I loved my one-on-one calls, and I'm someone who really hates phone calls & meetings. For me it was 30 minutes each week where I could bounce ideas about work,

I loved my one-on-one calls, and I'm someone who really hates phone calls & meetings. For me it was 30 minutes each week where I could bounce ideas about work, my own side projects, life in general, and chat about their work / projects / life too. It was like two friends with a mutual interest in business having a catchup & occasional rant & a laugh. It was fun & left me energized & motivated - hopefully they felt the same. Perhaps one difference is that I was working remote. In the article, they also say "We’re a remote team [...] and we don’t spend all day with each other." If I was on-site & seeing people every day, I probably wouldn't want a 1-on-1 each week either. A 1-on-1 in a manager's office sounds awful. If it must be in person then you should go to a cafe, get a burger or a bubble tea, make it enjoyable! If you feel the conversations have to be politically correct, that it's all about "professional development" (eww), or you sense asymmetric power dynamics... maybe that's a red flag that it's not a job you want to stay in or people you want to work with. It shouldn't feel like that. Life is too short to put up with office politics.