Pay for Attending Event?

MrCreosote

We're running a product knowledge campaign where employees earn company "bucks" by participating in games, passing quizzes etc.. This will go on for 6 weeks and involve teams and meetings and a final set of tests. To cap things off, Marketing wants to have an after hours event to distribute the prizes, and give everyone some free food. They would like to do it after hours because that is the only way to get people from different branches in the same place at the same time. The prizes are pretty nice, $100 gift certificates and the like. My boss, however, wants to know if we would have to pay employees for their time at this event. I told her that if we make attendance optional, including a way to redeem bucks without being there, we wouldn't have to pay. The prizes were going to be distributed by allowing the person with the most "bucks" to choose a prize first, then number two, etc.. so that is, hopefully, a strong attendance motivator. I just wanted to check - was I right or would we have to pay hourly ees for attending?

Rockie

The key to paying or not paying for attending a meeting is: Is it required (mandatory) by the employer? It does not appear that this would be mandatory. We have a once a year party where we announce achievements, longevity awards, etc. and we give out prizes. If the employee doesn't show up, their prize is given to them at a later time. The majority of our employees show up because it is free, dinner and dancing are provided,along with some type of liquid refreshment. I would encourage attendance, but not require it - that way you are off the hook on paying.

I just had an instance today where we had some Lunch & Learn training for employees. It wasn't mandatory, but very informative and we provided lunch to those who wanted to attend. We had a couple of pea-brains who wanted to know if they still got a "lunch hour" after the training! The greediness of some people never ceases to amaze me!