I am tired of All Hands

Just here to get it off my chest or reconsider my entire career—

I have had a great week at work, but I’ve started to notice, every day any company I’ve joined has All Hands, they are the worst day of my week. I am having borderline anxiety attacks listening to them, and as a minimum, I just feel way too flooded to listen. I actually didn’t attend them at all in some companies I’ve worked for, and I’m getting there in my current role.

The most triggering All Hands I’ve had were layoff related, so I largely attribute those experiences the source, but even without RIF on the agenda,

I am so tired of:
- Nice, CEO (usual male, stale and/or pale) banter to begin the All Hands
- Hearing unrelatable news from Chief Officers with 3-4x my salary with their unrelatable backgrounds of any kind
- Peaceful, meditative minutes for everyone to recalibrate after the shitstorm of RIFs and corporate speak
- Happy employee banter in the chat as if we aren’t all one Thanos snap from being fired

It all feels like a poorly executed, “let them eat cake” kind of bit— people are really struggling right now. How does anyone relate to what is being said?

Everyone is trying, leadership include I imagine. Everyone’s trying to make lemons out of lemonade. Let people enjoy things. It could be worse. I get it. Trust me, I do.

But I’m coming to a realization that there’s no right way to All Hands in a world, environment and industry with such bright and shiny optimism in the midst of so much greed, entitlement, and ego that continues robbing tech of the innovation, equity and promise it once gave so many.