Comment Re:How about.... (Score 3, Interesting) 249
Hear, hear. Just the formal introduction of 'fun' into a workplace that has other, serious problems does not a better job make. I started as an intern at a small, privately-held company, writing graphics software (I worked the integration side). Between us -- the developers (who worked hard to write the core software package), the integrators (who worked had to satisfy client needs), and the support folks (who had to answer to a seemingly-capricious collection of customers) -- we devised our own way of having fun -- playing Half-Life after COB and making a beer run on Fridays.
Then, the company was bought out by a corporation, twice over. Several rounds of layoffs happened (because each corporation was in its own dire straits), the pay rises pretty much ceased (while our output had to roughly double to meet their profit demands), everything was locked down, and we generally got no support or direction from corporate headquarters. Our phrase for it was "red-headed stepchild". Yet, somehow, despite this, folks over at corporate thought that certain morale boosters should happen, like ice-cream socials or movie outings.
I can tell you, hardly anybody was jumping for joy. These attempts to interject fun (sometimes before a layoff happened) fully backfired because they couldn't have cared less about the problems. I finally gave up the ghost when there are only three employees left of the original company and I had to help close my own office and work from home. Where I am now may not have ice cream socials or movie outings (or anything that folks here might rank as 'fun'), but at least I have a company that doesn't have anywhere near the problems of the old one (knock on wood). That right there is worth all the 'fun' times they could possibly provide.
Then, the company was bought out by a corporation, twice over. Several rounds of layoffs happened (because each corporation was in its own dire straits), the pay rises pretty much ceased (while our output had to roughly double to meet their profit demands), everything was locked down, and we generally got no support or direction from corporate headquarters. Our phrase for it was "red-headed stepchild". Yet, somehow, despite this, folks over at corporate thought that certain morale boosters should happen, like ice-cream socials or movie outings.
I can tell you, hardly anybody was jumping for joy. These attempts to interject fun (sometimes before a layoff happened) fully backfired because they couldn't have cared less about the problems. I finally gave up the ghost when there are only three employees left of the original company and I had to help close my own office and work from home. Where I am now may not have ice cream socials or movie outings (or anything that folks here might rank as 'fun'), but at least I have a company that doesn't have anywhere near the problems of the old one (knock on wood). That right there is worth all the 'fun' times they could possibly provide.
