Fun and Games

But is the success of these socially-geared businesses only a fluke? Hardly. "There's a national trend toward workplace socializing. It's now seen as priming the pump for greater productivity," says Bob Nelson, president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego and author of 1001 Ways to Energize Employees (Workman Publishing).

"Companies where employees socialize in the workplace and off the job have a substantial competitive advantage," agrees Andrew DuBrin, a management professor at Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Business in Rochester, New York. "Companies that encourage this can enjoy tremendous benefits."

Skeptics contend that time spent getting to know co-workers is time that could have been spent improving productivity. Advocates for workplace socializing disagree. "Socializing is not a waste of time. When people connect through social activities, there are payoffs on the job," says Nelson. "Socializing lets people connect in new ways; they develop a better ability to communicate, and that can be a big asset."

Supporters believe that when faced with a workplace problem, employees who feel an established sense of camaraderie with their co-workers are more likely to hang tough as they work through it. "Socializing leads to togetherness," says Nelson, "and that's an attitude that can prove critical in today's marketplaces."

Why has workplace socializing taken on such importance lately? For one, today's workers come to the job with different expectations. "It's no longer just about money. Employees want other kinds of rewards, too, and making friends on the job has become especially important," says Nelson.

Larger social issues are at play here, contends Nelson. Since extended families have evaporated from much of the American scene, and highly mobile workers frequently move from city to city, "The role of the workplace as a community has increased dramatically," he says. "Employees want a sense of community at work because they're finding less social structure elsewhere in their lives."

This article was originally published in the April 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Fun and Games.