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Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#41

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

silicon2401 wrote: post #22
asim wrote: post #2

Good. We're taking all of July off at my company. Why? Because covid was an incredibly hard period for all of us and we as humans need a break. Somehow we all just seem to expect things to keep going like nothing changed. We all just seem to be expected to gloss over the pains of isolation, potential death and stress of work and life with no separation or boundaries. We made a conscious decision at my place of work t…

This is a very subjective statement. The pandemic has been bar none the best period of my life. Increased physical and social distance from other people, no need to emote in public thanks to masks, no need to commute, greater accommodation for non-social options like self-checkouts. My physical and mental health have skyrocketed, and as a result I feel like I've been on vacation for a year and half, despite only taki…

I'm an extreme introvert as well, my wife is all the social interaction I require, and I'm a giant homebody, but I'm still super tired. Work wise I've been under pressure for a fair bit this year and there were no experiences to balance it out with. I miss a lot of small indulgences - quiet brunches on a Wednesday morning or going to get coffee. I may even miss the movie theater occasionally.

I certainly don't miss working from the office, but I miss the variety of downtime. A camel doesn't often need water, but they still need it.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#42

Post by ezxCKAz4W »

asim wrote: post #2

Good. We're taking all of July off at my company. Why? Because covid was an incredibly hard period for all of us and we as humans need a break. Somehow we all just seem to expect things to keep going like nothing changed. We all just seem to be expected to gloss over the pains of isolation, potential death and stress of work and life with no separation or boundaries. We made a conscious decision at my place of work t…

> Because covid was an incredibly hard period for all of us and we as humans need a break.

While true and a good thing, i cannot simply take a step back, look at the whole picture and feel this feels a bit awakward. The op (guessing) is perhaps a lucky few that got to keep their jobs through the pandemic, spend more time with family and were baking breads and indulging in gardening etc. This while millions lost their jobs and health insurance, relied on govt assistance or pick a job like a cashier where you constantly met people during a pandemic, while day cares and achools were closed. And feels like we expect the rest of the world to move on like nothing else happened while feel like I need a month's break.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#43

Post by DrBazza »

silicon2401 wrote: post #22
asim wrote: post #2

Good. We're taking all of July off at my company. Why? Because covid was an incredibly hard period for all of us and we as humans need a break. Somehow we all just seem to expect things to keep going like nothing changed. We all just seem to be expected to gloss over the pains of isolation, potential death and stress of work and life with no separation or boundaries. We made a conscious decision at my place of work t…

This is a very subjective statement. The pandemic has been bar none the best period of my life. Increased physical and social distance from other people, no need to emote in public thanks to masks, no need to commute, greater accommodation for non-social options like self-checkouts. My physical and mental health have skyrocketed, and as a result I feel like I've been on vacation for a year and half, despite only taki…

> Increased physical and social distance from other people

I believe for many people, this is more because "everyone else does it" and the general "miserable office atmosphere" in our industry. I'm not accusing the OP of anything by the way.

I would have said that I was in the group of "you've said hello, that's enough social contact for one day", yet after 15 months, at least according to friends and family, I'm more friendly, more sociable, and more outgoing.

I think really for a lot of people that are enjoying WFH for the last 15 months, what they're really enjoying, myself included is not sitting 2 feet from someone who is not family, that talks, fidgets, coughs, sniffs, slurps, and eats food at their desk 3 times a day, and being in an open plan office with 10-100 other people.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#46

Post by TechBro8615 »

DrBazza wrote: post #43
silicon2401 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very subjective statement. The pandemic has been bar none the best period of my life. Increased physical and social distance from other people, no need to emote in public thanks to masks, no need to commute, greater accommodation for non-social options like self-checkouts. My physical and mental health have skyrocketed, and as a result I feel like I've been on vacation for a year and half, despite only taki…

> Increased physical and social distance from other people I believe for many people, this is more because "everyone else does it" and the general "miserable office atmosphere" in our industry. I'm not accusing the OP of anything by the way. I would have said that I was in the group of "you've said hello, that's enough social contact for one day", yet after 15 months, at least according to friends and family, I'm mor…

As a (currently, sort of) introvert, I agree with both you and the parent. I also had a great time during the pandemic. But I was behaving exactly as I was before, when I was depressed. The difference is that now everyone else – even celebrities and Instagram party girls – were suddenly living my lifestyle, and that gave me a sense of comfort. It meant that I no longer felt like I was letting the world pass me by, because the world stopped.

But now it’s back on again, frankly, that feeling is coming back. It was nice while it lasted, but that’s clearly not sustainable for anyone.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#47

Post by ianai »

cashewchoo wrote: post #39
silicon2401 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very subjective statement. The pandemic has been bar none the best period of my life. Increased physical and social distance from other people, no need to emote in public thanks to masks, no need to commute, greater accommodation for non-social options like self-checkouts. My physical and mental health have skyrocketed, and as a result I feel like I've been on vacation for a year and half, despite only taki…

I think it's very fair and valid for you to feel however you want with regards to shelter-in-place/wfh/lockdown, but to me it seems somewhat unconscionable to be smug like enjoying your time alone is a huge win against extroverts. I feel like it's a pretty ridiculous over-statement to say that introverts feel like they're in a pandemic normally. I'm an introvert and don't feel like that. I suspect the only people who…

I think you’re being overly reactive to the OP. Glee would be a lot more blatant and celebratory of the misfortune of others. I don’t think that’s their point. Not mine anyway.

I’m pushing back on the sentiment you pose because it’s far too often used and oppressively effective.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#48

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

Symbiote wrote: post #16
christkv wrote: post #6

Minus the poor schmucks stuck in ops I bet.

> A spokeswoman for Bumble said a few customer support staff will be working in case any of the app's users experience issues. These employees will then be given time off to make sure they take a whole week of leave.

That's still not ops, but I assume they just forget to mention them.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#49

Post by DrBazza »

crowbahr wrote: post #34
silicon2401 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very subjective statement. The pandemic has been bar none the best period of my life. Increased physical and social distance from other people, no need to emote in public thanks to masks, no need to commute, greater accommodation for non-social options like self-checkouts. My physical and mental health have skyrocketed, and as a result I feel like I've been on vacation for a year and half, despite only taki…

I've been WFH for 4 years now and thoroughly enjoy it. I enjoy isolation, I love the intensity of coding that I can get done. I'm generally more introverted. That doesn't make the pandemic fun and rainbows. It's still been psychologically the most difficult time for me because I live in NYC. Walking the dog twice a day on ghost streets empty of any pedestrians, devoid of the hum of traffic and hearing nothing but the…

> Rubbing down the door knob with bleach.

This article [1] implies the chance of catching COVID-19 from contact surfaces is 1 in 10,000 *at best* under lab conditions, and negligible at best. You're more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a car.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-r...

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#50

Post by fatjokes »

colesantiago wrote: post #19
curiousgal wrote: post #3

Maybe I am too naive but what the heck are they overworking on? It's an app with some basic functionality. Is software dev in such a sad state that you can't deliver a self-standing product that doesn't require teams working overtime to keep it running? I doubt that all of their staff is doing DevOps or maintaining servers which are the only two things that jump to mind as being labor-intensive for a an app with mill…

> It's an app with some basic functionality. > I doubt that all of their staff is doing DevOps or maintaining servers Please don't assume this. Just because you don't use the app and have no interest in the app or company does not mean you need to have a reductionist outlook on other people's work. Bumble has a great and in depth engineering blog [0] here that doesn't make it 'an app with some basic functionality.' […

A bit O/T, but a few things from that blog jumped out at me:

1. I clicked the we're hiring link. Most roles are in EU (particularly UK and Spain). Is that for cost reasons? I know hiring engineers is cheaper in those two locations in particular. Or is it for EU/Badoo reasons?

2. Despite frequently playing up its female-led workplace, all but one of the blog posts are authored by men (based on photos and names). Is this reflective of their staff? The Badoo staff? The pool of people who like to write blog posts?

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