The use of “family” as a metaphor for one’s workplace increasingly annoys me. Joe Pinsker addresses the “dark side” of all this in The Atlantic ($); emphasis mine:
But as a journalist covering work and families, I can’t help but notice another, entirely unintended meaning in this common corporate metaphor: Work is like family—in many unhealthy, manipulative, and toxic ways. When I hear something like We’re like family here, I silently complete the analogy: We’ll foist obligations upon you, expect your unconditional devotion, disrespect your boundaries, and be bitter if you prioritize something above us. Many families are dysfunctional. Likening them to on-the-job relationships inadvertently reveals the ways in which work can be too.
(I’m also impressed by how well he captures the nature of actual [dysfunctional] families.)