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I think there's some level of "leave your personal life at home" that isn't completely bad. I don't talk about all of my personal problems at the office. But t
by drewbug01 5y ago
I think there's some level of "leave your personal life at home" that isn't completely bad. I don't talk about all of my personal problems at the office.
But the other side of "Work just isn't the place for it" is this: sometimes personal problems affect you so profoundly, that they then affect your work performance. Your colleagues (and management) deserve to know about those things, so they can plan and adjust accordingly (and offer any personal or workplace support that is appropriate).
To use a somewhat silly analogy - we understand that if someone is too sick to work, then they shouldn't come to work. We don't tell people "work just isn't the place for your illness," because we know that some illnesses really make it impossible to do any work. And, that if you don't go home and rest, the ultimate impact to the business will be worse in the long run because you can't recover.
I think some personal problems rise to that level. Getting cut off in traffic and being annoyed? I don't know, maybe not. "The cops just shot 3 more black people like me at traffic stops this weekend and I'm having a really hard time concentrating now" might be a "personal problem" that is highly relevant to bring up at work (and coded as "political," to boot). That kind of thing would understandably rattle you, and it takes time to heal from.
I guess my point is: we're not robots, and it's not possible to really "check it at the door" most of the time. It never really has been.
The Basecamp policy isn't going to stop people from bringing their personal problems to work, overall. But it'll silence black people and gay people from bringing their problems to work, because those are "political" problems to some people.
- yosito 5y agoIf something happening in society or your personal life is preventing you from doing your job, you don't have to explain it in the company wide channel. In fact, doing so probably won't help you or the company much. Most companies offer sick days and mental health days, for which you don't need to provide any explanation whatsoever. Many companies also pay for confidential mental health services. If your problem can't be solved with those benefits, disability insurance is also commonplace at companies and typically covers mental illness that would prevent you from doing your work. Companies should offer all of those things if they don't. I would go so far as to say that companies should be legally required to offer all of those things if they don't. But I don't think talking about personal or societal dumpster fires in the company chat will do anything to help the person affected, and will likely cause one person or group's problems to affect the work of the rest of the company without leading to any kind of resolution for anyone.
- drewbug01 5y agoAs a counter-point: one of the things I've found the most helpful during the pandemic was the meetings with my coworkers where we set the agenda aside, and just talked about our struggles. The resources and tools you mentioned are useful and good, but there's something different about supporting each other directly.
- yosito 5y agoWhile I wouldn't personally talk to my coworkers about my struggles, because I like to keep work and personal life as separate as possible, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so privately, on your own time, and not in company-wide channels.