Your company is not your family

Skyscraper Los Angeles Downtown 2013 by Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Recent events in the tech world have made me rethink the way I talk about work. The company you work for is not your family. It won’t be there at your funeral, and it certainly won’t be available to help you move that sofa into your new apartment. It simply can’t because, although a company pays taxes and is allowed to vote (in many regions), it is not a real person and just cannot be “family”. The arguable definition of a company is to be a vehicle to generate profits for shareholders, not to hand out free hugs and make sure the vending machine is full for you.

The people you work with, on the other hand – your team, your clan, your tribe – can definitely be considered extended family. There are many people I have worked with over the past several years that I consider extensions of my family. The recent layoffs that separated us from our daily meetings and reporting responsibilities have not changed the fact that I still enjoy seeing that picture your kid drew this morning. I think the mass layoff events of 2022 and 2023 are a good reminder that the financial vehicle that is a company is populated with real people who build ties, form bonds, and create the bedrock that a company stands on, but they are not one and the same.

I have been guilty of conflating these myself.

• “Welcome to the family”
• “We are all family here”
• “Sorry to see you leave our little family”

Of course, I knew these were different, and I intended this to mean “our team”, not “the corporate entity”, but in practice, the meanings get mangled, and they should not. This term “family” has become pervasive in corporate culture, and while it may be nice from an HR and talent marketing point of view, it is a misnomer at best.

Companies are made up of groups of people who may or may not get along together, but with some effort, they can gel to become a productive group of humans. If you are lucky enough to work with a group of people who share a common passion and also enjoy sharing or discussing off-hours interests to the point you become actual friends, hold on to that. When the company you work for needs to make staff adjustments, your feelings will likely not be a factor. Your friendships and the coworkers you invite to become extended family are invaluable.

Be awesome; Change the world.