Some workers are bonding over Botox. HR says that could be good.

Connecting with coworkers has changed over the years. We can remember (thanks to Mad Men) the male-dominated whiskey and cigar rooms and golf courses. In more recent years, team bonding has been more inclusive, at happy hour or book club or on the pickleball court.

But even those are now activities of the olden days. Enter…Botox, the stuff that prevents your colleagues from ever knowing your thoughts (or your age). The beauty maintenance appointment that was once hush-hush has come to the forefront as a new way to bond with colleagues. One HR leader shared with us why some employees may opt for Botox over books or beer, and how to support new ways of connecting.

Botox with coworkers? As the popularity of aesthetic injectables has grown—these, along with other treatments, are expected to add $830 billion to the beauty market by 2030, McKinsey estimated—so too has the trend of Botox during a lunch break or instead of a happy hour, according to some reports. And there are more ridiculous activities employees could do together: remember surfing to land business deals and team-building with archery? Botox can be done one-on-one or with a group, according to sources who spoke with HR Brew, allowing employees to check something off their to-do lists while getting to know their colleagues.

“You have to be comfortable with the person that you’re going with,” Sarah Mahoney, a Massachusetts-based hairdresser who went for Botox with a new coworker, told HR Brew. “It was really fun because it was almost like a really vulnerable situation, and I think that it made us a little closer. We went out and got a couple drinks and made a day of it.”

Laura Beauregard and Kirsten Welch, public relations professionals at PAN, have been getting Botox together for years. It started when Beauregard teamed up with a nurse friend to host injection parties and invited some colleagues. Years later, some former colleagues still attend the quarterly parties.

“I will get my nails done. I get my hair done. Why wouldn’t I take care of my skin and anything else that I want to feel better about myself?” Beauregard told HR Brew. “It’s a way for us to reconnect once a quarter.”

Part of a wider trend. Many employees are still looking for connection after Covid-19, and some are finding it through work-life integration, Jenna Young, senior client partner at Korn Ferry told HR Brew.

“I’m seeing a range of people hungering for that time to do things together that are work adjacent versus work-focused,” she said. “Instead of coming to do book club, taxes were actually something that I’ve heard come up not once, but twice.”

Employees are leaning away from networking and into social connection, according to Young, who noted that camaraderie looks different now than it did in years past. HR should keep the company’s values and how it shows up in the world in mind when considering whether to support employee activities like getting Botox.

“We’ve had some clients who’ve had the massage chairs come into the office, or they’ll have manicures,” Young said, adding that HR leaders should consider any offering in the context of their benefits to ensure equitability. “As long as we know that a lot of people feel like they have access to things [and] that there’s some thought given to the whole company, and making sure that people are seeing that there’s a place for them.”