I used to work at a large corporate office with a rigid top-down structure. My boss made it clear she wasn’t interested in how we spent our free time. There was no “How was your weekend?” or “Where did you go for the holidays?” We were there to work for her, period.
I first heard the phrase “Bring your whole self to work” at my next job, a start-up where we were matched with mentors and given a budget to go out to dinner with our teams. My manager became (and still is) a good friend. Every quarter, we attended boisterous off-sites where we did bonding exercises about our Myers-Briggs types. It was way more fun than my previous workplace, and I was a lot more productive there in no small part because I felt so supported.
This all-embracing approach to mixing your personal and professional lives had a particular renaissance before the pandemic, spurred on by popular TED Talks, Harvard Business Review articles, and books about the benefits of showing your “full humanity” at work. The idea makes sense in a utopian sort of way: Create an environment where employees can express themselves, show vulnerability, and ask their bosses for what they need, and you’ll build a happier, nimbler, more innovative workforce.
Continue to read the full article on The Cut website here.
