Anti-social working is yet more proof young people have stopped caring about the 9 to 5 (Picture: @spencerspicyy)
‘I don’t care about culture. I care about getting paid on time and going home at the correct hour, so I can do the things I actually enjoy,’ said TikToker Spencer Bland.
‘I would rock so hard with a company that just didn’t have values,’ he added. ‘A company that just didn’t invest time into the minutia of making people… pretend they’re so in love with this place that employs them.’
The comedian shared that he is ‘thankful’ to have a job now, but would love to work somewhere where ‘you only talk to people if that’s necessary for the job function and then you just get to go home and live your life’.
And, skit or not, it seems he has a point, with hundreds of people agreeing that they don’t want ‘to attend company happy hours or participate’.
‘Y’all ain’t my friends, y’all are my coworkers,’ one said, while another wrote: ‘They’re so offended when you don’t want to go to happy hour like… I work almost ten hours a day and you want me to stay longer?’
Others simply referred to reminders about company culture as ‘brainwashing’.
But why are so many workers choosing to ‘switch off’ from office-culture? Why is anti-social working, as we’ve dubbed it, taking off?
Future work specialist and executive coach, Harriet Minter, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘I think Covid really made workers question what benefit a strong workplace culture gave them. This doesn’t mean that it’s not important to them still but if you’re only in the office a few days a week, then things like social outings and team bonding becomes less important.
‘I also think there has been a realisation that businesses often use “a good culture” to excuse other things, such as long hours or low pay and today’s employees don’t want to culture at the expense of those things.’
Harriet also says we have to recognise that ‘culture means something different to everyone’ and, judging by the comments under Spencer’s video, some workplaces really aren’t getting it right for their employees.
‘We have morning “rallies” where the manager just talks about how much we made the day before and I’m just like “why are we all here, I move pallets”,’ said one.
Another added: ‘The company I just left had Friday morning meetings where we stood in a circle and listened to every employee’s “high” for the week,’ to which Spencer replied: ‘That would be my low every week.’
Spencer doesn’t care about culture and wants to leave work on time (Picture: @spencerspicyy)
Another explained: ‘Every couple of months we do a team connect where we play games together and have “forced” bonding – it’s painful, I hate it.’
Harriet says: ‘I think what businesses have to realise is that “culture” isn’t just about social activities, it’s about values and behaviours.
‘How do people speak to each other? How does the business resolve difficult situations? How do you support people when they’re going through stressful times? These are the things that will define culture in the future, not team trips to paint balling.’
Jill Cotton, career trends expert at jobs platform Gumtree agrees, telling Metro.co.uk: ‘Employers must tread carefully when implementing what they think company culture should be – as one person’s idea of fun could be another’s idea of hell.
‘Enforced after-work drinks or being guilt-tripped into being part of a ‘work family’ is not fun. Authentic company culture will allow employees to get the social hit they need at the level that’s right for them.’
It really does seem like any enthusiasm for the nine to five grind is petering out.
It seems people would like to interact less with their fellow employees (picture: Getty Images)
Just last month, TikToker Brielle Asero went viral on TikTok for crying about her first nine to five job claiming: ‘I don’t have time to do anything and I’m so stressed out.’
And again, just like the response to Spencer’s video, the internet was largely on her side.
But work specialist Harriet, doesn’t attribute this to an ‘attitude change’, she believes the younger generation just ‘isn’t shy about saying when they don’t like something’.
‘Previously if you weren’t the right “fit” for a company, it was easy to lose your job, now it’s much harder to fire someone purely over not being part of the culture so people feel more confident speaking out about it,’ she says.
‘Younger generations have seen generations above them give their all to their jobs and not be rewarded for it. Gen Z are looking at Millennials and asking, “why did you work all those hours and become so obsessed with your workplace if now you can’t even buy a house?”.’
But expert Jill doesn’t necessarily agree that ‘culture’ should be shunned entirely. In fact, she thinks a workplace without culture or values would ‘make for a pretty soulless work environment’.
‘Businesses thrive when there is personal connection and natural collaboration colleagues,’ she says. ‘Company culture can be the glue that turns a group of individuals into a team.
‘With many of us spending 40 hours a week in the company of our colleagues, it’s only natural that we might look to establish social relationships alongside our professional ones.’
Harriet certainly agrees that there are lots of positives to ‘investing’ yourself in company culture.
‘We spend a third of our waking hours at work, so we might as well try and make those hours enjoyable!’ she points out.
‘If you really want that next step up the ladder, showing your commitment to the company and integrating yourself in it’s culture is going to make you look more like an employee worth investing in.
‘Just as you wouldn’t bother investing in a relationship where the other person had made it clear they weren’t that into you, so no business is going to invest resources in someone doing the bare minimum.’
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‘I don’t care about culture.’