Water cooler names the drinking water dispenser in an office, and also “the kind of informal conversation among office staff that takes place at such a dispenser.” People speak of water-cooler conversations and of a television show noteworthy enough to give office staff something to talk about as water-cooler television.
Never Eat Alone
In 2005 Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz published Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. “The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people.” The book separates “genuine relationship-building” from what the description calls crude, desperate glad-handing.
How Are You? in Federal Guidance
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer may ask an employee about a disability only when it is job-related and a business necessity. In 2000 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission listed questions that are not disability-related and are allowed.
These include “asking generally about an employee’s well being (e.g., How are you?),” “asking a pregnant employee how she is feeling or when her baby is due,” and asking how an employee is doing after a death in the family or the end of a marriage. Asking whether an employee takes prescription drugs is restricted.
Too Much Information
TMI: too much information. Merriam-Webster says it is “used especially to suggest that someone has revealed personal information that would better be kept private.”
Overshare: “to share or reveal too much information.”
A Best Friend at Work
One of the twelve questions in Gallup’s well-known employee engagement survey is “I have a best friend at work.” In the United States, “just two in 10 employees report having a best friend at work.”
In 1999 Gallup called the item “clearly one of the most controversial of the 12 traits.” Employees “get stuck on the word ‘best,'” because they feel it implies exclusivity. When Gallup tried softer wording, the question no longer distinguished the best teams, so it kept the word.
The Strength of Weak Ties
In 1973 the sociologist Mark Granovetter published “The Strength of Weak Ties.” He had asked professional, technical and managerial workers near Boston how they found their jobs. Of those who found a job through a personal contact, 16.7 percent saw that contact often. Most saw the contact only occasionally or rarely.
“It is remarkable that people receive crucial information from individuals whose very existence they have forgotten.”
Asking for Time Off
A Harris Poll published in 2024 found that half of American workers get nervous when they ask for time off. Among millennials it was 61 percent. Twenty-eight percent had taken time off without formally asking for it.
The Favor Bank
In Tom Wolfe’s novel The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), a defense lawyer explains how the New York criminal courts work. “Everybody does favors for everybody else. Every chance they get, they make deposits in the Favor Bank.”
Before and After a Pregnancy Law
Peggy Young drove for UPS. When she became pregnant, her doctor limited what she could lift. UPS gave light duty to drivers injured on the job and to some others, but not to her. She was put on unpaid leave. In March 2015 the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that her case could go forward.
“The PWFA went into effect on June 27, 2023.” The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodation for pregnancy unless it causes undue hardship. Examples include more flexible breaks, schedule changes and leave for health care appointments.
The Right to Ask
Since 2014 Vermont law has given employees the right to request a flexible working arrangement, at least twice a year. “The employer shall consider the employee’s request.” The employer must discuss it in good faith and may refuse it if it cannot be granted consistently with business operations.
San Francisco’s Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance took effect the same year. It gives caregivers “the right to request flexible or predictable work arrangements.” The employer may refuse if it can show undue hardship.