I liked all of the list except "require participation in social activities", second from the end. I'm having trouble expressing quite how deeply fucked up that idea is. What are we, children to be told to do things "for our own good"? Picture it: "the lab's going bowling and you have to go" "or what, you'll fire me?". If people don't like each other enough to socialize willingly, what good is it going to do to try to force them? - Bill Hooker

I've been toying with raising the concept of 20% time in our group for a while. Would be great to spend, say Friday, working on things which while not directly relevant to the next publication, are of use - improving coding skills, hacking up web apps and so on. And quite agree that enforced socialising is just awful. - Neil Saunders

Indeed, trying to force people to participate in social activities is a really bad idea. It exists in an even worse version, though: requiring people to participate AND expecting them to pay for it themselves. - Lars Juhl Jensen

Yes, forcing people to socialize is a tad to overzealous. The key is to try to find people that are into socializing. You really do not want to have people in your lab that are asocial and introverted. Science is about networking, which is particularly critical for junior researchers that are trying to make a name for themselves. BTW - I would never expect people to pay their own way. The prof picks up the tab. - Mario Pineda-Krch