Pay for company sponsored events

Q: My query is in regards to payment to employee for company sponsored events. I'm interested in policies that employers follow for a non-work related "fun" event, such as a summer picnic which takes place on a regularly scheduled day. Specifically, it would be extremely beneficial to learn if companies pay (or otherwise incentivize) employees who are unable to attend these events (due to work schedules and coverage needs). Of course this would apply to hourly ee's only (we have a large % of our ee's are non-exempt), but this being the case, any employers out there who provide an incentive to exempts who must work during co events? We have a healthcare type of environment which requires support of Mgrs/Exempts and non's during these events, and would like to get some help from you and the community on how others manage this.

A: All respondents have stated our policy to be beyond what they do or have encountered, however, our organization is different than most as we are a 24/7 and have a large population of non-exempt ee's. Most respondents told me that they do not pay for employees to attend company social events. None pay a shift differential, and (1) provides gift cards to employees who work during company events. Typical response "We have 2 annual employee events and we don't do any sort of pay for those who cannot attend, or have to work. We agree that every year we would make sure the one's who didn't attend the last event could be free to attend the next one." Another response: "We do not provide additional incentives for employees to attend company wide events; usually the free food and alcohol is enough of a draw:)"