Blessed are the cake buyers -- but will they get promoted?
I’ll admit that this article (and ones related to it, like this one, and this one) hit hard. Though I work remotely now, I have never worked in an office setting where it wasn’t a woman who shouldered the responsibility of the celebrations that are a crucial part of company culture. What traditions exist at your organization? Who keeps them going? Who adds birthdays to the office calendar, and circulates the card? Who knows the favorite dessert to request from the kitchen team for a celebration?
So much of the desire for this return to a shared physical workspace focuses on the culture of an office, from holiday parties to familiar faces at the front desk to the ability to simply pop our heads into others’ offices for quick questions…
The assumed and unsaid expectations run deep: even if you’re not initially asked to buy the card or the cake or the decorations, once you do it, it morphs into your role, your responsibility. And the research shows that this may come with career consequences.
