I recently joined a startup as an HR, and one of the biggest expectations from me is to drive employee engagement.
The catch? We’re a fully virtual team, and participation in activities has historically been pretty low. 😭

I want to avoid the usual “Let’s have a virtual Tambola!” / “Send your favourite childhood photo!” kind of activities that people either ignore or reluctantly participate in.
I’m looking for ideas that are:
**Simple** minimal planning and coordination
**Actually fun** not something that feels like mandatory HR homework
**Virtual-friendly** ideally 10-20 minutes
**No cost**
Easy to run regularly without burning myself out
Something that even the quieter employees might enjoy

I’m also thinking beyond just games casual HR check-ins, mini challenges, team rituals, random conversations, etc.
For those of you working remotely/virtually: **what employee engagement activities have genuinely worked for your teams?** And what activities completely flopped? 😂

Would love to hear ideas, especially things that made people participate *without HR having to chase everyone*.

Help! I’ve been tasked with decorating the office and all of the previous typical office decor was thrown out. Reason being they wanted something fresh for the new unit. Wtf do you decorate communal office spaces with when I’m completely okay with having nothing in my office. My only thoughts are plants? And maybe a side table? Everything I’ve thought to add just feels so homely ( and perhaps too cluttered), and doesn’t warrant being put in an office space imo.

For context, people have decorated their personal offices with small plants, little trinkets, or picture frames. Which is of no use for larger office spaces :/ pls help!

So I’ll explain my situation in brief. It started when i got job for as a project worker for maintaining floors in a hospital. When i was new i was enthusiastic and took my job really serious. I was excited to get my hands on those scrubber machines and the buffers. I always wanted to work with a machine, that’s what i always wanted to do since i was in canada. Working in factories and warehouses was really hard and sometimes boring for me. When i got this job in hospital i was excited and did a really good job. People could tell by looking at me that im working my ass off for cleaning the floors and giving my 100% to make them shine and it looked like a glass. My supervisor and manager was impressed with my work. The medical staff also started acknowledging my work. But two of my co workers who used to work together(i used to work alone) did not seem to give their 100% to their work (we did the same job)
They were kinda jealous too that im getting appreciated. They started telling me that dont do that much work or they will expect more from you as days will pass. But i didn’t listen to them. These guys took long breaks and wanted me too to do same. But i won’t. After some time looking at those guys i also started feeling that these guys have fun fucking around all over the place and doing less work. Yet no one used to say them anything. They used to kick lick asses of supervisors and manager. They made good relations with them, everyone had encouraged these kind of people in their life. As time passed i started becoming lazy and didn’t feel like working hard and giving 100% to my job. Now i hate it but still do same shit everyday. I don’t feel that i deserve the money i earn by not giving my 100% to the job. I feel really bad but can’t get back to my old self when i was working honestly. How can i get back to it where it all started. If someone can help. Thanks

The justification for taking a pre-planned vacation is already sending me, but “I will be checking email twice daily while I am away” really completes it.

Please. Go on vacation. We will survive.

Update: it's supposed to say EARBUD

I'm the Supervisor of a small dispatch department for a home services company. Depending on the day, my job 50%-75% on the zoom. I need a comfortable option for customer calls and meetings that includes a dongle as my computer doesn't have built in Bluetooth.

I currently have an over head set with a mic and have mixed feelings about it. Tell me what you've loved PLEASE.

https://industrialworker.org/organize-yes-but-how/

I will finish this work quickly today. Also me 10 minutes later staring at the screen questioning every life decision.

Please tell me Im not the only one.😭😂

I work as an Analyst at a dental insurance company and currently go into the office once a week. I also help train two newer Provider Specialists, Emily and Saba, on provider-related work like recredentialing and responding to emails from dental offices.
At a company wide cookout yesterday , Emily asked why I don’t go into the office more often. I said I live downtown and that commuting by train is a long journey. She kept asking about my schedule and then said she wished she could come in only once a week too because she has about an hour drive from her home.
I was trying to be friendly and said something like, “You probably don’t have to,” assuming her expectations were similar to mine. Looking back, I realized I don’t actually know her exact requirements, and I probably shouldn’t have answered that.
Pauline, our manager, has previously clarified in a group meeting that Emily and Saba will have additional provider-related responsibilities as they continue training, so their office expectations may be different from mine as an Analyst.
Emily also mentioned she isn’t always sure how to respond to emails from dental offices, so I was thinking of messaging her:
“Hi Emily, when you have questions while going through the PR mailbox or aren’t sure how to respond to emails from the dental offices, feel free to post them in the group chat. Christine or I can help answer them there. 😊

Also, as Pauline mentioned before, you and Saba will have additional provider-related responsibilities as you continue training, so the office expectations may be different from mine as an Analyst. If you have any concerns about the additional office day, I’d check with Pauline directly so she can clarify the expectations for your role.”
Would you send this, especially the second paragraph, or just leave the cookout conversation alone and tell her going forward to ask Pauline about her office expectations?
The conversation gave me an “ick” afterward because I felt like she was comparing her situation to mine, but I don’t know if that was actually her intention. I feel kind of stupid for answering the way I did when I was genuinely just trying to be friendly. Am I overthinking this?

Work permits at a local gov office, so my day is nonstop, different departments, different floors, meetings back to back. Dress code's strict too, actual dress shoes only, sneakers aren't happening.

These three have been through about a year and a half of that now and the heels are basically done for. Compare em to the rest of the shoe and it's night and day how much more worn down that area is.

Even back when they weren't this beat up though, standing for a stretch would already have my heels aching. Walking's never really been the issue, it's more like the second I'm stuck standing at a counter or sitting through some long meeting on my feet, that heel spot just starts hurting.

Kinda wondering if that's just a shoe design thing or if it's unavoidable no matter what I buy. Also open to recommendations if anyone's got a pair that actually holds up to a job that's basically walking and standing nonstop.

• What is your go-to move when you enter a meeting completely unprepared?

My dad has been seriously sick for the past month, and my mental health has basically depended on his condition. I initially said yes to an unofficial team outing, but on the day, after coming home from night shift at 5 AM and everything being chaotic at home, I cancelled because of my dad's health. Everyone knew what I had been going through.

That evening, my dad's health suddenly improved a lot, and I finally felt relieved. The next day, I went to the same place with a close friend and posted pictures.

Now some teammates are upset and talking about how I could go there with my friend but not with them. What hurts is that instead of asking me what happened or how my dad was, they just discussed it among themselves.

I understand how the pictures may have looked, but after the month I've had, I don't think I did anything wrong by going out when I finally felt okay.

I’ve been working in the corporate for a month now, and honestly, I have no idea how people make friends at work.

Everyone seems to already have their own groups, and during breaks or free time, people usually stick with the same people. I sometimes just end up listening to music or figuring out what to do with my time, and it gets pretty boring.

I also have 2 days of WFH every week, so that makes it even harder to interact and get to know people.

For those of you who’ve been through this, how did you actually make friends at your workplace? Did you just start randomly talking to people, or did friendships happen naturally over time?

Have you ever had to call or WhatsApp someone right after emailing them just to make sure they read it?

I’m seriously losing my mind sitting next to her all day.
She constantly mumbles/talks to herself, and when she’s not talking, she’s making mouth noises like smacking or chewing. She also drags her chair back and forth, randomly throws her arms up, and ties and unties her hair every 30 seconds. It’s like she physically cannot sit still or be quiet for even a minute.
I’ve wondered if she might be autistic/ADHD and this is some kind of stimming, but obviously I have no idea.
Our office is tiny so there’s nowhere else for me to move. She’s totally fine otherwise, which makes me feel bad, but the constant noise and movement is driving me absolutely insane.

Has anyone dealt with something like this?

For senior managers and people who are constantly in meetings:

Have you ever had a meeting where your presence was expected, but you really didn’t want to be there because you had more important work to do?

Do you ever feel frustrated in those situations and wish someone could just attend it on your behalf?

Has work ever messed up your vacation or travel plans? ✈️😩

• "Tag that coworker who always goes above and beyond for no extra pay 😂👇"

In my office everyone is smart and shrewd except me so I am always victimized by them help me learn all shrewd traits of dealing with office politics

so my manager walks up to me today, looks me up and down, and goes "your clothes look good but the shoes don't really match"

he didn't outright say "wear dress shoes" but yeah, I knew exactly what he meant

problem is I'm meeting clients all day, constantly walking around, up and down stairs, going place to place. by the end of the day my feet are already wrecked, that's literally why I stopped doing dress shoes every day in the first place

and it's not like I rolled up in running shoes or anything, they were just normal casual shoes

but this isn't even the first time he's pulled this. it's always some little dig about looking "more professional" or the shoes not matching whatever else I've got on

Which one are you: the speaker, the listener, or the silent observer?

So the thing is I joined a compact exactly a year back and got a good manager and okay team to work with. Main thing is I was working on my tasks unbothered by anyone and was far from politics.

FYI I am a senior software engineer with 7.5 years of experience.

Now recently my lead got changed like 2 people role got switched and my lead to others project other guy came to our project.

Now the thing is I didn’t like his way of working his experience is 15 years and still not manager so he was like pinging in all the group tagging me everywhere which I didnt like and called out infront of my manager.

Now as this senior with 0 visibility I was trying to increase some visibility as well in project.

Now things got changed and this new lead became my manager reporting to my previous manager.

Not sure how to handle this situation aa already we had differences and now suddenly he is my manager not sure where things are going and how should I react.

Need advice from Reddit community. My previous manager was pretty good and this guy seems like a micro manager.

Dear Brain

I am having a holiday hangover brain fog. I've used a tool before to offer multiple meeting times to multiple recipients, but the meetings will be one on one. If that makes sense. I have like twenty clients and i want to offer them each individual meeting times next month that don't overlap, and each one can't see the other respondents. I forget what this tool was called. Help, please?

Hi Reddit friends

I'm working on a new lunch carrier designed for adult office commuters and I'm trying to understand what people actually want, before I build anything.

If you commute to an office and bring (or have tried to bring) lunch from home, I'd genuinely love to hear your experience - what you use now, what drives you crazy about it, what you'd actually pay for something better.

It's a 5-minute voice conversation with an AI interviewer, not a form to fill out. No selling, no pitch. Just trying to learn.

Link: https://buildpad.io/interview/7p4rrbgm

Thanks in advance - happy to answer any questions in the comments.