This is interesting to me because my experience with larger companies has been the opposite: The companies were always trying to get coworkers together and have events (on company time) that got teams mixing and socializing across departments. Remote workers were pressured to come on-site. Return to office attempts were used to bring isolated workers closers to their peers.

It was always employees who resisted it the most. Most wanted to stay in their lane and limit their social circles to a few coworkers they liked.

> It also makes to work in this industries more isolating and will cause more mental health issues. This should be illegal, and probably is, and should be investigated and punished by goverments

I can't actually tell what you're talking about or what you want to be illegal.

In recent years the biggest complaint online is that companies have been forcing employees back to the office so they can be less isolated. If companies were conspiring to isolate coworkers from each other as much as possible, return to office is the last thing you would expect to see.

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js8 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> The companies were always trying to get coworkers together and have events (on company time) that got teams mixing and socializing across departments.

Really depends. These are people in the same social class. But I have never seen a cleaning lady that works as a contractor being invited to a corporate party event.

	▲	xp84 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Is that the standard for ‘employee camaraderie’ that you were ever used to during your career? I have only been working in the “white collar” world for about 20 years but in any company big enough that they contract out cleaning, the cleaners are not attending the company parties. And put yourself in their shoes, do you actually want to come to some tech company party after work? I would have as much interest in attending a party full of say, rich Hollywood producers, which is to say zero. (The only reasons to want to attend a party of a higher social class in my opinion is networking or celebrity-spotting and neither seems relevant in the context we’re discussing).
	▲	Aurornis 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> But I have never seen a cleaning lady that works as a contractor being invited to a corporate party event Why would they? The corporation is not their employer. Those people are not their coworkers.

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iugtmkbdfil834 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Companies cultures ( both espoused and actual ) vary a surprising amount. I am saying that having jumped around a bit over the past few decades. Right now for the place I am at, it is mildly crazy ( and annoying to a person that just wants to do focus on their tasks ) how much they are trying to give you the impression that they care. FWIW, as in most places, the actual levels of care vary too.

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viklove 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> forcing employees back to the office so they can be less isolated.

They're forcing employees back to office so they can have more control.

> The companies were always trying to get coworkers together

Sure, get together for "team building" to increase productivity. Just don't do anything problematic like discuss your salary or benefits with any of your coworkers.

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xp84 3 hours ago | parent [-]

It’s not about control. It’s silly to suggest that most people are equal or better at coordinating work over periodic zoom calls than by being together in person.

I work fully remote, by necessity. But it’s not better. I’m less in touch with everything going on inside and outside my teams, than I was when I was in-office 9-5.

	▲	viklove an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It's not silly, especially when the data shows productivity gains for remote employees. It's silly to assume people are better at coordinating work in office. It is about control, even if it's just about controlling how you interact with your coworkers.