Sydney Maco

There has traditionally been a separation between work life and family life at home. Employees would go to work perform their duties, then clock-off and rush home to be with the family. The evenings and weekends were typically off-limits for most employers when it comes to encroaching on family life. This is all changing, and for a variety of reasons.
There seems to be a growing trend these days where employers are actively blurring this distinct line of separation. Some examples include the following;
Bring your kids to work day
Drinks after work on Friday
Posters with baby photos of co-workers
International Breakfast days
“Team building” activities such as going to the zoo, bowling, archery, treasure hunt.
Now to most people these would seem like a little bit of harmless fun, but think about it, why would employers go to this trouble if it wasn’t ultimately in their interest. When you bring the social side into work, you inevitably bring the work life back home also. Many office workers today have remote access and a mobile phone, at the beckoning call of their employer.
In a typical office environment you have a mixture of people of all backgrounds and stages of life. Employers are not entirely to blame, there is also a growing number of single people in the workforce in their early to mid 30’s who don’t have a family to go home to. Some still living with their parents, others renting and living with a flat mate, or maybe a de facto partner. For them the opportunity to socialise with work colleagues is seldom declined.
I prefer to see work as totally separate from my family life, in this context I like to refer to employers as either “family friendly” or “family hostile”. Respecting the fact that ultimately my family is of infinitely higher priority than work. Not being frowned upon for choosing to be with my family over drinking with co-workers for hours after work on a Friday.
And there is something inherently wrong with giving a few dollars to prance around with a ribbon or badge showing support for the latest cause. I refuse to buy into this and prefer to make real donations to real charities, without the need for drawing attention. It’s typically these office busy bodies who have nothing better to do than go around and pester people.