GoKawiilKeith Valory, CEO of streaming platform Plex, had big plans for his company’s 2017 corporate retreat: a weeklong ‘Survivor’-themed bonding experience in Honduras for 120 remote employees. What could go wrong?
Everything, according to The Wall Street Journal. Three weeks before arrival, the hotel’s general manager and head chef quit. Just as the first bus arrived, Valory was in his bathroom with E. coli from a salad. A former Navy SEAL made the “not super fit” tech workers do military drills in 100-degree heat until people passed out. One employee landed on a fire ant hill and needed a shot to the butt. A porcupine fell through another employee’s ceiling into his shower.
Corporate retreats are having a moment as remote work becomes permanent and companies struggle to build culture from a distance. The new series “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” even spoofs the trend — but Plex’s real-life disaster still beats anything on TV.