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> But that doesn’t mean that colleagues stopped connecting altogether, says Lopushinsky. They just started doing it in ways they actually found enjoyable. “On t
by IMTDb 4y ago
> But that doesn’t mean that colleagues stopped connecting altogether, says Lopushinsky. They just started doing it in ways they actually found enjoyable. “On the flip side, the pandemic also led to the rise of more employee-led initiatives,” he says. Team-building events and ‘fun’ ceased to be top-down. “Employees would lead a Zoom yoga class, or a cooking class for their colleagues. It’s an interesting shift, away from ‘you have to do this,’ and toward, ‘what do you guys really want to do?’”
I am almost sure that the "mandatory fun" that the article described initially started as employees lead initiative that turned "mandatory", when he employees championing them started reaching position of power within the company. That's when people started feeling like they had to participate to impress their boss.
I can't wait for Janine "fun yoga zoom class" to become "mandatory" when said Janine becomes manager of her team and people notice that she has a privileged relationship with people who participate because they have something in common. And the cycle will repeat. There is no reason to believe the pattern has fundamentally changed.
- tablespoon 4y ago> I am almost sure that the "mandatory fun" that the article described initially started as employees lead initiative that turned "mandatory", when he employees championing them started reaching position of power within the company. It doesn't even have to get that far. I have low-level manager friend who's being pressured into leading "mandatory fun" events by his team. He hates that kind of thing, but if he doesn't do it his team will complain (not specifically about mandatory fun, but vaguer morale things) and it will look bad.
- LeanderK 4y agoI don't understand...the team will complain? But it's his job to lead and take care of the team. He's not being pressured, it's part of the job. It's like when employee #2 is having a big fight with #3 because he never cleans the common kitchen after preparing his coffee. You might not care about the feelings of #2 but you have to do something, you are not pressured into it because the team can't stand the situation.
- tablespoon 4y agoBut the comment I was responding to was about these things becoming more "employee led" by people who actually want to participate. In this case it's a kind of weird up-down pressure by a couple people who who may want these events, but would rather complain than take the initiative themselves.
- dom96 4y agoWhy does he need to lead it? A manager should delegate, especially for things like this that can easily be organised/lead by someone that actuallys wants to lead them.
- memco 4y ago> I can't wait for Janine "fun yoga zoom class" to become "mandatory" when said Janine becomes manager of her team and people notice that she has a privileged relationship with people who participate because they have something in common. This sounds like it could qualify as harassment in some jurisdictions if my last harassment training is anything to go by.
- goodpoint 4y agoIt's even worse: it's called "voluntary" and people will ask you to join. If you don't "voluntarily" join and put up a smile all the time people will notice. There is no way to prove that your performance reviews will suffer from this.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tombert 4y ago> I can't wait for Janine "fun yoga zoom class" to become "mandatory" when said Janine becomes manager of her team and people notice that she has a privileged relationship with people who participate Not exactly the same, but at a previous job at a fairly small company (~25 people in total) the CTO smoked, and there would be "smoke breaks" where all the smokers would spend 15 minutes, smoke a cigarette and talk. I didn't (and don't) smoke, but it was a little frustrating to see the people who smoked seemed to consistently get promotions and special privileges, I think largely due to more personal time with the CTO. I'm pretty convinced that at least two of my coworkers noticed this and started smoking specifically because they thought it might help their careers, and in their mind the smoke breaks weren't "optional" if they wanted to progress. That company went belly up about a year after I got there, so I'm glad I never partook, but it was certainly tempting sometimes.
- ryandrake 4y agoI've seen this happen with other activities, too. Drinking in a bar where you know the VP will be present. Wednesday Strip club lunch. I once worked at a place with "Bring Your Gun To Work day" where we'd go to a firing range with the boss over lunchtime. Even things as innocent as Sportsball chat. I once did some basic learning about the Warriors because a boss's boss was a basketball fan. I didn't even know the rules of basketball and had to Google who the local team was. Optional activities that get you face-time with the boss are not really optional.