3 ms·

Yeah but there are downsides to that. 1. What if you already have a family? When it's 5'o clock, would you rather go home to your spouse and kids, or go on a c

Yeah but there are downsides to that. 1. What if you already have a family? When it's 5'o clock, would you rather go home to your spouse and kids, or go on a company bar crawl? 2. I am friendly with people who I work with. But if we didn't work together, we'd have no reason to speak to each other. You're going to pass out on a lot of great workers if you insist everyone be your friend. Why can't a co-worker relationship suffice? 3. If you're company is too friendly, and begins to think alike, I'd be wary of groupthink. 4. That nickname thing seems like it'd get annoying fast.

edawerd 12y ago
1. That's perfectly fine! We have people who work until 5:30 3 days out of the week, and work 2 days from home. Nothing about the company being a family precludes you from having your own. 2. No one's forcing anyone to be friends with anyone. And truth be told, not everyone is best buddies with everyone at work. But given the option to choose, I'd rather work with friends than co-workers. I do realize that's not for everyone though.
- greenyoda 12y ago
  "I'd rather work with friends than co-workers." You might come to regret this if you ever have to fire one of your friends. You're a manager/owner of the business, and you need to realize that the people who report to you have a very different relationship with you than they have with each other (even if it's not obvious to you) - you sign their paychecks, you can fire or promote them, etc. I speak from the experience of having been a manager whose friendship with his staff made it hard to make the most effective business decisions.
- normloman 12y ago
  "Nothing about the company being a family precludes you from having your own." There is something: time. You only have time for one family. When the rest of the team is on a company bike ride and you're the odd one out, taking your kids to a birthday party, you're gonna be left out on the in jokes, the bonding, etc. Then you'll start being left out of the loop at work. Someone will forget to email you important project details (Oh don't you remember, we talked about this at the bike ride. Wait, I forgot, you weren't there. My bad!). Company productivity will suffer, and outcast employees will grow increasingly isolated. "No one's forcing anyone to be friends with anyone." Yes you are. That's what family is. A group of people you didn't chose to associate with, but still have to pretend to like. And after reading the article, that sounds exactly like what you're doing.

edawerd 12y ago

1. That's perfectly fine! We have people who work until 5:30 3 days out of the week, and work 2 days from home. Nothing about the company being a family precludes you from having your own. 2. No one's forcing anyone to be friends with anyone. And truth be told, not everyone is best buddies with everyone at work. But given the option to choose, I'd rather work with friends than co-workers. I do realize that's not for everyone though.

greenyoda 12y ago
"I'd rather work with friends than co-workers." You might come to regret this if you ever have to fire one of your friends. You're a manager/owner of the business, and you need to realize that the people who report to you have a very different relationship with you than they have with each other (even if it's not obvious to you) - you sign their paychecks, you can fire or promote them, etc. I speak from the experience of having been a manager whose friendship with his staff made it hard to make the most effective business decisions.
normloman 12y ago
"Nothing about the company being a family precludes you from having your own." There is something: time. You only have time for one family. When the rest of the team is on a company bike ride and you're the odd one out, taking your kids to a birthday party, you're gonna be left out on the in jokes, the bonding, etc. Then you'll start being left out of the loop at work. Someone will forget to email you important project details (Oh don't you remember, we talked about this at the bike ride. Wait, I forgot, you weren't there. My bad!). Company productivity will suffer, and outcast employees will grow increasingly isolated. "No one's forcing anyone to be friends with anyone." Yes you are. That's what family is. A group of people you didn't chose to associate with, but still have to pretend to like. And after reading the article, that sounds exactly like what you're doing.