Pizza Party phenomena

[Mudfuzz]

I hate that shit. I hate company get-togethers, I hate fucking ete bullshit. I just want to do the best job I can and get paid for it and I expect everyone else to do the same.

[DrMabuse]

Is the pizza party actually an apology from management that would be otherwise decent, but we all have our masters.. ?

I have five or six layers of management above me. If the guy at the top says "we're cutting labor costs 10% so we can hit the numbers we've promised Wall St.," by the time that trickles down to me it turns into "you have to let someone go." Either I do that, or they'll let me go instead. All corporations have sociopathic tendencies.

I don't think money motivates people. If anything it seems to make them work less hard.

I find that people respond better to politeness, positive encouragement and not talking down to them.

Treating people with respect is the only non-despicable option. If you're trying to motivate people through fear and abuse, you're failing as a manager, and the people who'll stick around and take it are either so bad they can't get a job somewhere else, or have life issues (like insurance) that make changing jobs prohibitively difficult.

On the other hand, if you're paying people 20% less than what they can get somewhere else doing the same kind of work for another ok boss, your best people are going to jump ship sooner or later. Money isn't the only reason people stay or go, but it's absolutely a factor.

[Ghost Hip]

I grew up as a non-believer in a Catholic school and Senior year I went to a four day retreat because I heard the food was amazing. And it was, no regrets.

Food is not usually given as a "reward" at my current office job, we get free food for like lunchtime meetings and shit. Anyways, my point is, give me that Pizza/free food.

[Invisible Man]

They are a bummer. 'Work party' is an oxymoron by nature.

But I do tend to ply people via food, yeah. Because there aren't a ton of other options that are universally appreciated. Can't hand out raises like candy, nor PTO, so what else is there?

If I have to have a meeting with everyone, I'll offer to take them to a lunch where they don't have to talk to me. Get off campus or something.

[Lurker13]

I want bonuses and plaques saying "This guy kicks ass!"

[BetterOffShred]

I got a bonus this year based solely off a customer satisfaction metric that I cannot influence in any way shape or form. It was a really good feeling, though it could have been even better given my actual detachment from the measure of success.

We have bonuses for engineers who go above and beyond, but I'm not ashamed to say I'm not really a 110%'er. I'm a "yeah he's solid" kind of employee. I don't like overtime and I like being home every day.

Pizza it is ..

[Lurker13]

My first engineering job was with a startup company. They kept telling us we would have a huge IPO that would make us all independently wealthy, all we had to do was work at least 60 hours a week to make it happen. They paid well, raises were 7.5%, and had an Engineer of the Month award, which I was awarded once (yes, with a plaque and a bonus). But the IPO kept getting pushed off farther and farther until it became indefinite, at which point it was just an abstraction rather than something concrete. Everyone but the founders tapered off to about 40 hours a week after the first year as all the startup energy and excitement turned into skepticism. (They also had a revolving door, which didn't help. More people came and went in the year-and-a-half I worked there than ever worked there at any given time.)

Moral of the story - if the stick is so long the carrot is dangling out over the horizon, then the carrot might as well not even exist.

[Jwar]

I don't think money motivates people. If anything it seems to make them work less hard.

I find that people respond better to politeness, positive encouragement and not talking down to them.

I think it depends on the job. I've worked under both scenarios. If you have a cool ass place to work and you don't get that many raises, it's not as big of a deal. If you work from some knucklehead, that shit pisses you the fuck off.

I wish more people in management positions would do what you're saying regardless however.

[Jero]

Moral of the story - if the stick is so long the carrot is dangling out over the horizon, then the carrot might as well not even exist.

Should replace that carrot with a slice of pizza

[Lurker13]

Moral of the story - if the stick is so long the carrot is dangling out over the horizon, then the carrot might as well not even exist.

Should replace that carrot with a slice of pizza

[BetterOffShred]

Moral of the story - if the stick is so long the carrot is dangling out over the horizon, then the carrot might as well not even exist.

Should replace that carrot with a slice of pizza

I agree with all of this.

Our metrics for measuring engineering success are a fucking joke

[calfzilla]

Moral of the story - if the stick is so long the carrot is dangling out over the horizon, then the carrot might as well not even exist.

Should replace that carrot with a slice of pizza

I agree with all of this.

Our metrics for measuring engineering success are a fucking joke

My favorite metric is how well production does, even though production is a completely separate department from engineering and may or may not take engineering advice into account for operational purposes.

[BetterOffShred]

I'm blessed in the fact that basically everything I touch is essentially a one-off. We have 4 units that have the same shaft and turbine runners, but even unit to unit all the seals and clearances are different..

Production engineers are a different breed

[lost in music]

This thread keeps reminding me of this t-shirt/poster shop in Baltimore.

https://pizzapartyprinting.com/

[sears]

[self pitying shit snipped]

I found out everyone else in my position was getting paid almost double what I was. So I can't say as money is much of a motivator but inequality is a big demotivator. No pizza parties, either. I never understood what more they wanted from me, or what those more highly-paid people at my position offered that I didn't.