4 ms·

I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandate

I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.

pletnes 6y ago
What if the work event allows for the first social interaction? If there’s no opportunity to get to know people from work, you may not discover common interests, etc. I’ve certainly been surprised a few times about colleagues I realized I didn’t know much about.
- apabepa 6y ago
  A more natural way would be to arrange for people to work together in smaller groups on tasks as part of the normal work. If you provide this then I agree with the parent poster if there is a social interaction to be had it will come. If not that's OK as long as we can work together in reasonable harmony. I value professionalism, if I can make a friend through work that is great but it should not be the norm that we all have to be friends to get along.
nickthemagicman 6y ago
I agree. If companies just treat employees well and provide a good working environment the employees will be happy and work hard and feel good about their co-workers. I think there's an emphasis on forcing the employees to do things rather than creating the evironment where employees do it naturally.
mc32 6y ago
To me the issue is blurring the lines between work and not work. Companies are not your buddies. They are not your friends. We make a deal. You pay me. I return value. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. You’re not family. You won’t be there when things go south. You will not hesitate to fire, if it’s in your interest. Don't sugarcoat the relationship.
- dudul 6y ago
  Totally agree with that. You know what I like to do with my friends? Bitch about my work. Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is. That's for my friends, not my coworkers, not my manager who's trying to be my buddy. Yes, I will occasionally have true friends at work with whom I can talk about that on a private channel, but that's the exception.
  - baud147258 6y ago
    > Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is that's like half of my conversations with colleagues. Personally I don't see that many downsides with getting along with my colleagues, though it doesn't usually happen via mandated team building
    - mc32 6y ago
      The thing is you don’t want HR catching wind of things. It’s not that people rat on each other. But people are known to blurt things out when prompted (someone divulges a “secret” and often the other person divulges a “secret” in return. It’s just conversation.)
      - goldcd 6y ago
        I guess it depends what's being said. To take the "Delusional Roadmap" example above, the only thing that is every going to resolve this, is the quiet gossipy whispers. e.g. Possible answers 1) No it's not - you're fired. 2) Is it? I was told it wasn't. Could you jot down some notes I could raise? 3) Yes, sorry - we all know what, but we have to go along with it to get budget, so we're not all fired 4) I know it looks a stretch, but somebody's been working on x, and y's about to be signed. Any conversation or response, gives you some context - to better understand/accept that slide that just left you spluttering, speechless and outraged.
      - baud147258 6y ago
        I don't think anything that we said was a fireable offense (or HR would need to fire the whole group). We might get an official reprimand for some of the dissing, though.
dj_mc_merlin 6y ago
> I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. I'd agree with you any day except the current ones. Given recent events, do you not Counter Strike Fridays might bring some much needed social interaction? Yes, making them mandatory would be stupid, but what company makes socializing events mandatory?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- bluefirebrand 6y ago
  Not mandatory, of course, but lots of managers love to peer pressure employees into these sorts of social events by frowning heavily on people who miss them.
mbg721 6y ago
There's something to be said for a little social lubrication humanizing the people you work with and making actual work interactions better.
legitster 6y ago
Hard disagree. Leaving people to their own devices, you will have a couple of go-getters who hobnob with managers and everyone else cut out of the cliques. Liking your coworkers is a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone and setting aside structured time to do it makes it more egalitarian.
goldcd 6y ago
I agree. I think the ideal would be that it just happens organically - your employees get along, groups want to spend time together outside of their employment, you reap the benefit when they're working in it. It's invaluable to know what makes people tick and how best to work with them. If the groups don't form naturally, maybe try to 'seed' some. Stick some cash behind a local bar, ask if anybody wants to go karting after work, pop along for an informal 5-a-side on Sunday morning etc. Never force it, though. I was made aware of a 'fun event' that didn't get enough uptake to hit it's KPI. Therefore people were encouraged to press-gang their people - and you end up with a bunch of miserable people all resenting the intrusion into their personal time and everybody involved.

pletnes 6y ago

What if the work event allows for the first social interaction? If there’s no opportunity to get to know people from work, you may not discover common interests, etc. I’ve certainly been surprised a few times about colleagues I realized I didn’t know much about.

apabepa 6y ago
A more natural way would be to arrange for people to work together in smaller groups on tasks as part of the normal work. If you provide this then I agree with the parent poster if there is a social interaction to be had it will come. If not that's OK as long as we can work together in reasonable harmony. I value professionalism, if I can make a friend through work that is great but it should not be the norm that we all have to be friends to get along.

nickthemagicman 6y ago

I agree. If companies just treat employees well and provide a good working environment the employees will be happy and work hard and feel good about their co-workers. I think there's an emphasis on forcing the employees to do things rather than creating the evironment where employees do it naturally.

mc32 6y ago

To me the issue is blurring the lines between work and not work. Companies are not your buddies. They are not your friends. We make a deal. You pay me. I return value. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. You’re not family. You won’t be there when things go south. You will not hesitate to fire, if it’s in your interest. Don't sugarcoat the relationship.

dudul 6y ago
Totally agree with that. You know what I like to do with my friends? Bitch about my work. Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is. That's for my friends, not my coworkers, not my manager who's trying to be my buddy. Yes, I will occasionally have true friends at work with whom I can talk about that on a private channel, but that's the exception.
- baud147258 6y ago
  > Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is that's like half of my conversations with colleagues. Personally I don't see that many downsides with getting along with my colleagues, though it doesn't usually happen via mandated team building
  - mc32 6y ago
    The thing is you don’t want HR catching wind of things. It’s not that people rat on each other. But people are known to blurt things out when prompted (someone divulges a “secret” and often the other person divulges a “secret” in return. It’s just conversation.)
    - goldcd 6y ago
      I guess it depends what's being said. To take the "Delusional Roadmap" example above, the only thing that is every going to resolve this, is the quiet gossipy whispers. e.g. Possible answers 1) No it's not - you're fired. 2) Is it? I was told it wasn't. Could you jot down some notes I could raise? 3) Yes, sorry - we all know what, but we have to go along with it to get budget, so we're not all fired 4) I know it looks a stretch, but somebody's been working on x, and y's about to be signed. Any conversation or response, gives you some context - to better understand/accept that slide that just left you spluttering, speechless and outraged.
    - baud147258 6y ago
      I don't think anything that we said was a fireable offense (or HR would need to fire the whole group). We might get an official reprimand for some of the dissing, though.

dj_mc_merlin 6y ago

> I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. I'd agree with you any day except the current ones. Given recent events, do you not Counter Strike Fridays might bring some much needed social interaction? Yes, making them mandatory would be stupid, but what company makes socializing events mandatory?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
bluefirebrand 6y ago
Not mandatory, of course, but lots of managers love to peer pressure employees into these sorts of social events by frowning heavily on people who miss them.

mbg721 6y ago

There's something to be said for a little social lubrication humanizing the people you work with and making actual work interactions better.

legitster 6y ago

Hard disagree. Leaving people to their own devices, you will have a couple of go-getters who hobnob with managers and everyone else cut out of the cliques. Liking your coworkers is a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone and setting aside structured time to do it makes it more egalitarian.

goldcd 6y ago

I agree. I think the ideal would be that it just happens organically - your employees get along, groups want to spend time together outside of their employment, you reap the benefit when they're working in it. It's invaluable to know what makes people tick and how best to work with them. If the groups don't form naturally, maybe try to 'seed' some. Stick some cash behind a local bar, ask if anybody wants to go karting after work, pop along for an informal 5-a-side on Sunday morning etc. Never force it, though. I was made aware of a 'fun event' that didn't get enough uptake to hit it's KPI. Therefore people were encouraged to press-gang their people - and you end up with a bunch of miserable people all resenting the intrusion into their personal time and everybody involved.