Few people are as knee-deep in our work-related anxieties and sticky office politics as Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade now on her website Ask a Manager. In Direct Report , she spotlights themes from her inbox that help explain the modern workplace and how we could be navigating it better.

Workplace “wellness” initiatives—like free yoga classes, mindfulness tips, step challenges, diet advice, and other pushes for well-being now common at work—are supposed to be a win–win situation: Employees get healthier and happier while employers reap the benefits of lower health care costs. But in practice, these programs frequently miss the mark, and many employees perceive them as intrusive and out of touch.

Here’s how one person who wrote to me respond

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