Socializing For The Win?

The Living Fractal notes: "Yahoo! Business has an article about workplace socializing. Apparently, those who drink alcohol and socialize make more money on average." According to the article: "Regular drinkers make 10% to 14% more money than those who do not drink, according to the study, conducted by the Journal of Labor Research, published quarterly by the Department of Economics at George Mason University, and the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank." Fractal wonders: "This article spawns a few questions. Do those 'regular drinkers' end up spending that extra 10-14% on booze? Who here is a social drinker? Finally, have you noticed this in your workplace?"

Comments

It follows logically that drinkers would get more

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Who in the company has the most opportunity to socialize and drink on the job? If you work in a normal office, most likely the managers and sales departments. It's part of their job to work with customers and engage them not only professionally but also socially. "Greasing the wheels" of business, so to speak.

So you, in your little basement office with the desk pushed all the way to the wall, get to churn out KLOCs until your fingers cramp up with CTS for a fixed salary. They, in their windowed corner offices with lovely assistants and fresh flowers, meet with customers and hammer out deals over a fifth of Wild Turkey and get paid a commission of their generated revenue. When you get to selling million dollar contracts, those margins add up really fast.

Yeah, no one told you life was going to be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA. Shoulda studied management, eh?

Re:It follows logically that drinkers would get mo

[seasunset]

just one last question - where would your job be without those deals and those sales?
Where would their job be if they had nothing to sell?
Although I see your point, I think the main issue is to strike a balance between how rewards are distributed.
And - my highly subjective view - generally sales makes more than their fare share of it.
If, say, a coder makes something that has a high impact on company productivity he might go - probably - unnoticed. If a sales guy/gal makes a big sale, (s)he normally is a hero. That is, at least, what I tend to see.
Disclaimer: I'm in the academics "business".

Strange conclusion...

[brucmack]

Apparently, those who drink alcohol and socialize make more money on average.

Funny, I would have worded it differently:

Those who make more money on average drink alcohol and socialize more.

Damn straight it does

[Lord_Dweomer]

It doesn't take a genious to figure out that the people who go out drinking, socializing and schmoozing get ahead. While it would be nice things were more merit based, the truth is that the majority of management spent their college days hitting the bars and making their friends over a pint. Some of that changed in the real world, but thats still where a lot of the connections are made, not at the office where people are more focused on getting work done.

Getting your boss drunk tends to make them be more intimate with you (not in the sexual sense) and they feel they can trust you more. They trust you more, so they feel safe promoting you or giving you a raise.

People hate the guy who doesn't do squat at the office yet is very charismatic and sociable and rises to the top. But what they don't realize is that being that sociable can actually be a lot of work. Especially across your entire network. You have to go out to lunch all the time to catch up with people...go to bars at night...throw get togethers...etc.

For an introvert like me, that's a lot of friggin work. But you know what? I recognize that that is how the game is played, and I play it, and play it well. And it has rewarded me. So I guess there's that.