‘Everyone is acting like this is cute and wholesome. I don’t want to do it’: Company asks employees to submit a video of their home-office setup for publicity

Author image for Olivia Arocena
Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Sep 2, 2026 4:00 PM EDT

Do we have to rebrand our lives now?

Boundaries between work and personal life have become diffuse, to say the least.

People used to have a life that was completely separate from work, and nobody would ever know if you worked as a clown outside of town every Thursday night.

Right now, with the internet and social media, there's almost no escape from having to perform some degree of personality online. If we manage to escape that and avoid any social media presence, we might encounter an example of what this Redditor is describing. Our data is available pretty much everywhere (I doubt we've never touched a computer or don't have an e-mail account), and it's relatively easy to find out things about us.

That being said, refusing to comply with something as small as what this company is proposing and, through that, putting your position at risk, is really not worth the trouble, in my opinion.

Either way, we're always free to choose what hill to 'pass away' on, if you know what I mean.

I agree with what this worker says; I know we're now expected not only to work but also to be unpaid actors for the company's constant publicity, and that they expect to disguise it as a funny little thing we do for the team, when in reality it's only unpaid labor. I know that, but given the current economic circumstances, should we advocate for that, or should we send the shortest video ever made from a random Starbucks somewhere and move on with our lives?

Advertisement

  • Happy unpaid actors!

    Cheezburger Image 10660796160
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The remote worker after rebranding his house

    Actor performance of story events

  • My remote job suddenly wants my apartment to be part of the company vibe

    I work for a fully remote software company and for the most part it's been great. Nobody cares where I sit, meetings are pretty reasonable, and I havent had to pretend that eating
    via No_Intention3153
  • sad desk lunch next to a printer builds culture. But lately our marketing team started this internal "show us your remote life" thing, and it has gotten weird fast.
    via No_Intention3153
  • At first it was harmless. People posted pictures of their desk plants, cats on keyboards, nice coffee mugs, whatever. Then leadership loved it and decided to turn it into recruiting content. Now
    via No_Intention3153
  • they're asking employees to record little clips of our morning routines, home office setups, favorite local coffee shops, walks around our neighborhoods, and "what
    via No_Intention3153
  • remote freedom means to you." They keep saying it's optional, but managers are nudging each team to submit at least a few videos so the company
    via No_Intention3153
  • can show "authentic distributed culture." One coworker filmed his balcony view, another showed her kitchen, and now everyone is reacting like this is cute and
    via No_Intention3153
  • wholesome. I don't want to do it. My apartment is not ugly or secret, it just feels like the one place work doesn't get to decorate with its brand. I already give them my time,
    via No_Intention3153

  • Is it really that hard?

    Cheezburger Image 10660798208
    via Kaleidico

    Just send the video from another place

    Photo is a representation of scenes

  • my face on zoom, my output, my Slack availability. I don't really want my living room turned into proof that this company is flexible and human. Maybe I'm being
    via No_Intention3153
  • too precious about it, but remote work was supposed to mean I could keep work out of my space, not invite the company further into it becuase it makes good LinkedIn material.
    via No_Intention3153
  • Anyone else feel like remote companies sometimes forget that "home office" still has the word home in it?
    via No_Intention3153

  • Influencer employees

    Cheezburger Image 10660798976
    via Szabo Viktor

    How the company expects him to be

    Models pictured are not representative

  • Can’t he just be the only one who doesn’t send that video, and that’s it? I think having a job that’s good enough, aside from that little thing, is worth it in the end; they are not easy to find!

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
Scroll Down For The Next Article