Mate Ban

One of my Argentine friends told me her boss put a ban on mate drinking in the workplace. You can still drink tea or coffee, but he doesn't like his employees drinking mate in the office.

When my friend was telling me about this, I didn't quite understand what would be the motive behind such a ban, and was questioning her about it. Did he not like the messiness that comes with having your mate gourd, thermos of hot water and container of the loose yerba on your desk? Is it a foreign boss that finds the mate habit low- class and colonial?

"No, it's because he didn't like everyone talking and passing the mate around from person to person," she told me.

"Ah ha, so it's the social aspect of mate consumption that bothers him, " I answered. " Does that mean that if you huddled in your cubicle and drank your mate alone, like you drink coffee, it wouldn't bother him?"

"I suppose," she answered, "but that's not what mate's about."

This reminded me of an article I read recently in one of my Business English textbooks. A company, in an effort to increase productivity and reduce employee slacking off, redesigned their office space, but didn't include a common area or lunchroom, thinking that if the workers ate at their desks, they'd be more productive. Of course, this idea backfired; productivity went down and morale plummeted. It turns out that the lunchroom had been a place where people would casually bring up work problems they were facing, and colleagues would informally come up with solutions and brainstorm new ideas together. Not to mention let out a little of the desire for human contact and socializing that naturally accumulates after staring at a screen all day.

In a similar way, I think my friend's boss' ban on mate in the office is bound to do more harm than good. Yeah, the office will be quieter, but there's something to be said for workplace atmosphere. Maybe passing the mate gourd around the office every once in a while puts people in a good mood, helps them to get to know their colleagues, makes them enjoy being at work a little bit more. And that can only increase productivity, no?

When will bosses and directors realize that trying to make people behave like robots for the sake of productivity usually ends up backfiring?