Superficial Corporate Rewards

To assume that industriousness is morally good or mandatory, as some people at least pay lip service to when it benefits them, because one's business is more likely to prosper with engaged, eager employees is idiotic; it is to assume something, which is asinine enough as it is for epistemological reasons, but it is also to assume something on the basis of irrationalistic egoism.  Of course, if someone is fortunate enough to even receive any documented or verbalized recognition for their work, that does not mean it will signal any sort of monetary incentive to actually reward the labor exchanged for an income.  It is almost as if many employers want to ignore the real reason why people would need to work professionally as much as they can with red herrings or distractions like praise and company events!

Mere encouragement, and especially of the kind that is hollow and only meant to motivate someone to remain productive while being actively exploited, will not pay for the housing, electricity, transportation, food, water, or medical expenses of workers.  A superficially positive atmosphere can make optional company celebrations or "team-building" more appealing, but employee engagement events meant to rally people around "company spirit" have no inherent monetary value—which is the only default benefit of professional labor or reason to pursue it.  In fact, due to transportation expenses and more depending on the nature of the event, a worker might have to actually spend their own money just to participate in a celebration of the workplace that denies them compensation that is livable and/or matched with their personal merit!

A business owner or manager could truly want workers to relax or enjoy themselves in such settings, but for other employers, the intention behind optional or "mandatory fun" outside of working hours, unpaid in all likelihood, might be so that employees will associate leisure and community with their professional work.  If this is to happen, they might be more likely to put unnecessary effort into their work or spend gratuitous time at company-related events.  Thus, they look less to outside friendships, family relationships, hobbies, and so on for their life structure, and someone who orients their life around work is almost certainly neglecting a plethora of verifiable, weighty necessary truths of logic as well, something far more problematic than needlessly depending on the workplace for sociality.

Of course, neither positive words nor corporate parties on their own actually pertains to the core reason why the workplace exists in its current scope: people need to work in order to receive money they can use for survival and comfort.  Some people might turn to their jobs to alleviate boredom outside of work or genuinely experience fulfillment from their labor or its end result, but it is earning an income so that people can live and partake in formal society—again, for survival or comfort—that makes so many people need jobs.  Much of what employers resort to as a reward for "hard work" does not necessarily amount to anything more than non-monetary acknowledgement or an opportunity to spend even more of your finite time in a manner connected to the workplace.