this.
"The Obama Administration announced plans today to hold a Forum on Workplace Flexibility on March 31st at the White House. The President and First Lady will discuss the importance of creating workplace practices that allow America’s working men and women to meet the demands of their jobs without sacrificing the needs of their families." says a press release on the Whitehouse website.
It is needless to say that a discussion on this is badly needed. That would be a start, not a solution. But to reach a solution, someone needs to start talking about the problem.
I am lucky enough that my current boss understands the need for urgent absences from work to deal with family matters like sickness of a child, among many others. I joined my current job on September 8th, 2009. In less than a month, S developed a severe reaction to antibiotics (Augmentin - from Amoxycilin family) that were prescribed to her to deal with a secondary infection she had developed on the site of an eczema rash. Due to some stupid decision form the doctor who was treating her at the time, the reaction got worse. As a result S spent more than two months suffering terribly from the rash. And I had to leave work on multiple occasions to go administer some medicine or to take her to the doctor's for an emergency visit. If my boss hadn't been sympathetic and understanding, I would definitely have lost the job. After all, my last job had taught me that taking time off for personal reasons, time that I had earned with my hard work, will go against me when it came to measuring performance.
It is no secret that I underwent IVF to conceive the second time. Infertility treatment is an aggressive regimen that requires money, emotional and mental strength and time. I needed to go to the clinic almost every other day for the numerous blood tests and ultrasound scans, which used to be generally scheduled first thing in the morning. But it meant I would be half hour to an hour late for work on those days. I wasn't looking for charity or to be let off easily but my boss at that time wouldn't agree to let me come i an hour late and work until an hour after my usual time on those days. Our offices stayed open till 7.30 pm so it would not have been a great problem for him to allow me to do so. Instead he made me take half a day off every time I needed such a procedure. As a result I had only 5 or so days of paid time off (out of 21) left by the end of September. On more than one occasion, I got a lecture from him on how it was better for him because his wife was home full time so he didn't have to worry about running off at odd times (even though he did!). And that if I had "so many family issues" I should choose between family and work. I should really decide which one is more important for me. I hope no one ever has to make that choice. And then I got an official memo from the HR to explain why I hadn't managed my paid time off properly.
After my maternity leave of three months was up I returned to work. My parents who had come to help me out with the baby left when she was about 7 months old. As soon as the baby started going to the daycare, she started coming down with back to back ear infections. That time was the toughest in our lives. I would often be called from the daycare to come pick her up because she was running a fever. My previous boss had left the company and the new boss was fairly understanding. But the company policies were still the same. I had to apply for special unpaid days given my circumstances. Half of those unpaid days could have been avoided if the company had just had a policy to let its employees work from home. I believe this also became one of the factors in the decision that the company later took to let me go even though I had more than proven my competency to handle the job.
My point behind this rambling is - no matter what kind of job you work in, life happens, emergencies happen. It doesn't have to be only kids. It could be aging parents. The employee's own, or spouse's, health. Usually an employer can find ways to make things a little easier for the employees but most times they don't. I believe making laws to mandate this kind of consideration might backfire in the long run. Instead starting a conversation to understand the issues might help generate, in businesses, the effort to find the balance between demanding efficiency and being considerate towards difficult circumstances that their employees are facing.
I and my husband both work full time. We both juggle our schedules to be able to take care of our kids. I have full support and cooperation of my husband when emergencies need to be dealt with. Even with his support, I sometimes find it difficult to keep all the balls in the air. Imagine how tough it must be for single parents or for those who don't have the convenience of flexible timings. This goes for anyone who is working, not only those who have kids. Many times efforts to create workplace flexibility are met with resistance because single people and those who don't have kids think that those who do (have kids) get off easy just because of that. I think workplace flexibility should be available to everyone because, you know, even people without kids can have emergencies. If you work, it doesn't (and shouldn't) mean that you cease to have life outside of it.
Excellent post. People do think there is no life outside work life and when you explain them they just tell you that I have the priorities wrong. :(
ReplyDeleteWhile I totally appreciate that being home makes so many things easier(it will save hours of commute if all that needs to be done is administer a medicine).
ReplyDeleteI have personally found that working from home is easier said than done when having toddlers around.
The moment they sense that you are available and sitting before your laptop, they come to you and want to sit on your laps and play and mess with your keys and what not! you do not wish to turn them away (blame me) and sometimes when push comes to a shove and I've got to keep them away from my work area, it becomes 'the' issue and I become the reason for unsettling the children !
Once, my daughter even plucked my cellphone away in the middle of a conference call.I cannot blame her. She wanted to take pictures and she just plucked it straight out of my ears. Thankfully it became the gag of the call and people took it easy.
finally, the situation would be such that if I really want to work, I'd better get to office. :) ta da.!
Of course, this is only if we have toddlers/infants who just cannot be told to stay away and get busy by themselves.
well, this is just my story having worked from home quite often!
completely relate to kid sickness following the start of day care. I had no vacation time but fortunately an understanding manager. Even now one factor I am looking for when interviewing is flexibility :)
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree more with you ... I have negotiated working from home only to be with kids in the past ... while most of my managers have been understanding in terms of leave ... I must also add that this has affected my appraisal in some ways. Though they don't point out ... its all subtly there.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post, can't agree with you more here. Thankfully, I have a boss who understands this and am able to juggle both work and home efficiently. On days of emergency, I have the option of working from home. But she is in minority. My ex-boss was a woman who thought life meant sitting in office, even when you had no work. In fact, a colleague who was pregnant was harrased to the extent that the poor girl had to resign. I wish no one ever is given the option to choose between work and family.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally. no mother can give her best if her child is in need of her attention. any office or institution should understand this.And it was pretty mean of your ex boss to grumble about your paid absences. He must be cut up that his own wife was not working and just pampering his ego.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I was struggling to get back to work after the first one, and managed to request my boss for a work from home for 6 months. At the end of 3 months he cancelled the next 3 months and said i needed to get back to work at office. He actually said i was not working for the last 3 months, and when i told him i had completed all the work assigned to me within the deadlines, he said that was not enough! I don't know why people think work from home is some type of holiday, because its actually harder to work from home and i ended up working much longer hours as well as i was logged in from 7:30 in the morning till i slept at night and used to respond to mails well into the night. Anyway had to request my mom and my mom-in law to come and help me out until i got two maids who were good with baby and i could work at office with peace of mind.
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