authored by Chieh-Yu (Joy) Lin of National Taiwan Normal University, Emily Poulton of Indiana University and Nai-Wen Chi of National Sun Yat-sen University.
