A healthy and unified enterprise, after all, should benefit every employee. Okay, I can buy that. But I suppose that's also where my confusion sets in. Ultimately, it seems to me, contests are about rewarding a worker for doing his job better than the other guy. Now that's what I call a novel concept.
Some contests have nothing to do with work at all.
Charity drives, Girl Scout cookie sales and raffles all creep into the office. Maybe they really can't afford to give money to a charity. Perhaps they think raffles are akin to gambling. Or maybe they are boycotting the Girl Scouts because they don't put enough Caramel deLites in a box. In any case, these workers shouldn't be pressured to contribute.