My work has 1.5h of downtime every other Friday. It's just beers and chatting, nothing I'm particularly interested in – but it's 1.5h of not working I won't turn down.
But my work has this habit of overloading my schedule and then telling me not to attend the social as there is too much work to do.
To be clear, there is no issue with my performance or that I didn't get my tasks done in time – this is literally just because my time is so high demand and the project managers can't manage projects.
The project managers and owners never have their time cut at all, so it's always felt like I'm being punched for being the busiest/hardest working person and not allowed to let my hair down for just 1.5h every 2 weeks. Sitting at my desk and working while everyone is having fun around me.
On top of that, during the height of covid, they were still doing their Christmas parties, where they would schedule you 'out of office' for the whole afternoon. When I said I would not be attending, instead of giving me the afternoon off, they just filled my schedule with work!
So the entire office is out having a fun old-time go-karting and because I don't want to risk catching covid I'm punished again with more work?
Surely the half-day party is meant to be like a morale booster for your staff, and should still be given even if they're not attending the party. Otherwise, to me, it's like “Unless we actually see you in person, we don't appreciate your work enough to give you a half day off once a year like everyone else”.
Am I getting annoyed at this unnecessarily?