Well-meaning toxic corporate practices — After work non-optional socials
No, you may not steal my personal time with my family for team building.
For over a decade I used to work in the wealth management financial industry, it was the classic corporate office environment with a dress code, a noisy open office including clear occasional glass / aluminum dividers to dampen down the noise, stuffy air-conditioned busy environment. People walking around, on the phone and staring at their screen. Herds of people coming in and out of meeting rooms. All day from 7am until most often past 5pm.
Setting boundaries
After 8 hours or more at work some manager decides to do something for staff morale… a get together during our free time to do some team bonding… ignoring the fact that we’ve already been in each others company all day and all week sitting here yearning for the weekend.
People stand awkwardly around pretending to care about each others small talk looking furtively at the clock wondering when has enough time elapsed to be socially acceptable to leave and go home.
It is not the first time that I was pulled over post gathering and asked why I don’t stick around after work for the “town hall meeting”. I looked at this manager and asked why aren’t the gatherings during work hours? I…
