Work functions should be held during work hours. Nothing is worse than the "company picnic" scheduled on a Saturday in June on the same weekend you have had a long-standing family tradition of going to Oregon to go fishing with all of your cousins on great-great-Grandpa's homestead.
Of course, nobody is entitled to details or explanations regarding your private activities during designated private time away from the workplace (namely evenings and weekends), but you will be chastised nonetheless for being absent from this pseudo-social "company picnic" event.
Prepare yourself to be grilled for having a social life away from work. Prepare yourself for daring to carve out time for your families -- and on a WEEKEND for crying out loud! How DARE you for not wanting to give up a Saturday in June to not have Mailroom Billy pinch your ass en route to the ladies room, or not to have Supervisor George trying slip you the tongue for merely giving a social cheek kiss farewell.
I can't make this crap up, people.
If employers were smart, they would ditch any and all "parties" trying to create false comrades out of mere co-workers. If attempting to create pals out of co-habitual cubicle spaces is an agenda item for CEO PeaBrain, please do it during designated working hours and also on the work place premises.
Nobody wants to drive 15-30 miles enduring traffic, parking, bridge tolls, etc., to be subject to annoyances one must endure one cubicle over Monday through Friday day in and day out. Company bribes of Giants tickets, A's tickets, whatever, can't possibly compensate for co-worker Egbert's annoying habits and bad breath.
When scheduling the mandatory party with the intent of making things happier in the workplace, just make sure Supervisor George will not be upset when the sales report that is due the next business morning is not done because of CEO Peabrain's "pseudo-social mandatory company bonding party" has distracted Supervisor George's department employees and attempts to administer reprimands.
The savvy business has dumped any attempts of trying to force friendships out of co-workers we already loathe. The savvy business has figured out that the "company picnic" is a breeding ground of sexual harassment complaints, drunk driving, physical violence, and workers' compensation issues (tripping on that banana peel on the way to getting to the bar, or injuring the back while doing the inflatable sumo wrestler game).
Want to make your employees TRULY happy? Give them the day off -- with pay -- for no reason.
You will be sooooooooo far ahead in employee loyalty AND cool points.
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