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Comment by nsenifty | Hacker News Reader

Politics and war discussions have been increasingly common at work too. Companies have promoting ERGs in the hope of diversity and in the name of "bringing your authentic self to work", and these groups have become a hotbed of activism. I've witnessed flamewars in work channels on the topics of BLM, war in Gaza etc in the past two companies I've worked.

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> Companies have promoting ERGs in the hope of diversity and in the name of "bringing your authentic self to work", and these groups have become a hotbed of activism.

…and it’s absolutely vile. Leave me alone at work. Work is not your place to advocate for whatever agenda you happen to have. Whether I agree or not isn’t relevant to the mission of the company, and it’s not the company’s job to support your cause.

> "bringing your authentic self to work"

Except only certain views are allowed to be expressed.

And of course, dating among coworkers is heavily discouraged and risks your career, but isn't that part of your "authentic self" too?

Curious questions, but don't many good relationships started at the work place? How many of those actually majorly affected the company?

>> hotbed of activism

Funny that "activism" now just means arguing via text without any intention of convincing the other side of anything.

what is ERG?

[edit] ok this is news to me So what are Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)?

Employee Resource Groups are voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the organizations they serve.

I guess it's this: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/what-are-emp...

Employee resource group, basically a group of employees that have some shared interest or background

Although as with most race, gender, or interest groups, it would be unwise to try to start one for specific combinations. Strangely, the same combinations that are labeled “oppressors”.

I’m not saying I would want to, but I find that ERGs for every other combination starts to feel like a way for organized preferential treatment to happen for all those other combinations, and all their various interests to be promoted, to the exclusion of a handful of other combinations.

No conspiracy theory here, also no prejudice here, just how it seems to work, and how I sometimes perceive these interest groups.

Society is the ERG for the specific combinations that aren't systematically held back.

What preferential treatment are your peers getting that are advancing their interests beyond yours? What are their interests that don't align with your own?

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