I think it's healthy to have these off-topic spaces, but also important to make sure that everyone in the org has some such space that meets their needs, and that everyone understands where the line is for when you have to put the fun aside and do what needs to be done.
Offline people were in the same building under direct watch from the employer. We badged to enter and leave the building, employers surely felt fully in control.
Online that physical boundary disappearing, the pendulum swings the other way for companies that try to grasp the remaining bits of control.
That's one of the reason I prefer fully online shops, they'll usually have made peace with it and structured themselves in saner ways.
There's also a 'tipping point'. If you have 9 out of 10 people in the office, they're just going to be human and chat about stuff in the office and meet in person and the 1 person not there is best viewed as someone to farm piece work out to rather than part of the team. Which is fine in some cases but different than:
If 9 / 10 people are remote, then everyone is using the online tools and has to buy into them and they're all an integral part of the team.
My response was that I'd much prefer we did this (talk about the surprises we're facing, or some interesting thing we stumbled across) than have it degrade to a pointless "yesterday I did x, today I will do y" where there's very little substance being communicated that isn't already evident from the Jira board.
I used to not believe this before, but after COVID, I saw that this is how it is, at least for my personality
Well the problem with corporate offtopic spaces is obvious: It is (potential) surveillance. One of the essential properties of the coffee kitchen at the office is that only you and the person who was there know what you said.
People at work will occasionally like to talk about things their collegues or bosses don't need to hear. That doesn't even mean it needs to be badmouthing others. Let's say you're really into model trains, it is easier saying that in person to the one other guy who acts a bit nerdy, than to announce it online in front of potentially everybody.
I leave it to you how you think this could be fixed.
It doesn't involve groups, but I think DMs/1-1 chats are probably a better analogue for water cooler chats and I'd be even more surprised to see a company without those.
Oh, well, I don't really mind, it is one of the few times I rest and don't keep chipping away at my todo-list.
It sucks too though, because I also had plans with friends and it's harder to make new plans since many of my friends are teachers and start working soon, around the 20th.
Despite the name you don’t get sick from cold weather but from viruses that make you sick. During cold season we stay indoors more which increases our likelihood of being exposed to other people that are sick.
During the Cold War, with the possibility of fighting in the USSR, the US Army conducted experiments with soldiers doing extended bivouacs outside in cold weather to see whether there was increased likelihood of sickness. They couldn't find any evidence that it did.
I mention this as the grandparent comment talks about friends in teaching.
> During cold season we stay indoors more which increases our likelihood of being exposed to other people that are sick.
For most people this is not really true nowdays. We work in the same offices and use the same kind of transport when going to the office. We shop in the same stores.
The seasonal lifestyle change is fairly miniscule.
So there's at least 4 mechanisms:
- warmer = less likely to catch a cold
- more time outside = more UV which kills pathogens
- more time outside = less time spent exchanging pathogens with other people
- more time outside = more infrared radiation which boosts the immune system
Especially since I'm home with the flu ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius
Calling their IRC-but-we-own-everything setup Slack has always amused and infuriated me in equal measure.
There are more and more studies showing how light helps our immune system.
Although I prefer not being in direct sunlight I'm still in sunlight every day.
Interesting how sunlight is helpful, do you know/think it is the light in itself, vitamin D, both or something else?
My mistake, which in hindsight is obvious: I spent 3 days with a person at the end of their flu :)
Still worth!
This is what I’d worry about too. Apart from this, I don’t know how the chats will be used, who else might have some kind of access to those (IT, HR), etc. The pervasive monitoring of all network traffic makes it all seem like always being under the view of a panopticon.
I love working remote and don’t really want to go to the office (a tiring commute is one of the reasons; not having as much flexibility is another). But I’d be wary of off topic channels on Slack or Teams or any company owned/managed platform.
That said enforced webcam on is obnoxious too. Best orgs in my experience are the middle ground places - lightly encouraged - so that one can decide meeting by meeting
I think there are many strategies to get your own needs met. Keeping friends and work separate doesn’t automatically make it unhealthy; it’s more about individual choice. My peers would not want to work in places without friendship.
> someone who is not an enemy and who you can trust
Here's another:
> a person who you know well and who you like a lot
Don't you think it's beneficial to trust and like your colleagues? I personally find it helpful. Few of us do jobs of our dreams, so having friends at work is nice. You don't have to invite them to your birthday and family events to call them friends.
