5 ms·

I worked at place like this at Lyft and to be honest it made me pretty uncomfortable. I was aligned with most people about most of the causes circulated freely,

I worked at place like this at Lyft and to be honest it made me pretty uncomfortable. I was aligned with most people about most of the causes circulated freely, but not all. And on the items I wasn't fully onboard with the party line, I felt there was a huge risk to my job if I ever were to voice that. I won't ever work in an environment like that again. Once I cross the threshold with my coworkers to be friends I feel like there's a significant difference in what we are comfortable talking about with each other and certainly I expect to debate social causes with them at that point. Otherwise, I find it incredibly naive to expect consensus on any ideas, regardless of how fundamental they seem.

spamizbad 5y ago
This sounds like a problem found in fancy valley tier-1 unicorns then. I keep hearing stories of people bombarded with political discussions on a daily basis and can hardly believe them. I'm not doubting anyone's sincerity but jeez... I feel like this perhaps localized to certain segments of the industry. I've worked in this industry for over a decade and really haven't had any major political discussions with coworkers outside of a few pertaining to extremely boring local politics. and I only engaged in them because I knew my colleague wasn't sensitive to the matter and it was out of earshot of any other coworkers (it was about zoning). (Also, as an aside, I find it painfully hypocritical anyone at a gig company like Lyft struts around the office being "woke" after what the company did with Prop 22)
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  This is happening because these large tech companies- not just tier-1 unicorns but FAANGs themselves, have been presenting themselves as paternalistic employers for the past decade. You provide employees with all the free food, on-campus gyms, and massages by appointment as they want, then present them with supposedly open cultures of free inquiry, your employees are going to use it. You satiate someone's lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, and they're going to want to self-actualize. So the freethinkers and activists motivated to join these companies are going to try to engage in activities beyond, well, work. So the companies reaped what they sowed. They wanted to have their employees stay at work and did so by making the office a desirable place to not only work but live at, and their employees start wanting to bring their lives into work. This totalistic capture of big tech over employee lifestyles mirrors what these companies are also seeking to do at the marketplace. When a company manages not only the technological needs of their customers, but everything from entertainment, to healthcare, to home security, to shopping, logistics, and everything else, then they set themselves up to be veritable empires. That's why big tech companies are now dealing with every issue including free speech, environmentalism, worker's rights, what activities should be eligible for payment services. That's just the price of being a business that wants to be involved in all facets of human society. It includes politics. You can't be an empire and still pretend to be above it all. Both your customers and your employees are going to treat you as one.
  - spamizbad 5y ago
    This is probably the best explanation I’ve seen.
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      You can't claim that your mission is to make the world a better place and then act surprised when your employees take you at your word.
      - spamizbad 5y ago
        Also: You can't heavily recruit top performers from name-brand schools then are shocked they don't want to exclusively grind some PM's Jira tickets.
        ambicapter 5y ago
        The existence of management consulting seems to point to the idea that you can, as long as you pay enough.
  - chowchowchow 5y ago
    This is an excellent comment.
  - throw7 5y ago
    https://youtu.be/n2RNcPRtAiY?t=100 https://youtu.be/n2RNcPRtAiY?t=100
  - Opt_Out_Fed_IRS 5y ago
    This comment is the best summary of the issue. I'd also 2 other elements. 1) The avg. American is much less arrogant and confident in their capabilities compared to 20 or even 10 years ago . So it's natural that they are coming to terms with the fact that they might have to explore any avenue of possible social ladder climbing. Climbing the social ladder via group association was much more frowned upon 20 or even just 10 years ago. Now people happily strap and go for the ride 2) None of this BS would be happening if the economy was growing at 7% Real GDP on a constant basis. You mentioned Maslow, well America is pretty high on the Maslow pyramid, considering the hedonistic treadmill and the law of diminishing returns you need a 7% YoY just to mantain the level of happiness and satisfaction
- asabjorn 5y ago
  There is a lot of money in being hired and promoted in the top unicorns, so its not surprising that when such a company allow a parallel lower-effort identity-based system of hiring and promotion some choose this path instead of more high-effort merit-based career development. However, having parallel systems of promotion and hiring is causing resentment as well as mistrust that deteriorate organizations. What some workplaces are saying is that woke activism are negatively affecting the core mission, which is not surprising because to serve customers well a company need to build upon individual merit (not identity).
stevenicr 5y ago
Seeing this comment triggered several memories about how out of touch I felt the lyft office folks were - both as a rider and as a driver. I was quite shocked on several occasions actually - some things were at times 'tone deaf' other times I wondered how they could do things that most would certainly know are going to disgust some 40% of the population and yet push it out there to everyone anyway. And to see what they think of the drivers, while you are driving some of them - just wow. I hope they never get knocked off that high horse fantasy land they are living in. Of course my experience is a small data point comparatively and not necessarily indicative of the corporate culture as a whole 100 - and all that.. I can imagine working with the folks I encountered on a few rides - working in close proximity with them every day would be mentally exhausting.

spamizbad 5y ago

This sounds like a problem found in fancy valley tier-1 unicorns then. I keep hearing stories of people bombarded with political discussions on a daily basis and can hardly believe them. I'm not doubting anyone's sincerity but jeez... I feel like this perhaps localized to certain segments of the industry. I've worked in this industry for over a decade and really haven't had any major political discussions with coworkers outside of a few pertaining to extremely boring local politics. and I only engaged in them because I knew my colleague wasn't sensitive to the matter and it was out of earshot of any other coworkers (it was about zoning). (Also, as an aside, I find it painfully hypocritical anyone at a gig company like Lyft struts around the office being "woke" after what the company did with Prop 22)

Apocryphon 5y ago
This is happening because these large tech companies- not just tier-1 unicorns but FAANGs themselves, have been presenting themselves as paternalistic employers for the past decade. You provide employees with all the free food, on-campus gyms, and massages by appointment as they want, then present them with supposedly open cultures of free inquiry, your employees are going to use it. You satiate someone's lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, and they're going to want to self-actualize. So the freethinkers and activists motivated to join these companies are going to try to engage in activities beyond, well, work. So the companies reaped what they sowed. They wanted to have their employees stay at work and did so by making the office a desirable place to not only work but live at, and their employees start wanting to bring their lives into work. This totalistic capture of big tech over employee lifestyles mirrors what these companies are also seeking to do at the marketplace. When a company manages not only the technological needs of their customers, but everything from entertainment, to healthcare, to home security, to shopping, logistics, and everything else, then they set themselves up to be veritable empires. That's why big tech companies are now dealing with every issue including free speech, environmentalism, worker's rights, what activities should be eligible for payment services. That's just the price of being a business that wants to be involved in all facets of human society. It includes politics. You can't be an empire and still pretend to be above it all. Both your customers and your employees are going to treat you as one.
- spamizbad 5y ago
  This is probably the best explanation I’ve seen.
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    You can't claim that your mission is to make the world a better place and then act surprised when your employees take you at your word.
    - spamizbad 5y ago
      Also: You can't heavily recruit top performers from name-brand schools then are shocked they don't want to exclusively grind some PM's Jira tickets.
      - ambicapter 5y ago
        The existence of management consulting seems to point to the idea that you can, as long as you pay enough.
- chowchowchow 5y ago
  This is an excellent comment.
- throw7 5y ago
  https://youtu.be/n2RNcPRtAiY?t=100 https://youtu.be/n2RNcPRtAiY?t=100
- Opt_Out_Fed_IRS 5y ago
  This comment is the best summary of the issue. I'd also 2 other elements. 1) The avg. American is much less arrogant and confident in their capabilities compared to 20 or even 10 years ago . So it's natural that they are coming to terms with the fact that they might have to explore any avenue of possible social ladder climbing. Climbing the social ladder via group association was much more frowned upon 20 or even just 10 years ago. Now people happily strap and go for the ride 2) None of this BS would be happening if the economy was growing at 7% Real GDP on a constant basis. You mentioned Maslow, well America is pretty high on the Maslow pyramid, considering the hedonistic treadmill and the law of diminishing returns you need a 7% YoY just to mantain the level of happiness and satisfaction
asabjorn 5y ago
There is a lot of money in being hired and promoted in the top unicorns, so its not surprising that when such a company allow a parallel lower-effort identity-based system of hiring and promotion some choose this path instead of more high-effort merit-based career development. However, having parallel systems of promotion and hiring is causing resentment as well as mistrust that deteriorate organizations. What some workplaces are saying is that woke activism are negatively affecting the core mission, which is not surprising because to serve customers well a company need to build upon individual merit (not identity).

stevenicr 5y ago

Seeing this comment triggered several memories about how out of touch I felt the lyft office folks were - both as a rider and as a driver. I was quite shocked on several occasions actually - some things were at times 'tone deaf' other times I wondered how they could do things that most would certainly know are going to disgust some 40% of the population and yet push it out there to everyone anyway. And to see what they think of the drivers, while you are driving some of them - just wow. I hope they never get knocked off that high horse fantasy land they are living in. Of course my experience is a small data point comparatively and not necessarily indicative of the corporate culture as a whole 100 - and all that.. I can imagine working with the folks I encountered on a few rides - working in close proximity with them every day would be mentally exhausting.