3 ms·

I think it depends on how you view your colleagues, and also on your working conditions and location. My entire company is remote (albeit with a small office in

I think it depends on how you view your colleagues, and also on your working conditions and location. My entire company is remote (albeit with a small office in a co-working space a few local people sometimes use), and we have two week-long on-sites every year (recent times notwithstanding). There is no pressure to attend, but the entire company is always there (unless they have scheduling conflicts etc) - that says a lot to me. It helps that the most important aspect of our hiring process is about culture-fit - so much so that the final stage of the (pretty relaxed) hiring process is a presentation to everyone in the company who wishes to attend (regardless of role). Those presentations typically see 40% or more of the company attend. Crucially, every person in that presentation gets the opportunity to vote on whether the candidate is hired. I've made friends for life at this company.

folkrav 6y ago
> I've made friends for life at this company. I've just said this earlier in another comment, but I've never had what I'd consider true friendships come out from work acquaintances. I just don't consider "I have fun with you sometimes" to be friendship, and there's exactly 0 people from all the places I've worked at I would feel comfortable say, calling at 3am if I ever felt depressed. That's friendship in my eyes, and a company retreat would never bring that kind of intimacy that's for me a requirement to actual friendship. Now there are definitely people I would work with again without hesitation, and I'd grab a drink any time with most of my old colleagues.
- pault 6y ago
  I’ll give my counter-anecdote. I have made three close friends at work who I frequently talk to about relationship issues, etc, and would happily help them move a couch if they asked. One of them is currently my roommate. I’m 41, so these things can happen as an adult too. It might be different if I had my own family though.
ncpa-cpl 6y ago
My company has offices in the neighboring countries and we travelled often to the branches abroad. The teams are very close because we frequently work together. Having guests in the company was always an excuse to do fun stuff. Like driving one weekend to a beach/volcano in one country, planning to go to the movies in another one, and lots of tasty food. We could expense the food so we only paid for a bit of extra gas or extra bus tickets with our pocket. As a perk we have full kitchens in our offices, and a couple of times a week we cooked lunch together with the foodie/cook ones. It was usually tastier than buying food nearby. And it was fun to learn about each country's home cooking style. I miss that and hanging out and sight seeing with coworkers on weekends or after work... The daily commute to the local office not so much.

folkrav 6y ago

> I've made friends for life at this company. I've just said this earlier in another comment, but I've never had what I'd consider true friendships come out from work acquaintances. I just don't consider "I have fun with you sometimes" to be friendship, and there's exactly 0 people from all the places I've worked at I would feel comfortable say, calling at 3am if I ever felt depressed. That's friendship in my eyes, and a company retreat would never bring that kind of intimacy that's for me a requirement to actual friendship. Now there are definitely people I would work with again without hesitation, and I'd grab a drink any time with most of my old colleagues.

pault 6y ago
I’ll give my counter-anecdote. I have made three close friends at work who I frequently talk to about relationship issues, etc, and would happily help them move a couch if they asked. One of them is currently my roommate. I’m 41, so these things can happen as an adult too. It might be different if I had my own family though.

ncpa-cpl 6y ago

My company has offices in the neighboring countries and we travelled often to the branches abroad. The teams are very close because we frequently work together. Having guests in the company was always an excuse to do fun stuff. Like driving one weekend to a beach/volcano in one country, planning to go to the movies in another one, and lots of tasty food. We could expense the food so we only paid for a bit of extra gas or extra bus tickets with our pocket. As a perk we have full kitchens in our offices, and a couple of times a week we cooked lunch together with the foodie/cook ones. It was usually tastier than buying food nearby. And it was fun to learn about each country's home cooking style. I miss that and hanging out and sight seeing with coworkers on weekends or after work... The daily commute to the local office not so much.