It's also worth noting how many people get most of their local news (for better or worse) from Facebook these days, like social accounts of the decimated small town papers and some superficial TV news stations, and community groups. If you live in a tech-savvy larger market, it's easy to take for granted how smaller communities use the platform.
In my experience in the field, media companies are typically super slow to upgrade tech, so I'd guess at least half of these laptops are refurbished, at least three years old and only half functional from constant overuse (if you work in digital media, you know the job is way more than 40 hours a week).
This week has been brutal one for media layoffs. Also: Conde Nast, Quartz and BuzzFeed.
And for the bulk of these laid off folks, this will likely mean their time in journalism is done. The odds of there being many opportunities in the industry after the pandemic seem pretty low right now..
If you need to rely on this sort of technology to feel confident your team is being productive and meeting their goals, you're not doing a very good job managing your team and/or you're simply not a great manager. Full stop.
I'm in a suburban/semi-rural setting and have found Uber Eats to be more reliable than Grubhub in most cases. It seems like UE might open up GH to more of these markets where restaurants have been slower to warm up to working with a service like GH than restaurants in an urban center.
I've worked with one of these people. Never attended a single off-site work event, even when it took place during work hours. And then he was shocked when he went for a promotion and it didn't happen. It was a topic of discussion among the management team and a big con on his pro/con list. Since it was a small company (25 people), it was decidedly weird he refused to take part in culture.
That said, culture shouldn't be forced. I think employees should be given multiple ways to participate to find a way that is most comfortable to them.
One of the harshest lessons I, as an introvert, have learned over the course of my career is the necessity of going in and putting up the appearance of being jovial at team and corporate social events, no matter uncomfortable and draining I find it. To do otherwise is to risk my bonuses and my employment.
An additional challenge for me is that I don't like the taste of alcohol, and having even a little makes me do/say things that I later regret.
So even when I do show up at company social events, I feel even more like an outsider. It's hard to stay engaged at a job where all of these team-building events / milestone-celebrations make me feel lonely and excluded.
It is a shame that group indulgence in alcohol is often the measure of how 'cool' someone is. More and more people are going 'straightedge'... My advice is just carry yourself with confidence -- don't shy away from your choices, own them.
100%. As a manager when we were still in a physical office, I encouraged small group lunches, coffee outings, walks to a nearby dog park, etc. Way too much company socializing still centers on alcohol.
I actually had to push back on our in-office boozy happy hours because a few team members were getting too drunk and it was making other people uncomfortable. My boss didn't think it'd seem "cool" if we put together a policy for how these happy hours should be handled. I don't work there anymore. :)
I'm also an introvert and at first found a lot of social events awkward. What helped me a lot was really internalizing that these people are just people and work didn't matter, these people are still funny to hang around with. In other words, really dissociating the fact that we worked together made it so I didn't have to put up some facade, I could actually enjoy the events and choose to go to the ones I wanted but not feel guilty bailing on some.
I still distinctly feel different whenever a VP or higher level manager joins, but when it's just my team it's a lot more comfortable and has led to a lot of friendships that extend beyond our working relationship.
I'm capable of having fun at these events, but I would still rather spend the time getting work done. I just consider these events an investment in building rapport that can help in efficient communication during the "actually getting work done" time that I prefer.
