We’re revamping Wre­flections!

The new Wre­flections is going to be a communications platform for Wrenchineers, about Wrenchineers, and by Wrenchineeers. I’d like it to be a digital space where you all interact with each other and get to know each other personally as well as professionally. After all Wrench is not just a company, it’s a community. I would like Wrefl­ections to be the voice of that community.

Let me explain why this is so important to me.

I look around at a world where people are becoming disconnected. With each other, with themselves. Mental health issues are increasing. People are getting isolated while – ironically – communications technology is evolving at breakneck speed. The irony doesn’t stop at communication. We’re also being inundated by news and information to the point of fatigue yet we have forgotten the fundamentals that make life worth living. We spend more time on ‘social media’ than actually socialising, in fact we use social media as an excuse to distance ourselves from real human interaction. This isn’t progress. It’s the opposite.

We’re already seeing the fallout. Depression. Overwork and burnout. People falling sick at absurdly young ages. The breakdown of relationships. Emotional fragility. Above all, the loss of a sense of purpose. Without a sense of purpose it’s hard to find joy in life or in work.

That’s why I’m hoping you will all participate in the new Wre­flections space. Think of it as an antidote to loneliness and disconnectedness, a relief from the ‘toxic work culture’ that’s become such a buzzword.

(Also keep in mind that a company can only do so much to foster a healthy work-life balance – the rest is on you.

Here’s what I’m hoping Wrefl­ections will become:

1. A place to share the exciting or heartwarming or noteworthy things that happened to you – at work, at home, in your families – and a place to showcase your skills and your (or your friends and family) achievements.

2. A multi-lingual space. I know some of you are good at writing stories or articles in languages other than English and we want to cater to that .

3. A War Room where departments share their ‘war stories’ ie stories from the field. Could be educational, exciting, funny, thought-provoking. Sales can share details of new wins along with difficulties they faced to win the deal. Implementation can share stories from the project including problems solved and customer feedback. And so on. The point is for all departments to work as one organism and not a collection of separate organs ie we should strive to be a community with a shared vision, yet different roles .

4. An R&R space where people share their experiences of how they relax, any good movies they watched or music they enjoyed, good restaurants, good parties they attended, etc. 5. A Hot Take space where anyone can post a hot topic of the day and start up a discussion or debate. (This will be moderated of course.) So those are some of the plans for the new Wre­ections. I invite you all to participate actively.

Stay tuned for the details!