
Our Company Retreat for the End of 2019 - rarjunpillai
https://blog.insent.ai/insent.ai-company-retreat-end-of-2019
======
whycombagator
Somewhat related to the topic, but not necessarily the article:

I often see week long company retreats in far away lands listed as a
positive/selling point on many company recruiting pages.

For many in their 20s, or single, it probably sounds great.

But there is definitely an unspoken pressure element to the whole thing for a
certain class of individual.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I imagine if you have a family these retreats can
actually be a negative. Perhaps they aren't mandatory, but surely it's not
wise politically to miss them.

I feel like those with families might not want to spend a week away from the
family in <insert-far-away-land>. For a variety of reasons.

Maybe some companies do a better job of catering for everyone/thinking about
this. Perhaps it's not a problem.

But it just seems to me like at least some of them are another one of those
"keep the company young" ageism tactics - whether on purpose or not.

~~~
joshpadnick
Our startup[1] is 100% distributed and has in-person meet-ups roughly every 4
months. About half our team (including me) have kids and, to your point, when
one of us travels it definitely puts an added burden on our partners back at
home.

So we recognize this fact and try to mitigate it in a few ways:

\- We structure the offsite week so that Mon - Thu is meetings and Fri is a
fun day. This means attendees can leave on Thu night or Fri morning if they'd
rather re-join their families sooner.

\- We actively encourage our team to prioritize their families above their
work and make it clear that attendance is preferred but optional. One of our
colleagues just had a baby 2 weeks ago and no one would expect him to attend.

\- We do what we can to make our meetups remote-friendly. If someone can join
remotely, we use a Meeting Owl[2] to give them a better remote experience.
It's not perfect, nor is it Cisco Telepresence, but it seems a lot better than
everyone present jumping on a Zoom.

\- We try to work around colleagues when possible. We recently held the meet
up in my home town when my wife was in her third trimester and really needed
me home!

For the rest of the year, we enjoy the benefits of being remote, among which
flexibility is ranked high.

[1] [https://gruntwork.io](https://gruntwork.io)

[2] [https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl](https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl)

~~~
not2personal
> One of our colleagues just had a baby 2 weeks ago and no one would expect
> him to attend.

Will he actively be told not to attend? Often this sort of thing is implied to
be mandatory.

~~~
sokoloff
People at our company would likely still be on parental leave so it wouldn’t
be necessary to be explicit.

It would also be perfectly clear from context (and probably overt comments as
well) that _attending_ is not only not expected but would be looked down upon.

------
sethammons
SendGrid famously had our annual full-company trips to Mexico. We kept this
going for (I think) 7 years. Eventually, it became impossible to get everyone
to the same place around the same time.

The goals were team building (esp. with folks you don't see every day) and
company alignment. As we got larger, it was harder and harder to get to know
everyone; however, the first couple of years, you came back knowing just about
everyone in the company. This was great and helped interacting with people
over chat and in meetings. As we continued to get larger, you just couldn't
meet everyone, but you could strategically find folks from teams you work with
from other locations. Getting aligned on the company direction for the
upcoming year always stayed really solid. The trips were more and more jam-
packed with meetings each year. Whole day meetings are hard, but it was nice
to unwind with coworkers for a few hours each night.

Good times.

------
nrook
In a previous startup's offsite, we were attacked by a bear.

While this did lead to a significantly increased _esprit de corps_ at the
office, the risks are such that I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

~~~
CalChris
I get this.

On an offsite for a startup, we went canoeing on a river. That can be really
dangerous. My canoe flipped and sank. So I stupidly dived down to retrieve it
and succeeded in putting my life at risk. You can get trapped under water in a
river quite easily. I did but I was strong enough to get myself untrapped. I'd
rather just program, thank you.

~~~
GhostVII
Less 200 people die canoeing in the US every year [0], so I don't think it is
particularly dangerous. Surprised your canoe sank though, usually they are
supposed to have air pockets so they float even if full of water.

[0] [https://www.adventuresportsnetwork.com/sport/paddle-
sports/w...](https://www.adventuresportsnetwork.com/sport/paddle-sports/why-
are-deaths-in-paddle-sports-increasing/)

~~~
ghaff
Canoes don't typically have air bags unless they're outfitted for serious
whitewater but they certainly shouldn't literally sink even if they fill up
with water.

I have trouble imagining the sort of canoeing I'd expect to see as part of a
company outing being some life-threatening activity.

(That said, I'd probably avoid this sort of thing if I were organizing a
company event. People have different ranges/types of activities they like and
feel comfortable with and I wouldn't want to put pressure on people for what's
ultimately supposed to be a fun event. I know whenever we've discussed doing
anything along these lines as part of an offsite whatever ideas we come up
with always get some percentive of strong "hell nos." Doesn't see worth the
trouble.)

~~~
ghaff
I actually got thinking about Grumman aluminum canoes which are obviously
denser than the equivalent volume of water. Apparently they do have some
flotation built in.

------
psv1
> So we did an activity called ‘Flow of Life’ where each of us had to imagine
> our life as a river.

This would be a big no for me.

~~~
rarjunpillai
Why is it a no for you?(if you don't mind telling) #Curious

~~~
qazpot
Not the original commenter, but I too would avoid participating in any event
where I need to share so many personal details to other people who are neither
close friends nor family.

------
aeternus
>If there is one rule, then it had to be the ‘safety net’ rule. It just means
that everyone is safe to speak their minds during the retreat. There will be
many sessions on feedback about product, company, people etc. If team members
are worried about repercussions, then retreats wouldn’t work at all.

Sounds great in theory, but what do you do when someone starts sharing sexist
or biased opinions. Or starts to personally degrade another employee or team?

For a responsible company, there are always repercussions, it is disingenuous
to lead employees to believe otherwise.

~~~
Jamwinner
I'd still rather know, than have it lurking beneath the surface. Which is why
knowing and supporting your colluages outside of work is so important.

------
iblaine
To each their own, but company retreats are a gift that employees give to
their employer, in the form of time. Keeping it light and encouraging team
building makes sense. Hackathons seem aggressive, IMHO.

> Want to be part of our Insent family?

Also ->
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y6Au8W...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y6Au8WbGKdYJ:https://hbr.org/2014/06/your-
company-is-not-a-family)

~~~
rarjunpillai
About hackathon -> people have different motivations. I have seen devs who
find nirvana when coding. But for them, coding on the same product every day
is bad. So they want to do something new, something that they love and wanna
build for a long time.

So, if there are hackathons (or whatever you call it) where they build
something that is not their regular stuff, they will get recharged.

About startup being a family --> I'm sure I can find 100 articles talking
about why startups == family. All of us have different opinions on pretty much
everything.

When I call my company as a family, I agree that we don't live upto ALL the
values of a family. However, I want my team to feel that they are safe and
each of us is looking out for the rest. It tells them that we are a people-
first company.

------
quicksilver03
It's sad that this kind of retreat is considered a perk, they're more like
punishment to me. What's the point of joining a company, remote-first or not,
if I then have to spend several full successive days with the same persons I
see and speak to every day? They're not my family, and I consider this kind of
"bonding" highly inappropriate.

~~~
lotsofpulp
I feel the same, business is business. I sell you my time and buy your money,
or I buy someone else's time and sell them money. We can be polite and chit
chat about non political stuff, but I'm not interested beyond that in a work
environment.

------
achyuthan89
Company Retreat

What?

=> A company retreat is a better way to connect with your colleagues outside
your official environment which helps your teammates to express themselves
which helps the whole team, which is what you call as a company to prepare for
the next small/big changes the company would be planning ahead.

Why?

    
    
      => It creates that bonding within your team and changes the perspective towards their project/work on a positive note. 
    
      => For eg, if you are changing your strategy or developing a new product/idea, (works very well for ideation I hop), a company retreat would be really useful to make sure that all are on board and aligned towards the goal. 
    
      => It improves the morale, better bonding, communication skills and especially the considerations & cooperations. 
    
     How? 
    
      => Letting your ego's go would be a nice way to plan it out. Collective decisions and plan it out :)

------
reidjs
Am I the only one who thought retreats are just a method for the company to
force employees to work unpaid OT, cause well, where are they gonna go?
Everyone's in some far away destination disconnected from friends/family so
you may as well work for a week straight.

~~~
meesles
Have you been to one? In my experience it's discouraged to do actual work so
that you can focus on the goals at hand. Also in my experience, a decent
company will hold it during business hours/week. Or at least overlap that
time.

~~~
reidjs
Yea I’ve been on a few. Basically I felt that I got taken hostage (no key to
the airbnb, no car rental budget, basically forced to stay with colleagues at
all times). Meetings all day about company direction and architecture, then
our normal programming work all night Hackathon style. I need time away from
my coworkers to write productive code and I think other engineers do too.

------
MeetSC
Company Retreat is a great way for people working remotely to connect with
their teammates from other parts of the world and for the founders to get
everyone on the same page. It may not be so interesting if everyone works in
the same office daily.

~~~
anant_sharma
I agree.. being a "work from anywhere" company we have adopted an annual
offsite as a key ingredient in establishing the culture we are looking to
inculcate in the company.

We have folks in 5 different time zones and once a year the team meets for a
week-long offsite. Agenda is managed and executed by an external agency.
Includes work as usual + lunch & learns + collaborative dinner experiences.

In addition to our employees, key partners, consultants also participate.

~~~
rarjunpillai
That's cool. I have seen that involving a 3rd party consultant could be very
important in keeping ourselves honest.

------
SekhAparna
Liked how the team decided to play devil's advocate to their existing way of
working. More often than not, one tends to lose focus on why they are doing it
and if it makes sense. Equally important is creating a sense of security where
everyone voices opinions without fear of judgement. Pleasantly surprised that
despite working remotely, the team managed to split responsibilities for
retreat amongst them instead of making it a one-person show!

~~~
rarjunpillai
If we don't disrupt ourselves, then some other agile company will do so. Doing
the same thing everyday will not give us different results.

Zooming out is super critical, whether in startup or life

------
thenus
Interesting thread. Early in the startup phase, retreat could be a venue to
openly address any strategic directional or operational misalignment, bring an
external coach to help the executive team share their personal challenges in a
relaxed environment. Because a lot of time, personal skill development or
scaling up from a founder to CEO, or Engineering to an executive can be
terrifying to a lot of people if you are doing it for the first time in a
startup.

An startup office mayn't be able to address that challenges, retreats would be
a way to address, while building the team comradeship building saying we all
in this together, let's get our personal growth story aligned to comapny
goals, let's hit them both would set a tone for company culture. If retreats
well thoughts and used as a immersive exercise can pay itself forward in a lot
of good ways.

There are ofcourse pros and cons of doing anything, time would be essence. Got
to see if pros outweighs cons in a long run and make a go at it.

------
octeon
Definitely a great idea for employees working remotely.People who go to office
daily may not be very appreciative about it though.

------
datahut
My startup ( Datahut) did the same a few months ago and it definitely helped
the founders improve our relationship with the team members. Personally, for
me it helped build a stronger relationship with those who don't directly work
under me. The change is clearly visible before and after the retreat.

~~~
rarjunpillai
We need more startups to tell this story openly. Apparently, the flip side is
stronger now (from the comments)

------
prabilmj
Spending quality time with your team is the focus here. If your extended tea
break sessions, 2-3 times every week, serves this purpose then be it. If all
of your key team members, including the founders are working remotely, then a
week long focused retreat like this serves the purpose. This will also give
the founders an opportunity to get away from the daily whirlwind, zoom out and
have a fresh look at the why, how and what of the startup. If you have co-
founders/key team members, who cannot make time for a week long retreat
because of the family commitment, then they can be accommodated in the form of
short focused sessions split in a week.

------
arjunmenonk1
A company retreat is essential for any business, whether remote or not is what
I think. Some times you get so held up with daily operations that you don’t
see where the world is going or what exactly you are doing. It need not be a
week long program or a an expensive one it’s all about how everyone sees it
and that really depends on the company culture.

------
sandeepasok
Very interesting read. Also it would be interesting to see how the company
takes this initiative further when it grows. I remember my 300 member
consulting firm flying the employees to Spain from Stuttgart for the 20 year
anniversary. Keep up the good spirit .

------
GaryNumanVevo
Fun and Team building weren't first on the list. I hope they got paid for
this.

------
ecf
A great way is to just not do one.

Startups need to stop pretending their employees are “friends” or “family”.

They are disposable cogs that will be replaced the very same day if they
happened to pass away, for example.

I’ve never seen one of these be done where it wasn’t a) a party or b) eye
rolling corporate propaganda.

In my case, I saw my engineering manager inhale co2 cartridges...

~~~
rarjunpillai
Don't be so opposed to the idea as such, friend.

-> Startups need to stop pretending their employees are “friends” or “family”. Startups can strive hard to build a company that looks out for the person on their left and right. Yes, it won't be perfect. Yes, it will get difficult when it grows. But those are not good enough reasons not to try.

\--> Disposable cogs All of us don't see it that way. We have to part ways
with our team members, but the key is to do it gracefully, in a humane way.
Here is a video that I recorded about it ->
[https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rarjunpillai_founderhabits-
te...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rarjunpillai_founderhabits-teambuilding-
startup-activity-6567945801891397632-e5QF)

In US, coz of the fear of getting sued, companies are forced to blindfold,
inhumanely fire people and get them out of the office in 5 mins. Around the
world, companies don't fire team members like in US. There are enough places
where there are conversations, notice period, performance improvement plans
and then letting go.

-> I’ve never seen one of these be done where it wasn’t a) a party or b) eye rolling corporate propaganda. You have been to only 1 or 2 types of retreats. Our retreat didn't have a party. I have attended over 10, none of them had 'parties'. Did we have a good time? yes. But not the dance floor parties with all sorts of stuff inside you.

Give it a chance that there could be a good side of it :)

