Am I the only one in Silicon Valley who doesn't drink the kool-aid?
This chap from Workday posted this article comparing volunteering time off policies between Workday and Salesforce. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/why-marc-benioff-makes-salesforce-employees-do-this-on-their-first-day.html I like my job more than I like doing what I was doing before, but does anyone else see that if a company needs a volunteering day to make employees feel connected to the community, then something is wrong? Does anyone else see that if we did not volunteer, we would all sit at a desk, slave away at helping our business get more revenue, and never feel connected to the community? This is capitalism at work. Our CEOs found a way to get great PR at a reasonable cost, while boosting morale and recruiting success at the same time. Let's be real here. Most of us don't want to go to work. It's a job. It requires effort towards someone else's problem that was created because they wanted money. I don't want to delude myself into thinking my company is good for the world because that is pretty damn debatable. @NextDoor can stay out of this thread since they are benefiting their community directly 😉 @SalesForce can stay out if they think their product is benefitting the world because, well, I think we both know the truth. At least clean up the link farms before claiming such a thing.
So I don't drink the Kool Aid, and I actually don't participate in the volunteering events as they are totally voluntary. But I do think it's a kinda nice that they offer it. These volunteer events are usually during work hours, and it's really just a team building exercise. You can either go clean up the beach for the day with your co-workers or keep working. Either way is fine and the former is actually encouraged. They are scheduled during sprint planning. Some people like that break in the week and some don't. I'm the latter but I'm glad others are enjoying themselves. And yes it makes good PR. And no, it's not the most effective use of people's time and money.
Yeah I think it's nice as well. It's just nice compared to what we would otherwise be doing (working). I don't think most of us would choose to do team building exercises with 10 random business people instead of spending time with our family.
I like volunteering events opposing to just regular volunteering events. It is helpful to talk to coworkers informally, better understand them and team-building events help with that. Thanks to volunteering you also manage to do something useful along with it. I also like that we have standalone volunteering hours to use which enable me to volunteer during work hours and opens up opportunities I might have not had previously.
I’ve also had a chance to spend few months at home during my maternity leaves and I know for a fact that I love my job and I love to do what I am doing. I don’t need to save the world, but as long as I can see my job bringing the value to my co-workers it makes me happy.
If Apple covered all your expenses, retirement, and even gave decent savings to your family after death, would you submit your life to them full time until age 55?
What dangerous here is that people actually believe it's selfless, googleserve gets a huge push in the company. You get a week to volunteer, yet no one does it on the weekend or after hours.
Fuck these PR and circle jerk events. If corporations wanted to do something for the community, they should let their employees do what they've been trained to do and pay their damn taxes on the earnings.
Yes because let's put the government in charge of poverty. Um....
That’s how well done PR looks like. It is not just a single point but part of a whole narrative and is cultivated over time. FB pr on the other hand is like trying to contain a flood.
By the way, who cares if it makes good PR? The people receiving the benefits don't. Whenever Salesforce sets up an volunteering event, they have to pay some fee to hold it. I'm sure that non profit are more than happy to receive it. I mean, Marc Benioff came out and said that he's going to solve San Francisco's homeless problem. Not sure if he can, but I'm glad he's going to try. If he helps, then I say keep giving him good PR. There's a shit load of things I don't like about my company, but this thing isn't really something that I get worked up about.
Almost everyone in PR and media pretends to drink the koolaid. No rational educated person is falling for this BS. I'm yet to encounter a single person in real life who talks about doing 'good for the world' through their employer. People who really want to do something for the world do it quietly in their own time.
That's a relief. My fellow co-workers speak so highly of the charity match I thought everyone actually believed it. It is a nice program, but it's the same type of thing.
People can get a benefactor high from thinking they are saving the world but most of us value these programs for deeper reasons. You might be too young to know it yet but no matter how privileged you are, life is rough. We all lose relatives and friends to disease, we all see the impact of poverty on people with mental illnesses, and we see the effects of violence in families. Charity matching and volunteer programs are a win-win letting the company signal they care about people but then actually allowing us to be human and ease some suffering in a space we care about. If you’re in the US you might be surprised to learn how easily our system can fail us and how many people’s health and safety relies on charities. It’s not about ego if you understand the gaps between what our systems say they offer and what they actually offer.