| If you are an engineering manager, you can see huge gains in team satisfaction and productivity if you are cognizant of issues like this. My suggestion is to take the time to understand each member of your team, then create various interactions that can foster teamwork, satisfaction, etc. This can include: + Lunches or dinners - Going out to a restaurant together can give your team a reprieve from the stresses of work, while strengthening bonds. This tends to work best with extroverts. Dinners work best for singles and lunches work best for people with families (who may have to go home to a spouse and kids). + Movies - If there's a movie that most of your team wants to see, treat them. This may give introverts a more comfortable setting, since not everyone likes team lunches & dinners. I sometimes reserved a dark conference room and played episodes of Futurama (or some other TV show my team wanted to watch) during lunch, which worked just as well. + Outings, activities - Not everyone may enjoy a particular activity, like a hike or indoor rock climbing gym. But you can offer various activities to your team as opportunities to get to know one another. Don't make those who cannot or do not want to get involved feel ostracized, however. Make these optional events. + Code reviews, paired programming, tech talks, hackathons - These exercises not only strengthen the skills of your team, but improve team bonding as well. And chances are, all of your developers want to improve their own skills, so any chance to do that is a good thing. + One-on-ones - Sit down with each team member and have a chat with her/him. This is not easy for every engineering manager, as it requires skills in listening, empathy, conflict resolution, etc. The goal here is to truly listen. If something is bothering your developer, chances are you'll be able to pick it up here, giving you a chance to resolve it before it becomes a major issue. I've had developers tell me they felt like these chats were therapy sessions, though I did my best not to make it feel so clinical (in some cases, these chats were over coffee, ping pong, a walk, etc). The point is, listen. There are many more that I've forgotten and I'm sure you've done (and please do share!) I never had a problem with attrition by employing tactics like these. And I don't mean to imply that no one on my team had depression - I am not a licensed therapist and make no claims that I can diagnosis this condition. My point is just that engineering managers who actively cultivate a supportive environment may reduce the likelihood of depression and foster greater satisfaction and productivity. |
This actually reminds me why I think free lunches at company cafeterias might be a net negative.
At a more traditional company lunch involves
1. Gathering the group (who wants to go to lunch?)
2. Deciding where
3. Getting in cars
4. Driving to restaurant (5-10 mins)
5. Waiting for seating (5-10 mins)
6. Ordering
7. Waiting for order to arrive (5-10 mins)
8. Eating (10-15 mins)
9. Driving back to work (5-10 mins)
That's 30-55 minutes spent together talking, interacting.
At a company with a free lunch cafeteria steps 4, 5, 7, and 9 are removed. I worked for 5 years at a company that had free cafeteria lunches. While I appreciated saving money on lunch my personal impression is I got far less camaraderie, team spirit, etc from it than from the more traditional "drive to restaurant" style.
I'm not saying companies should get rid of free lunches. Only that maybe people should look into ways to increase the time spent building friendships etc...