Ask HN: Company retreat?

I don't want my family time interrupted by trust falls. Retreats are fine as long as they satisfy that criteria.

It's really difficult to make spouses and children feel welcome and have appropriate activities for everyone and yet still achieve the bonding you're looking to achieve. It can be done, but it's really difficult and requires careful planning and a genuine desire to make everyone involved feel welcome. Otherwise it's likely to be a disaster and achieving the opposite of what you were hoping. At a minimum you should get a professional planner engaged to better ensure a successful event.

In the days before mobile devices and pervasive internet, retreats could have a productive use. Get people out of the office, clear their heads, get them focused on whatever task you think is necessary to perform away from work (brainstorming, team building, etc).

Now that's all changed. The last couple of retreats I've been on, people are on their phones handling emergencies all day long and then quickly pull back to their hotel rooms after hours to catch up on work that needed attention while they were gone.

And I've never heard of a company that pays for space away from the office for one to work. That seems like a stretch to ask for.