Erm, so we're mandating what people should do now? Yours seems to be a rather black/white view of such events, when (since it involves humans) it's on a spectrum:
There are people who do not want to spend their time with their work colleagues.
There are people who do not want to be forced to spend with their work colleagues.
There are people who dislike that unless you spend time with their work colleagues in corporate sponsored events you will be sidelines.
And that's assuming that the corporate event is good at all. Which, quite frankly, most aren't.
Whenever a (large) company has their own internal programs (for higher pension, additional coverage) the values are proportional to your income.
This "makes sense" given the separation of concerns: one dept appraises your performance and indicates salary adjustments. Another dept is responsible for providing additional benefits/perks to all employees (based on their salaries). Each dept gets to focus on their core competence.
> What about time off?
Much more flexibility (in terms of work schedule, work load, commitment) is afforded to those above than those whose work is depended on. Whenever managers travel around the world for worldwide management conferences in e.g. Thailand they can spend their vacation days there (i.e. the company is flexible with the bookings).
This "makes sense" because it is far easier to be flexible towards those whose work is on the move and abstract, as opposed to work done exclusively in a fixed location (eg factory worker). Knowledge workers are in a weird spot (because their work is super abstract but done from a cubicle/home) but have been lumped into the latter category because "they aren't managers".
> I work in a European company
Me too. I have (physically) worked in DE, PL, PT. And have worked for even more countries -- and I stand by my generalization. The exception to the rule will be small companies, but organizational culture in those will always be different due to the lack of size.
Moreover, the bigger the company the more extreme that equivalence is.
Now onto specifics that I have observed over my 20+ years:
> Way of life
Oh yes, I love being micro-managed by a manager with PhD with 2 years of "work" experience.
> weekends are usually off limits
Except when managers make commitments without bothering to check what the actual effort is (because it was in their personal interest to say yes to things), ultimately putting you into a lovely position. Say no and be punished during your appraisal, say yes and work weekends.
> you don't have to own a car and waste hours in traffic depending on where you live
Managers received that perk long before knowledge workers did.
Yes, there is more than just the salary. Except that, in Europe, most (if not all) forms of "equity" are proportional: your title, your salary, your ability to decide, etc.
It becomes an equivalence:
* Since you decide nothing, therefore your salary is low.
* Since your salary is low, you therefore decide nothing.
This stems fundamentally from a (backward?) European strict view of companies, regardless of how hierarchical/flat their structure may be. And that view is that the corporate environment is split into two groups:
* Managers: they decide;
* Workers: they do work.
This split may have made sense in the Industrial Revolution era but it has shown it's age in this day and age. And yet the model (and the perception, and the values) persist.
If you, as a knowledge worker, ever make the mistake of "getting down and get things done" you will have chosen your side.