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Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

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Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#41

Post by hashkb »

mirkoadari wrote: post #18
gaius wrote: post #17

The HR manager scares me, although I am not sure why. Job #1 of HR is to protect the company from its employees. The reason for hiring a HR professional (weirdly they never refer to themselves as "resources") is that the owners or managers now feel that they need that protection. There's a gulf now between management and workers, that perhaps was a narrow stream before. You've instinctively grasped this, that's where…

I entirely disagree with this view. If you look at the period of employment, the need for protection takes up a minute moment. It is more likely that the owners wanted to recruit great talent, have someone whos mission is to create a nice everyday environment, help spot and train leadership or any other number of things that the HR professionals, I've had the pleasure of meeting in my career, are great at and care ab…

They call that something else. HR is a smoke screen.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#42

Post by analognoise »

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done.

If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day.

Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up then wonder why most 'tech' people are unmarried young white men. Get married. You'll suddenly realize you don't give a shit about the office beer club. Grow as an individual into an adult, not a large-child.

You were very wise to realize it is a 'you' problem - that's a huge first step. Now see it for the crap it all is, and go to work anyway - or find a new place that thinks middle school 'in group cultural awareness' is still en vogue, and join their clique.

A better piece of advice? Join a club outside work. Get your individuality stroked there, and return to work refreshed and assured you are a beautiful and unique snowflake, just like everybody else.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#43

Post by calinet6 »

analognoise wrote: post #42

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done. If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day. Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up…

"culture" with a small c is a lie, but "Culture" with a capital C is real.

Work should be real, meaningful, and authentic. It should be intrinsically motivating, and it should drive respect for people and a desire to do well. This type of culture amplifies productivity and 'joy in work' (as W. Edwards Deming called it) and is good for everyone. It is not happy hours, table tennis, foosball, or any of that fake stuff—it's feeling happy about the 'adult work' you're doing, and fulfilled by your contribution to a larger effort.

I think when people speak of 'culture going downhill,' they aren't talking about the trivial stuff that you'd get from clubs or 'silly hat and trousers' day. They're talking about the parts of work they enjoyed because they allowed the work itself to be meaningful.

This is why people are so obsessed with culture. If you aren't, you haven't bridged that gap yet, but keep looking for how to preserve that meaningful connection to the joy of work and how to drive it.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#44

Post by calinet6 »

jordanlev wrote: post #21
ThomPete wrote: post #16

I took a company from 2 people to 80 when we were at the height. There have been a lot of attempts to crack that nut and most have been unsuccessful. First you need to realize what is going on when you grow. 1) The more people you hire the more you erode the culture you had. Therefore be very mindful of what kind of people you hire and be quick to realize if they don't fit the culture (even though they might be good)…

Good advice, but I think the OP is an employee at the company, not in charge of the growth himself (which your advice seems to be aimed at).

Individuals can make a huge difference from the bottom up. It's way more difficult, but it's possible. At the very least, make a lot of noise until someone savvy and powerful starts listening.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#45

Post by rifung »

analognoise wrote: post #42

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done. If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day. Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up…

Is it so wrong that some try to strive to find work that is enjoyable? Just because work is work and you have to do it to survive doesn't mean people shouldn't prefer it be less painful.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#46

Post by RickS »

ap22213 wrote: post #33

Unfortunately, you are not going to be able to keep things weird (in this case). The only person who has complete control over the corporate culture is the CEO. And, even then, the CEO takes orders from the board and owners. From your description of the recent changes, it appears that the CEO, board, and owners do not view unconventional culture as being important to the company's success. So, unless you or someone l…

"The CEO is the only one who will change it, and clearly doesn't have interest in that, so give up or move on" feels at first like a bleak and defeatist answer.

I have found that it is entirely true.

A company I worked at before went through this. We spoke to one of our more seasoned investors, who had the same thing as the parent comment to say.

I spent a lot of time trying to find ways for this not to be true, but it is.

At a company, the CEO owns the culture. Even if they don't know they do. There are a lot of variables you can change, but that one's a constant.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#47

Post by mrits »

analognoise wrote: post #42

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done. If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day. Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up…

I disagree with almost everything you said. I don't get too involved with group social events but people develop great friendships through this. Hanging out with coworkers outside of work is a good way to see each other as people and not just competition. And getting married for the reasons you described is absolutely horrible advice.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#48

Post by cheshire137 »

analognoise wrote: post #42

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done. If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day. Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up…

Do you like your job?

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#49

Post by cantagi »

I've been in this situation twice before as a developer. The first time, the devs bought nerf guns and scooters to counter the new corporate atmpsphere, and the second time everyone who wasn't part of the corporate in-crowd got systematically excluded from social events, and various dogmatic "managers" got brought in, who were friends with the CEO.

If you can, you should talk to your colleagues and the people in charge, to convince them that the company needs to be kept awesome and weird, while growing. Maybe suggest Open Allocation - Github and Valve do it, and I know people who work within that kind of structure and really enjoy it.

Be extremely wary of lies and corporate doublespeak that some CEOs and HR people often use to convince you that they care about your company's atmposphere, when they really just want you shut up and work. I've witnessed that far too often.

Re: Ask HN: Company is growing and the culture shift is uncomfortable. What do I do?

#50

Post by manigandham »

calinet6 wrote: post #43
analognoise wrote: post #42

Why are people so obsessed with 'culture' and 'keeping things weird'? Be an adult, go to work. It isn't about weirdness (or stroking your perceived uniqueness and individuality concepts), it's about getting a job done. If you are weird or unique, good for you. Not everyone wants in on 'silly hat and trousers' day. Office 'culture' is a lie to keep you working harder, at the office longer, and people eat that shit up…

"culture" with a small c is a lie, but "Culture" with a capital C is real. Work should be real, meaningful, and authentic. It should be intrinsically motivating, and it should drive respect for people and a desire to do well. This type of culture amplifies productivity and 'joy in work' (as W. Edwards Deming called it) and is good for everyone. It is not happy hours, table tennis, foosball, or any of that fake stuff—…

How is this anything but the individual's personal problem? You can't just make work meaningful all of a sudden, it's just work that the business needs to get done - you decide voluntarily if you want to do it in exchange for cash.

Not everything is going to be joyful/satisfying/life-affirming or whatever and I don't get this constant complaint that the company somehow needs to give you a reason to do your job.

Sure it can help at some basic HR/motivational level perhaps and some kinds of work truly have more impact but it's ridiculous to expect every job to be like this.

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