Let me start off by saying that I really don’t have much to complain about. I have a hybrid work setup which is very flexible. Basically I go into work a few times a week, if that. The rest of the time I work remotely. However, because of this flexibility, most of the employees in my department do not work in the office which means we never see one another. Lately we’ve had quite a few new employees start working with us and our director thought it would be a good idea to host an optional lunch for us all to get together and meet one another. At one point she asked us all to introduce ourselves and get to know at least one other employee who we’ve never met. The question I kept asking myself in my head was, why?! How is that going to help me do my job better? Putting aside the fact that half the new hires are people whose purviews do not intersect with mine at all, why would it help productivity for me to find out Cheryl from Records likes to hike? I honestly think that most upper managers are either so bored and/or clearly buy into this HR-fuelled nonsense that they think events like these lunches are a good idea.