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Workplace well-being initiatives don't boost employee mental health
(www.newscientist.com)
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this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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My workplace recently started doing a "Path to the Weekend" initiative. This is a mandatory meeting held at 5pm on a Friday for an hour about every month, where we have to have extroverted style discussions such as "tell us about 2 new things you accomplished in your personal life since the last meeting.".
It's hell.
Time to start seeing just how "mandatory" they're talking.
That or I would just have one stock answer every week. "I like to keep my personal life out of your fucking meetings."
And then you get branded "the combative one" and get laid off first when they consider layoffs
This is why office workers need unions too
If I had to endure that every month, I'd be already looking around anyway.
I've been the pain I in the ass who was kept on until I quit for a better job, and I've also been the overly available, underpaid, overtime worker who got laid off.
Upper management is totally blind to which employees are valuable. Now I'm just myself. I focus on career, my skills, networking, and keep an eye on the job postings every now and then.
Yeah, sure, but when "being yourself" is caring about the work enough to speak up, it doesn't get easier at any time
Yeah I suppose that depends on the outfit. Maybe you need a minimum of goodwill and strategic alignment from those around you.
At least you'll get quality references from quality people over time. When I was laid off I had a tonne of heat references and contacts to help me out because they knew who I was based on how I acted when we worked together.
The director of my department just announced a new initiative starting this year for something similar.
Once a month, we now have a two hour meeting where we need to prep and present a five slide PowerPoint to our peers. The slides are focused on project status, work accomplishments, personal development, a life update, and mandatory feedback given to one of our peers in front of the group.
So not only am I forced to share details of my private life to a bunch of people that I hate in a fucking PowerPoint, I have to single someone out with one thing they’re doing well and one thing they can improve.
Is there any explicit requirement that this presentation contain truth?
If you do this right you could build up an amazing false personal life.
Whoa that is so not ok
Single out the director and tell them they can improve by scrapping the meeting. Do this every month until they listen.
I’ve seriously considered this option for sure. These type of meetings at large companies really highlight how you’re just a number. You don’t expect it from your direct manager who should at least attempt to form a relationship with their direct reports naturally.
I spend about 10 hours a week on things like this and others where I’m supposed to constantly remind the company of my value. It’s all about bragging about your accomplishments and putting it in front of leadership. 25% of my time and 50% of my mental/emotional energy. I feel like my actual work suffers because of it.
All of this is so generic as to be useless.
Or, it's so generic as to be applicable to any job.
Y'all need unions lol
"I managed to continue taking my antidepressants and I didn't kill myself despite my suicidal ideations since the last meeting!
I hope those are good enough accomplishments. "
"My personal life is personal."
That sounds awful. My job thankfully knows I’m a privacy nut and they respect that. They don’t need to know what I do in my me time and when they think they do I explain the concept of linux so I don’t have to explain the concept of being heavily involved in my local bdsm community.
You should totally explain the concept of being heavily involved in your local bdsm community. I bet it's the last time they ask for anything.
I’m not entirely sure. If we had an HR department I think they’d have a lot of questions. That and men already ask me out at work too much, I can’t imagine how much worse it would get.
.... What the fuck?
Tone deaf AF
We used to hold an unofficial after hours on Fridays, not mandatory, where we'd shoot the shit, sometimes about work, sometimes about outside work. It was mostly to decompress after the week with a drink or two. It was effective at bringing everyone together but it only worked because it was optional and a relaxed environment. Mandatory fun doesn't work.