Forget that I ever existed

Thrugelmir

amazonian17 said:

Dox said:

ushjr said:

What are peoples thoughts on this?

I recently had an interview at a place where they were going through all the great things about working there. Every week they have team lunches and company nights out. They have a ping pong table, yoga and unlimited beer in the office. They have weekends away and ski trips. There was maybe more, but it was putting me off working there if anything. I don't mind the odd team lunch or occasional drink with colleagues, but I certainly don't want to be going on a ski trip with them.

My last company had things like that, though nowhere near as extreme as the place I mentioned above. Fortunately there wasn't any pressure to partake in these activities so more often than not I didn't. We had free beer in the office in the last hour on a Friday but I didn't drink it because I don't like drinking beer without having my dinner first. It was mostly drunk by the same few people who would try and drink as much as they possible could in an hour.

Pretty simple. If you don't like the sound of the culture, don't work there.

They were asking for people's thoughts. I know those are yours, but hardly helpful.

The Company will be assessing the applicant as much the applicant is assessing the employer. Perhaps the suggestions were extreme to a degree to ascertain the reaction. However they set the overall tone of the organisation. Some people want a 9-5 existance. Others are happy to go with the flow and see where the journey takes them. Team working can be an extremely challenging environment where you need to be able to stand up for yourself and not take matters personally. Doesn't mean you need to be best mates with work colleagues either. 

Savvy_Sue

couriervanman said:

Where are these wonderful work places

I believe Google's London HQ is one. One of my lads used to work in the same building. His company had an in-house cinema (industry appropriate) and he sometimes had access to premieres etc.

AskAsk

couriervanman said:

Where are these wonderful work places

these sort of places can be great if you love socialising as employers often pay for it all.  an employer i worked for had a room stocked with all the different brands of soft drinks and fruit juices in huge fridges, that staff could take as much as they like during the day.  there was coffee areas all over the office for employees to take a break and socialise with their colleagues during the working day.

another employer i worked for had a TV room next to the staff subsidised restaurant, so you could get your food from the restaurant and go over to the TV room to watch TV while you have your food, if you didn't fancy eating it in the restaurant.  the restaurant served breakfast, lunch and dinner!  it had all different brands of ice cream and it was open all day, so you could buy ice cream during the day.  there were vending machines, which were also subsidised, strewn all over the building.

another employer i worked for had a dedicated store room for staff, which was stocked with all the different types of biscuits in huge cupboards.  you could take as many biscuits as you want to have during the day.  i ate so much biscuits when i worked there, it was a miracle i didn't become obese!

the majority of employers that i have worked for had these sort of arrangements in place.  i work in the consultancy industry, where team building is considered to be very important, so if you don't partake in these socialising, you are considered a non team player and you do feel the odd one out as most people will be participating.

strawb_shortcake

My cousin works in events in London,  I remember her saying that they were taken out for food and drinks after work. Ended up in a strip club until it was pretty much daylight and then went back to work, but it was expected for her to remain there until the boss decided they were done. 
I don't have the stamina or desire to be out all night then straight back to work. 
Also as a civil servant, inclusivity and
Th unconscious bias is drilled into us so the example above would be a definite no.
We do have access to cheaper coffee bars, but this isn't subsidised as such but without commercial rent the overheads are much reduced so the price falls. 
There are vending machines but we see more tuck shops set up that profit goes to charity.

AskAsk

annabanana82 said:

My cousin works in events in London,  I remember her saying that they were taken out for food and drinks after work. Ended up in a strip club until it was pretty much daylight and then went back to work, but it was expected for her to remain there until the boss decided they were done. 
I don't have the stamina or desire to be out all night then straight back to work. 
Also as a civil servant, inclusivity and
Th unconscious bias is drilled into us so the example above would be a definite no.
We do have access to cheaper coffee bars, but this isn't subsidised as such but without commercial rent the overheads are much reduced so the price falls. 
There are vending machines but we see more tuck shops set up that profit goes to charity.

i experienced this at the first employer i worked for.  we would go out on the !!!!!! until 3am and then be expected back at work the next morning.  a colleague was so drunk, he fell asleep at the train station and never got home.  when he woke up it was time to go back to work, so he rushed home, washed and rushed back to work.  and we all had a great laugh about it.

we were never expected to stay or partake though.  it was entirely up to us to do so, but everyone did so.

[Deleted User]

JamoLew said:

[Deleted User] said:

Dox said:

Pretty simple. If you don't like the sound of the culture, don't work there.

They were asking for people's thoughts. I know those are yours, but hardly helpful.

Equally as useful and helpful a thought as:

amazonian17 said:

Basically they want to own you - body and soul. If you don't join in, you'll be labelled a non-team player.

I've worked in these type of places - so, not really.

Barny1979

These sound great places to work on paper, but I imagine most of your colleagues would be hipsters and muppets and the novelty of working there would quickly wear off.

fred246

After a few beers the ping pong players will be falling over the people trying to yoga. Could end up messy.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I got as far as beer in the office. My answer would be off, the polite version!

Manxman_in_exile

amazonian17 said:

Basically they want to own you - body and soul. If you don't join in, you'll be labelled a non-team player.

Yeah.  Sounds like living in a less dangerous version of Stalinist Russia where you're told what to think and must conform!  OK if you buy into it - until you start questioning "why?"