@Anne M – thank you for showing the talk! Yeah, busy season accountants might be a tough audience, though I do still think there is *some* time. And then there will be more in July. All about keeping the long term view.

In addition, I usually have about 4 – 6 friend dates a month.

I did some fieldwork in Belgium and everyone arrived at 9, took a lunch break where they went to the canteen together, and left promptly at 5. Staying later than that / working at the weekend would have been really unusual. Coming from a UK academic context, I was thoroughly confused.

@ARC – if everyone’s out by 4:30, then I’m all in favor of staying there. But people do need some sort of break – a sit down lunch with colleagues will do that. Desk salads, not so much.

ohhh, i LOVE the photobook idea. My husband worked at a company that had one for a while in the cafeteria and it was super fun. 🙂

@Laura – a friend of mine works at a small company in Copenhagen and I got the impression that No One Leaves there either – they order in lunch and all sit down together, and everyone leaves by 4:30, so maybe it’s in the interest of efficiency and also because you’re supposed to socialize with your coworkers at lunch?

We haven’t done pictures in a few years (the photo booths became scarce), but we have reinitiated the monthly lunch date. It’s still a challenge to schedule. I work part-time and am in the same office building only once a week, but it felt good to get it back on the books again.

@jennie- that sounds like a good list of priorities. The kids’ social calendars are their own beast!