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Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

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Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#161

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

chasd00 wrote: post #154
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with "Self-care" - are you burning out at your job? Do you need a break? Clearly it's because you are failing at "self-care", not because your job is stressful or unreasonable. It pushes the onus back on the worker to put up with whatever the job demands and frames the worker as the one failing.

i disagree, are you expecting someone else to take care of you? Are you expecting someone to cook you a healthy meal as well? Are you suggesting handing over the welfare of your mind and body to someone else? Health ( physical and mental ) is on you to maintain.

Of course not - and that "cook meals" feels like a straw-man. I'm expecting a company to admit if the last few weeks have been full of crunch and have some flexibility when people say they could use some recuperation time, not have a meeting emphasizing the importance of self-care and expecting people to carry on as normal.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#162

Post by chasd00 »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #161
chasd00 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i disagree, are you expecting someone else to take care of you? Are you expecting someone to cook you a healthy meal as well? Are you suggesting handing over the welfare of your mind and body to someone else? Health ( physical and mental ) is on you to maintain.

Of course not - and that "cook meals" feels like a straw-man. I'm expecting a company to admit if the last few weeks have been full of crunch and have some flexibility when people say they could use some recuperation time, not have a meeting emphasizing the importance of self-care and expecting people to carry on as normal.

i upvoted your response, that makes a lot more sense to me.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#163

Post by ghaff »

pc86 wrote: post #35
pmg102 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right but this suggests those things might be for your benefit when it looks to me like they're for team cohesion ie for the employers benefit. There's nothing wrong with that unless they're trying to portray those things as being for your benefit!

Exactly, pre-COVID we would go out for a group lunch maybe once every month or two. 7 or 8 people total. Everyone paid their own way so it wasn't seen as a benefit but everyone did acknowledge it as a good bit of team building/cohesion around something everyone was going to do anyway (eat) so it was much better than trying to do something after hours or on a weekend when we have better things to do, or during the wor…

Yes, a multi-day team (weekday) offsite every now and then is fine (and probably beneficial). But, in general, weekend getaways and things like that are bad practices.

Normally I travel a lot so nights and at least parts of weekends away are pretty routine for me. But companies should attempt to minimize it to the degree possible.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#164

Post by koonsolo »

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

As a leader, you will have to decide if you push a short or long term vision.

When it's short term, put pressure.

When it's long term, plan.

In a sense, a company run by the owner is more inclined to think long term than one where some CEO takes the wheel for 5 years.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#165

Post by jodrellblank »

wilsonrocks wrote: post #69
danpalmer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, but I'd rather have an office with tea/coffee, a drinks fridge, etc, than the extra salary that the company is spending on providing that. In part I'm paying 40% in tax so if I'm going to buy coffees it's actually more effective to have them provided by the company. But in general, that sort of convenience and benefit is often worth more than the monetary value. Tea/coffee in the office is very differen…

Tea and coffee ought to be a baseline in any office environment imo. I think it'd be worth it for companies to just pay for it, otherwise employees set up a tea club, spend work time doing it and fall out over it.

Terence McKenna used to remind people that tea and coffee benefit an employer more than an employee - it's not a break to rest, it's an employer encouraged chemical stimulant to make you work harder. As an employee, you're hyped to work harder - which isn't necessarily a benefit to you at all.

That companies have then reframed it as an "employee perk" is a very slick PR move.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#166

Post by throwamon »

chasd00 wrote: post #145
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…

> Parents making children pay rent after they turn 18 i have two boys, if they're >= 18 and doing nothing but laying on the couch i don't see asking for rent being unreasonable at all! Coddling young adults as if they're still children does so harm to everyone.

Whether or not you're right, you just reinforced my point of there being some (maybe semi-conscious) scorekeeping happening, and the point on there maybe being some underlying issue (psychological or even social - we know young adults living with their parents is becoming a trend and I'm sure in many cases there's much more to it than simply "being coddled as if they're still children").

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#167

Post by myWindoonn »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #116
fernandotakai wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

I told my manager that if they want more than 40 hours per week, we can negotiate overtime. And considering my tax bracket, I'd rather be compensated with vacation days than money. I don't understand why _anyone_ should be on a salary model of compensation. It doesn't feel like a privilege awarded to me as a middle-class white-collar worker. The privilege is the fact that I can tell my manager to stick it and I won't…

As a lifelong salaryperson: Salaried employees don't work for hours, they work to get specific tasks done. If your work only takes 4hrs, then you get a short day. If your work consistently only takes 4hrs, then you work fewer hours as a lifestyle.

Of course, employers hate this, but the privilege of salary is being able to tell your manager to stick it to them on a daily basis by pointing to the tasks and showing that they're done.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#168

Post by tails4e »

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…

I agree. We're inundated with wellbeing emails and events, and while I appreciate the effort, it is just a token as only the lucky few with spare time can go to these things. When the balance is way off, taking more time for such meetings feel like a distraction rather than a fix. What was great was one Friday off per month, for the last year. It was just so nice to have a 3 day weekend so reguarly.

Re: Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam?

#170

Post by bombcar »

tails4e wrote: post #168
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…

I agree. We're inundated with wellbeing emails and events, and while I appreciate the effort, it is just a token as only the lucky few with spare time can go to these things. When the balance is way off, taking more time for such meetings feel like a distraction rather than a fix. What was great was one Friday off per month, for the last year. It was just so nice to have a 3 day weekend so reguarly.

This is the takeaway - it has to be REAL and not just boil down to a few emails and some seminars.

And the only real way to make it real is for management, starting at the Board, being willing to take some pain - real pain like "we didn't get X done because we were concerned about employee wellbeing" instead of the "pain" of a budget item for some consulting company.

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