Company mandates unpaid game nights for employees after work hours, senior employee leaves anyway: ‘I have a wife and two young kids at home’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Sep 8, 2026 6:00 AM EDT

Who doesn't love to be forced to spend even more time at work without even getting paid for it?

Companies love to go on and on about how important it is to create opportunities for team building and social interaction, but they would never go as far as creating these opportunities during work hours. Nope. Instead, they force their own employees to spend their evenings and time off prolonging their stay at the office for weird, mandatory social activities that no one gets paid for.

But oh, don't you love getting that email from HR, informing everyone that they came up with another revolutionary activity for the office, that will get everyone out of their office chairs (and away from their families) and encourage some much-needed bonding time?

Well, after you read the story below, you might feel better about your forced activity. This company took the whole "team bonding" concept one step further and implemented a game night for its employees every single Thursday. Yep, you read that right: the poor employees are forced to stay after work hours every week, play board games, and obviously not get paid for a single minute they are forced to spend playing Monopoly with people they only pretend to care about.

Making this activity a repeated event every single Thursday is what made one senior employee seriously consider quitting and finding a new job. The poor guy has a wife and two young kids at home, and the last thing he wants to do is spend the only free time he has in a day being stuck in the office and playing board games with his coworkers. His family is not going to wait around until 9 pm for him to return and start their evenings.

The fact that this employee was not excited about the mandatory game nights did not sit well with the higher-ups at the company, and they made sure he knew it. But at this point, he doesn't really have enough energy left to care…

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  • 01
    Coworkers playing card games in the office.
    via A. C.

    Coworkers playing card games in the office.

    Still frame for contextual reference only.

  • 02

    My company started "Mandatory Game Nights" after 6pm and I am being told I am not a team player for wanting to see my kids.

    The new Director of People and Culture at my firm is currently making my life a total nightmare beacuse she decided that we all need to
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 03
    stay after hours for mandatory board game nights. I wish I was joking but every Thursday now we are expected to hang around the breakroom until 8pm playing Catan or some
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 04
    other boring strategy game while eating lukewarm pizza that tastes like cardboard. They keep calling it a great opportunity for team bonding. and building synergy but all it
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 05
    really does is make me want to quit and find a job where the management actually respects the fact that I have a life outside of my cubicle. I have a
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 06
    wife and two young kids at home and by the time 6pm rolls around I am ready to be a dad instead of pretending to enjoy a fake friendship with
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 07
    people who would replace me in a heartbeat if the budget got tight.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 08
    Settlers of Catan board game.
    via Aksel Fristrup

    Settlers of Catan board game.

    Image depicted solely for explanatory purposes.

  • 09
    When I tried to slip out last week at 6:05 my manager literally followed me to the elevators and asked if everything was okay because.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 10
    he noticed I wasnt participating in the festivities. I told him straight up that I have family commitments and a forty minute commute but he just gave me this look like I had just insulted his mother.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 11
    He started talking about how the company values culture and how these events are vital for showing that we are all on the same page and committed
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 12
    to the mission. It is complete corporate nonsense and everyone knows it but alot of the younger guys who dont have kids yet just go along
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 13
    with it because they want to sck up to the higher ups. It feels like high school all over again where you are judged by whether or not you are part of the cool kids club.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 14
    Yesterday I got a pings on Slack from the culture lead asking if I could host the next session because they want more senior involvement to
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 15
    lead by example. I am a lead engineer not a summer camp counselor and I really do not have the energy to explain the rules of Monopoly to people I already spent eight hours debugging legacy code with.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 16
    The worst part is that the pizza is always from the same cheap place and it gives me heartburn every single time. I asked if these hours were
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 17
    billable or if we get any kind of comp time for staying late and she just laughed like I was making a joke. Apparently being a team player means giving away your free time for
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 18
    zero dollars while the executives talk about how much they care about our work life balance.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 19
    I am honestly reaching my limit with this place. I love the technical side of the job and the pay is decent but I cannot deal with this forced
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 20
    A group of people playing board games.
    via Getty Images

    A group of people playing board games.

    Models for explanatory purposes only.  

  • 21
    socialization that feels like a prison sentence with snacks. I looked at the employee handbook and there is nothing in there about mandatory gaming but the
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 22
    social pressure is so thick you could cut it with a knife. If I miss another game night I am pretty sure my next performance review is going to mention my lack of
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 23
    engagement or some other vague buzzword they use to justify not giving out raises. I think I might start forgetting my laptop at home on
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 24
    Thursdays so I have an excuse to leave early to get work done. My kids are growing up so fast and I am missing bedtime stories to watch a project manager argue about
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 25
    a trade for wood in a board game. My left shoe has been squeaking all day and I think I need to buy new ones.
    via Chrono44Shift
  • 26
    Hotcoffeetogo If the team building is so important it can be done in normal working hours surely?!
    via Hotcoffeetogo
  • 27
    Huntthatmoney It's time for a new job
    via Huntthatmoney

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boss employee coworkers board games game night workplace company senior employee team player
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