This year we got this kiky-deal that requires all emloyees to do additional 24 hours of work per year. Luckily it's up to companies to agree how those 24 hours are spend. In our company it was decided that the hours would be spend on training and internal projects.
So during the year we will have 8 evenings with three hours of sessions that could be filled with trainings, presentations or workshops. We are even planning on getting some external speakers to get even broader offering.
Yesterday was our first such AfterWorks evening and I have to say it was fun. The goal of making it so that even if it wouldn't be mandatory people would come was there. Sure it was a long day, but in addition to training and hanging out with colleagues we got pizza and drinks. And of course many of us continued to the After-AfterWorks too.
It's still a stupid decision from the government but at least we made it fun.