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Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

tribunemag.co.uk

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Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#101

Post by shoto_io »

granshaw wrote: post #67
barrkel wrote: post #57

Wellbeing, even when it's sincere, is a top-down effort - as in way up the tree-tops - and usually raining down diagonally from a different org. Meanwhile, down on the leaves of the org tree, you have delivery pressure from users, peers, and so on. If the pressure is high, no amount of messaging about wellbeing will make any difference. Taking time off, whether it's some kind of leave or for some wellbeing meetings o…

Let me tell you, delivery pressure exists even right at the very top. You think there’s no pressure as a CEO/COO beholden to 30% top line growth this quarter? I sometimes think about being in that position and it seems pretty scary too

I came here to say exactly that. There is pressure everywhere. CEOs are scared of boards. Boards are scared of shareholders. It's just not that visible because there is no tool like "OfficeVibe" showing this transparently.

Sure, they get paid well. So you could argue that they have to take the pressure.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#102

Post by corty »

gmueckl wrote: post #91
SyzygistSix wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was that a real thing or was the Beyonce concert hyperbole?

Don't know about Beyonce, but it's pretty common for big companies to organize private concerts with big names for their employees. I guess it's a case of just spending enough money to make this happen.

It is pretty commmon in departments such as sales, trading or marketing as incentive to e.g. invite $singer upon hitting the years sales target. Or organize a short holiday, visit to a sports event, fancy dinner, something. Seems to spill over to engineering or the whole company in some places.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#103

Post by kenjackson »

shoto_io wrote: post #101
granshaw wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you, delivery pressure exists even right at the very top. You think there’s no pressure as a CEO/COO beholden to 30% top line growth this quarter? I sometimes think about being in that position and it seems pretty scary too

I came here to say exactly that. There is pressure everywhere. CEOs are scared of boards. Boards are scared of shareholders. It's just not that visible because there is no tool like "OfficeVibe" showing this transparently. Sure, they get paid well. So you could argue that they have to take the pressure.

And there are people who say we’re paid well. There’s always someone who thinks you need to suck it up because of how much you get paid.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#104

Post by fernandotakai »

Rompect wrote: post #45
craig_asp wrote: post #5

Every time someone (usually someone from HR) tries to point out how great a company is because of its great perks like awesome couching sessions (not actual training), great team-building events, the best coffee machine ever, table tennis, etc. and how these somehow compensate for a subpar salary offer, I tell them: you just pay me well, give me more time off, and I'll handle all that myself.

I agree completely. As someone who is a "loner", these "perks" of a workplace are actively an argument against it. Just let me choose how and with whom I spend my time, thanks.

also, most of those perks are made to keep you at the office.

"oh you wanna play videogames/have a massage/play table tennis after work? sure! but you can't leave the office, which means you are accessible by everyone even after hours. and because you are not technically working, you won't get overtime. oops."

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#105

Post by cdogl »

Rompect wrote: post #45
craig_asp wrote: post #5

Every time someone (usually someone from HR) tries to point out how great a company is because of its great perks like awesome couching sessions (not actual training), great team-building events, the best coffee machine ever, table tennis, etc. and how these somehow compensate for a subpar salary offer, I tell them: you just pay me well, give me more time off, and I'll handle all that myself.

I agree completely. As someone who is a "loner", these "perks" of a workplace are actively an argument against it. Just let me choose how and with whom I spend my time, thanks.

I'm not a loner - I'm quite a social person - but I nonetheless agree. My work can be rewording and enthralling but it's also draining and it's full of people who I would (mostly) never spend time with outside of that setting. I've lost count of the number of retros / all hands over the years where people have bemoaned the breakneck delivery pace, change of priorities from above, chaotic management etc., and leadership have suggested team building sessions / coffee roulette / team lunches to boost morale. These days it just makes me switch off completely.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#106

Post by kenjackson »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #84
throwamon wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Family and friends don't give performance reviews and push other such metrics down your throat Oh, but society sure is hard at work moving towards this. Edit: I'm short of time, but as someone asked me to elaborate, I'll briefly give a few examples: - "Networking" replacing genuine friendships; related things such as "cut out friends who don't let you grow" which may be valid but usually translates to "replace them…

I think middle class society in the West has already reached this stage. I was talking about this the other day with my wife, after stewing about it bitterly for hours into the night. The most common form of interpersonal interaction has changed from genuine offers of assistance to displays of status and evaluations of said displays. It's unthinkable to do something as basic as ask your neighbour to "borrow" an egg o…

> It's unthinkable to do something as basic as ask your neighbour to "borrow" an egg or bring them some cake just because you have too much.

Really? This is a common occurrence in my neighborhood. Like it happens almost weekly. Is this really unthinkable in other areas? If so, we probably shouldn’t move.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#107

Post by fernandotakai »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #90
joncrane wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Benefits have indeed gotten worse on average in my experience, and here are two hard examples. Leave and healthcare. Leave: It used to be that most companies had a formula for accruing leave, and that vacation and sick were separate buckets and you could accumulate quite a bit. You earn X hours of vacation and Y hours of sick leave per 40 hours worked. This was nice because it was an asset that belonged to the employ…

> 30 days Where can I find a job with 30 days of leave? A lot of places seem to think 15 days is beyond generous because they treat all PTO as vacation time and ignore that sick time used to exist. Meanwhile, my health issues make it extremely difficult to bank any amount of PTO.

or even worse: "infinite PTO" aka you never take time off because you are scared of overusing the perk.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#108

Post by lazide »

cjrp wrote: post #92
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delivery pressure increases as you go higher in the management structure. The most stressful part is that as you transition from IC to manager and work your way up the org chart, you become more abstracted away from actual being able to do the work and influence the outcome yourself. More responsibility, less direct influence. Some managers struggle with this pressure and resort to trying to make their teams feel as…

> you become more abstracted away from actual being able to do the work and influence the outcome yourself You're definitely less able to do the work yourself, but ideally you can still influence the outcome by getting the right people to do the work and making sure they're not blocked, etc.

You can if you’re thinking clearly and able to be a good manager that can attract those people. Easy to fall down the hole of overwork, over stress, over pressure others.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#109

Post by geofft »

shoto_io wrote: post #101
granshaw wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you, delivery pressure exists even right at the very top. You think there’s no pressure as a CEO/COO beholden to 30% top line growth this quarter? I sometimes think about being in that position and it seems pretty scary too

I came here to say exactly that. There is pressure everywhere. CEOs are scared of boards. Boards are scared of shareholders. It's just not that visible because there is no tool like "OfficeVibe" showing this transparently. Sure, they get paid well. So you could argue that they have to take the pressure.

Stop having boards and shareholders then.

Or, at least tell them, our growth target this year is 2%, our growth max is 10%, if we grow more than that I'm concerned about the pressure on my employees and my goal is to have a great and sustainable place to work and not to fill the universe with paperclips, and I'm going to start laying off sales and marketing if we're taking on more commitments than we can handle. We're not letting you into the board if you disagree with it, and you'd better price this assumption into the stock if you want to hold stock.

You don't have to grow forever just because you're a company.

(I think I've heard companies register as a public benefit corporation to make it easier to push back on growth-seeking entryists.)

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#110

Post by climb_stealth »

mtberatwork wrote: post #50
kumarvvr wrote: post #23

Workplace wellbeing Wholesome workplace Workplace is a family and a myriad of other touchy-feely terms are just plain bullshit. Whole industries have cropped up to support the efforts of managements to keep workforces in control and deflect resentment (people don't leave companies, they leave managers ! and other crap) The ground reality is when the company feels you are not needed, all that touch-feely stuff goes do…

> Workplace is a family This one is the biggest eye roll for me. Family and friends don't give performance reviews and push other such metrics down your throat.

I find it goes even further than that. Just because someone is related to you does not make them your friends or good to be around.

Having to put up with shit "because it is family" can be really unhealthy.

Statements like "workplace is a family" really give me the creeps. I have never experienced it though so not sure how I would react.

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