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Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

economist.com

21–30 of 75 posts

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#21
The last two places I worked did this kind of thing. The most recent (not to be too hard on them; I did love them, but forced fun is as depressing as the article says,= even at the best companies) had a few bizarre practices. The worst, which I discovered on my first Friday, was a surprise round of questions, one from each employee, to the newest hire. A corporate truth-or-dare ambush, without the option of dares.

I was caught off-guard and somewhat upset at being put on the spot, so I answered each question either as literally as possible or with a meandering, humorous story about wanting to punch out Michael Eisner. I was initially the only one not having shadenfreude-fueled "fun", but possibly the only one having fun by the end, to my later regret. (I admit, it was somewhat childish.) I heard that my answers were the reason it was more or less discontinued, so it was a minor victory if a moral loss.

We habitually stopped working around 4 on Fridays to drink beer on the roof. This, too, could have been lots of fun if it were optional, and often was anyway. But if you enjoy your job (or just want to finish this one module so I don't have to do it Monday, dammit), this sort of concentration-break is annoying at best. Eventually, I realized it couldn't possibly be a firing offense to work instead of drinking, so I did when I could get away with it.

Not long after the new VP of Engineering arrived, the partying and beers often became Powerpoint presentations about the company's Bold New Direction and ice cream sandwiches, complete with a pep-rally furor, prolonged on-cue applause of the type that made one feel as if the first to quit clapping would be executed, and the occasional singling out of teams that were behind deadlines, with the death-march resuming after the meetings.

Off-topic epilogue, don't read: I hear the death march has stopped (three or four months total; I didn't participate on weekends, or care if I got fired at that point, which I did immediately in the purge after the Great Rewrite launched) and people are back to a sort of normal schedule. I guess forced fun is a good indicator of attempts to freeze or create company culture, maybe even the canary in the mineshaft, warning you that the company's culture is approaching dangerous toxicity. I still love most of my old colleagues and most of the management, which is part of the reason I stuck around long enough to get fired.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#22
post #12

I don't know about you, but Mad Men isn't exactly scientific research. It's a tv show about the advertising industry. I worked in that industry a few years, it's still a lot of fun, and they still drink at work, sleep with each others and treat women badly. Also from my parent's perspective, they didn't have much fun at work, they were working long hours and put up with so much because switching job wasn't exactly as…

Good coworkers can make up for a bad work environment, but a good work environment can't make up for bad coworkers.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#23
post #13

shorter Economist: Fake fun: ball pits. Real Fun: smoking and drinking at the office, office romances shading into sexual harassment. Why can't boys be boys? "While imposing ersatz fun on their employees, companies are battling against the real thing. Many force smokers to huddle outside like furtive criminals. Few allow their employees to drink at lunch time, let alone earlier in the day. A regiment of busybodies—fr…

I love it! Just re-subscribed thanks to your comment.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#24
Seems strange that these companies are taking this approach to promote "fun". I always thought it was all about the people you work with, the best companies I've ever worked for had the best teams. Going to work everyday and having those smart people to talk to was always fun, even if the work itself was sometimes boring. No need for a cheer squad. If they feel the need to do something like this...makes me wonder about their teams.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#25
post #18
post #13

shorter Economist: Fake fun: ball pits. Real Fun: smoking and drinking at the office, office romances shading into sexual harassment. Why can't boys be boys? "While imposing ersatz fun on their employees, companies are battling against the real thing. Many force smokers to huddle outside like furtive criminals. Few allow their employees to drink at lunch time, let alone earlier in the day. A regiment of busybodies—fr…

Always remember that the Economist is written by 24-year-old grad students trying to sound like wise old men. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist#Editorial_anonymi...

Don't pass off other people's speculations as facts and then quote Wikipedia as if there is a reliable source in there that backs up what you are saying.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#26
My office has a few pool tables, foosball, and some high-end gaming PCs. These things are nice, and I enjoy them, but I've worked where I work for almost four years because the pay is excellent and I enjoy my work. To me, money and job satisfaction are key.

Unlimited coffee doesn't hurt either.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#28
post #11
post #6

The first time this happened: "The company engages in regular “random acts of kindness”: workers form a noisy conga line and single out one of their colleagues for praise. The praisee then has to wear a silly hat for a week." I would make it very clear it shouldn't happen again. If it did, I'd leave the company.

Does anyone else see the irony implicit in "regular random acts of kindness"?

Radioactive decay is random yet regular, so: no :-)

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#29

This reminds me of a group of roommates I had in college. They played Super Smash Brothers: Melee for the Nintendo Game Cube perpetually. They played the same level--a flat level without platforms or items--over and over again for one reason--to get better. They had little interest in having fun and cared more about being the best. One of our other roommates suggested that they play the game to have fun. They liked t…

It sounds like they were having lots of fun. When I was in college, we'd configure the random level selector to always select Final Destination, so that we didn't have to bother moving the pointer a few inches.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#30

This reminds me of a group of roommates I had in college. They played Super Smash Brothers: Melee for the Nintendo Game Cube perpetually. They played the same level--a flat level without platforms or items--over and over again for one reason--to get better. They had little interest in having fun and cared more about being the best. One of our other roommates suggested that they play the game to have fun. They liked t…

The implicit assumption here is that the game is always more fun with items and platforms.

Personally, I find it more fun to try and become a better player. Learning new ways to glitch the system, how to counter different strategies. From a competitive view, the fun is reduced when things like the environment or randomly-placed items remove the "fairness" of the competition and favor one character over another.

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