ONE of Apple TV’s latest shows, , is a drama series based on the founding and subsequent travails of , the workspace-providing company once known for its cult-like culture. The founders of the firm encouraged its employees to blend work and life through ritualistic retreats and events, dubbed Summer Camps, and to view their colleagues and managers as family – a tradition in corporate life that aims to instil a feeling of camaraderie in staff.
At a glance, this, and similar practices in the corporate world, seem really weird, as rituals and familial connections don’t have much to do with the working world. As two academics , the workspace is the temple of material ambition: religiosity and kinship just don’t appear relevant to most people’s jobs.
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Yet the practices depicted in WeCrashed aren’t unique: many companies use rituals and familial language to engender loyalty. What’s more, anthropologist Scott Atran , tapping into a deep-seated desire to belong, much as fast-food firms exploit our evolved longing for satiation.
Rituals are part of all human cultures, and from that of other primates. Hunter-gatherer groups, for example, share knowledge with others they deem committed to their own customs, where commitment is determined by a rite often including physical pain.
Many religions and cults in modern societies similarly demand that we make sacrifices – whether monetary or in our personal comforts – as the price of membership. The promised rewards for these sacrifices may drive further commitment: for example, adherents may receive a religion’s ostensible truth, in small pieces, in line with the monetary and time sacrifices made.
Corporate rituals have parallels with these practices. A friend who works for a major company told me about team-building meetings held by senior management that aim to promote employee well-being. I was particularly struck by the emotional costs of participation: people had to reveal something personal about their past. Sharing such details may inspire a feeling of closeness.
There is a striking similarity to the physically or emotionally costly rituals described in . Group bonds that are forged through trauma are among the strongest, and any practices that artificially produce traumas are likely to be beneficial for those who are promoting them.
While not all corporate rituals are as questionable as this, even ostensible perks can be used to drive employee behaviour in ways beneficial to managers. Travelling to work is a signal of commitment to the company: the covid-19 pandemic has, after all, done away with the illusion that homeworkers are less productive. To encourage physical attendance, . The aim, it seems, is to encourage displays from workers showing that they feel embedded within the corporate culture.
Rituals and signals of commitment to one’s groups are foundational elements of our evolutionary history. Because of these underpinnings, it isn’t surprising such tactics are used by employers to try to create a sense of group identity, bolstering loyalty and, presumably, profits.
This isn’t always a bad thing, but it is important to be aware when bosses are trying to manipulate you, and to avoid paying emotional costs that can lead to a false, forced sense of belonging. With today’s upswing in people quitting jobs, dubbed the , we are likely to see many more attempts to inspire devotion to corporate causes.
Jonathan R. Goodman is at the UK’s Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies
