The work-day bonenkai

Japan's traditional end of year bonenkai usually involves a long evening of food, drinks and a chance to unwind with coworkers before the new year begins. However, recent research shows that people are rethinking how they want to celebrate. Many workers are preferring gatherings that stay within work hours, and that shift makes complete sense to me.

At this point in my life, after hours work activities don't sound appealing at all, and it has nothing to do with not wanting to catching up with coworkers. It's simply that my days already feel packed, and I'd prefer to keep my evenings for myself and for my family. The survey results linked above showed that a lot of people feel the same way, with 27.7% requesting a change from evening to daytime events.

I feel like this is much more in line with what happens at year-end events in my home country. Typically you might have a workplace lunch or something that is paid for by the company, but often things are held during the standard business day. Some places will still have a Christmas party after hours, too, but I don't feel that there's as much pressure to attend those. 

I think the goal of any end-of-year event should be to bring everyone together without adding extra strain. If that means a daytime event instead of an after-hours one, I'm all for it!