Welcome parties are counterproductive! Even Non-Alcoholic Beverages Cannot Prevent the Fear of “Surprise Resignation” of Young Employees

Only the toasts are cheerful, but the glasses are filled with oolong tea. But there is only oolong tea in the glass, and after an hour, the party is dismissed with a “thank you” for a job well done. Such short, non-alcoholic welcome parties are on the rise.

The form has changed. However, unless there is a clear meaning to why the welcome party is being held, it will remain just a regular event. Would it surprise you if I told you that the accumulation of such events risks leading to early turnover of new employees and “quiet resignations,” in which new employees continue to work without expressing their true feelings?

We asked Ryosuke Ishii, a leading researcher on psychological safety, about the nature of welcome parties and organizational development.

The Limits of Alcohol-Fueled Welcome Parties

Spring is the season for welcome parties. In recent years, different types of welcome parties have been held, such as non-alcoholic welcome parties and short parties held at the end of the workday. Some companies have even stopped holding welcome parties themselves. Mr. Ishii sees this situation as “one of the changes in the world, not a good thing or a bad thing,” and points out, “Drinking parties with alcohol are not the same as drinking parties with alcohol.

In a sense, the drinking parties with alcohol have thrown the design of the event into the hands of the alcohol. The alcohol helped to relax the tension, and the party somehow became more lively without the organizers having to think about it. But nowadays, that magic is becoming harder and harder to pull off.

However, whether alcohol itself has the “power to create new relationships” is another matter, according to Ishii.

I believe that alcohol amplifies existing relationships. People who have always been close to each other can talk more and deepen their relationship. However, people who have always been distant from each other may sit far away from each other. It’s not really a question of whether the relationship changes dramatically because of the presence of alcohol.”

Drinking parties with alcohol also carry risks that are difficult to resolve.

One problem is how much those around the alcohol-sensitive person can do to stop him or her from saying or doing something inappropriate when intoxicated. In fact, many people may have had unpleasant experiences, such as unexpected sermons, giggles, or fights. In other words, drinking parties with alcohol are not as universal as one might think.

Why the Taipa Generation Avoids Drinking Parties

Behind the fact that the magic of alcohol has become harder to penetrate is not so much a change in the values of the younger generation as it is a “change in the environment. Ishii points out that at the root of this change is the explosion of choices.

He says, “I think the cosmos/typa is a bit of a lonely concept, but the reason these things are so important is because there are far more choices now than there were 20 years ago. When you go home, there are plenty of options to enjoy yourself alone without spending a lot of money or effort, such as games and videos on your smartphone.

When weighing these options against spending money and time to meet with people at work, there must be a good reason and value for choosing the latter.

There used to be a time when people would say, “I go out drinking because I have nothing else to do. But nowadays, there are plenty of reasons not to go.

In such an era, just saying, ‘Come to the welcome party,’ is not enough to convey the appeal of the party,” he said. First of all, it is necessary to convey in well-worded words what this event means and why it is worth attending.

And this change is not just about drinking parties, according to Mr. Ishii.

The same is true of work instructions. In the past, work was done simply because ‘it’s an order from the top,’ but now it is important to explain ‘why we are doing this and what will be improved by doing this. It is important to communicate not only by handing over tasks, but also by handing over the meaning along with them.

The “Surprise Resignation” of Fear

Changes in the way welcoming parties are held are connected to changes in communication throughout the organization. What will happen to an organization that continues to hold “casual welcome parties” without noticing the change?

What happens when new employees do not fit in, do not demonstrate their true potential, and quit before they have a chance to put down roots in the organization? Such an unfortunate outcome is possible.

The problem is not the welcome party itself. The problem is not the welcome party itself, but the fact that the meaning of holding a welcome party has not been considered.

The welcome party is just one part of the overall effort to welcome a new employee. It only works when there is an overall picture designed to help the newcomer fit in and quickly take an active role in the workplace. You can’t just say, ‘We held a welcome party, so it’s okay.

In many companies, welcome parties continue due to the inertia of “we’ve been doing this for a long time, so we’ll do it again this year. As a result, welcome parties, which should have been a means to an end, have somehow become an objective.

This kind of unconscious inertia undermines communication in the workplace itself.

One possible manifestation of this, Ishii speculates, is the rapid increase in the number of resignation agencies, which became a social issue last year.

If such a state of affairs continues, it will be difficult to say, ‘This company is not doing anything wrong,’ or ‘This company is not doing anything wrong,’ or ‘This company is not doing anything wrong. If these conditions persist, a sense of ‘there is no point in talking to this company,’ is created.

In such workplaces, employees are not even able to express their intention to resign, only to receive a letter of resignation one day out of the blue. It is a “surprise resignation” without warning.

The key to solving this problem is “psychological safety,” which Ishii has been researching for many years. This does not simply mean a friendly workplace, but rather a relationship within the organization in which both parties are able to “say what needs to be said” and “talk honestly” to each other, and can frankly discuss matters in order to achieve results.

In organizations that are working to establish this psychological safety, a completely different scene is developing.

Instead of abrupt resignations,” he says, “in many cases, people will ask for advice before they come to us. From there, discussions can be held to seek constructive solutions, such as workload adjustments or departmental transfers, so ‘surprise resignations’ are less likely to occur.

Questions that can dramatically change a welcome party

So, how do you turn a welcome party into a meaningful event?

The important thing is to prepare interesting questions that will generate communication on the spot. Just by introducing yourselves with your name, age, and previous jobs, you cannot say that you know each other, can you?

But, ‘What is the reason you chose this job that you haven’t told anyone yet?’ is a question that everyone should think about. It is also effective to create an opportunity to brag to each other. It is uncomfortable to brag about yourself, but if there is a place for it, you can talk about it comfortably,” he says.

Mr. Ishii says it is important to have existing members answer the same questions. By doing so, he says, not only are new employees welcomed, but the purpose of deepening mutual understanding among existing members can also be achieved at once.

I also recommend a work session in which three or four people work in pairs to find at least three things they all have in common,” he says. Sometimes we find things in common that we didn’t know we had in common even though we have worked together for many years, and even teams with only existing members can be surprised by what they find.

It is not difficult to make a welcome party meaningful. A single question can transform the atmosphere.

A Reversed Welcome Party Initiated by Younger Employees

Up to this point, we have talked about the importance of “creating a place” for the host. So, how should the young people on the welcoming side deal with this?

To be honest, I think there are actually drinking parties that are not designed for the occasion, so it’s hard to say that they should always attend,” Ishii said with a wry smile.

So what should you do if you are invited to a welcome party that doesn’t feel meaningful? Mr. Ishii suggests a surprising reversal.

How about saying, “Is there anything I can do to help?” How about asking, “Is there anything I can do to help?　Instead of being a participant, you can be a designer. By doing so, you may be able to turn it into a meaningful event for yourself as well.

He also says that it doesn’t have to be a welcome party.

Just going out to lunch with all the team members on a one-on-one basis can make it much easier to work together,” he says. Even if you don’t have a big welcome party, it’s actually more important to build a relationship where you can talk one-on-one.

Even if the form of the welcome party changes, the activity of people trying to understand each other remains the same. Whether or not the event has meaning is far more important than whether or not it is non-alcoholic.

Ryosuke Ishii is the president of ZENTech, Inc. Graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Engineering, and received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the National University of Singapore. As a researcher and data scientist, he has studied the performance of organizations, teams, and individuals, and developed a psychological safety measurement scale and organizational diagnostic survey. He is known as a leading researcher on psychological safety in Japan .

To purchase Ryosuke Ishii’s book, “How to Create Psychological Safety,” click here.