S/O: Women bosses supporting other women... Do I owe it to feminism to offer work-at-home option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For many office jobs, it's just old fashioned to not allow regular telework. Make the expectations clear, including f-t child are as applicable & have the ability to rescind for abuses. I work at home 3 days a week & my baby goes to daycare those days just like office days except he doesn't have to be there for my commuting time (daycare is a mile from home).

+1

[Anonymous]

OP here. The reason I asked whether it was consistent with feminist principles is because there is a lot of hate on the archetypal female boss that doesn't help other women once they have reached the top. Look at all the hate directed at Marissa Meyer: the critique was that by taking away telework, she was betraying all working mothers.

Whether an office *should* offer telework is another discussion entirely. Personally, while as an employee I think it would be really convenient to telework regularly one day a week, talking to my friends who have telework arrangements, they would all agree that there is an impact on office culture.

But that's not the point of my thread. The boss has already decided that she does not allow telework as a standing, weekly arrangement, although she is very flexible about any as-needed work-from-home (you don't need any advance notice, don't need to submit for leave, etc.). My question is whether she should make a one-time exception for this junior employee (who has only been here 6 months)....and what I would do if I were in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Ok....

[Anonymous]

I would allow it as long as everyone was present for office-wide staff meetings, and each person who wanted to work from home could submit a report showing how they'd make it work. Also I would make it revocable pending people not accomplishing their work duties.

[Anonymous]

I think you are way overthinking the whole feminist role in this. Actually, I think it is detrimental to start making exceptions to moms. If it isn't standard company policy that anyone can arrange to work X number of days at home if they can complete their work, then making an exception for a mom is still betraying working moms.

[Anonymous]

I think you owe it to your female coworkers to not have a blanket policy against it. My sister is a GS-15 with over a hundred direct reports and though she admits many of the people in her dept could easily work from home, she doesn't allow it because she finds that she PERSONALLY isn't that good at it/doesn't like it. Then in the next breath she will complain that her retention rate for female employees who have kids is low and the turnover in her department in general is really high.

OTOH, my boss is very flexible, a ton of people in my department work from home at least a few days a month, and we are a very stable, happy group of coworkers.

[Anonymous]

"My question is whether she should make a one-time exception for this junior employee (who has only been here 6 months).

I might, for a very OUTSTANDING worker who has EARNED the exception and everyone is aware of this.

Be prepared for seething resentment/sabotage from other workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you owe it to your female coworkers to not have a blanket policy against it. My sister is a GS-15 with over a hundred direct reports and though she admits many of the people in her dept could easily work from home, she doesn't allow it because she finds that she PERSONALLY isn't that good at it/doesn't like it. Then in the next breath she will complain that her retention rate for female employees who have kids is low and the turnover in her department in general is really high.

OTOH, my boss is very flexible, a ton of people in my department work from home at least a few days a month, and we are a very stable, happy group of coworkers.

Your post is self-explanatory. Of course your sister has a high turnover in her team. It does not speak well of her as a leader that she denies everybody the opportunity to telework based only on her PERSONAL preference. She and all other old-fashioned nay-sayers are arrogant and presumptuous.

Like a previous poster, I too think that the arrangement should be available to all workers who can do their job from home, provided they show up for staff meetings. Nowadays, many of us just shoot off an email even to a colleague sitting next door.

[Anonymous]

My firm allows unlimited teleworking with no formal arrangement. I run my team this way as well. Some team members work from the beach during the summer months, others from home, etc. The policy i run my team on, if you can even call it that, that I have is all about results: if you should be in the office for a meeting or something, I expect you to make the right judgement call and come. If you don't need to be here, don't come in if you don't want to. If you rather come in, that's fine too. I won't reward long hours, I reward results. Work where you want, when you want, as long as the team isn't left holdin the bag, and you drive results, I don't care how you manage your time.

That attitude works exceptionally well- people feel empowered, they feel trusted, they feel valued, and they end up working harder because of it. If a late night comes up, no one makes a peep about it because they all know it just means they'll probably sleep in a bit more or kick off a little earlier this week. Giving people autonomy is incredibly rewarding - we have low turnover in part because people realize 99% of teams don't run this way. I've never got my team benchmarked at another firm but here we run 90% of staff saying they are "happy" in satisfaction surveys. I don't know how much of that is because of this flexible schedule business, but I would be willing to bet that it makes a big diff.

Also agree I see no connection between feminism and this issue. It's akin to my saying "Do I owe it to masculinity I have my team event at a strip club?". Somehow I find the whole premise of OPs question off putting.

[Anonymous]

You owe it to the entire Washington area (male and female) which has the worst commute in the nation.

[Anonymous]

The idea that we only do work at the office is ridiculous. This is what I don't understand about refusing telework (we have a no telework policy that isnt written anywhere, but as a gov't office, that's actually not allowed...every agency needs a telework policy on paper even if it says you can't telework)

How any of us leave work and answer emails, continue to do Work, etc when we are home or on vacation? The lines are so blurred its sort of hypocritical to not allow telework. We are already doing it, just not getting paid for it!

As a soon to be new mom, if my job doesn't allow the flexibility needed to take care of what I need to, I don't plan on staying )which considering I am already underpaid and there is a hiring freeze, they'd be up a creek). It's their choice. I think the employee in question will probably find a new job if she doesn't get the flexibility she needs.

For me, it's about retention - if I am valued, theyll try to keep me. And it's not a new parent thing, everyone in this day and age needs flexilith. Between terrible commutes, aging parents, etc, and the ability to be connected 24/7, the typical day isn't 9-5.

[Anonymous]

This isn't a "feminist" issue -- that suggests women are primarily responsible for child-rearing and finding the balance.

Many companies find this is a beneficial arrangement for them as studies show workers are more productive.

That said, companies that thrive on innovation, like Yahoo, require more face-to-face interaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My office requires a signed telework agreement for any regular telework arrangement that clearly spells out that you must have child care arrangements in place to work at home. You also have to specify that you have the space and equipment (Internet, computer, phone, etc. required to do your job), what hours you will be available and how you can be contacted. Any new agreement has a 2 month trial period and is then subject to periodic review. It is an option available to all employees who have positions that are amenable to teleworking. My baby goes to daycare on my telework day, just like any other day, but I save 45 minutes in commuting each way.

Yes, this is how it is in my office. About half the people telework one to two days a week. Some of them have kids; some don't. I think most do it because of the long commute. My commute isn't terrible for this area -- about 40 minutes -- but I have thought about teleworking also, because I could get a lot of chores done in the 80 minutes not spent commuting. However, I just don't like teleworking that much, so I haven't signed up for it yet. In any event, I agree with PPs that (1) it's a flexibility thing, not a feminism thing (although arguably the more flexible the office, the more parents you will attract or retain) and (2) it should be available to all or to none. (Within reason -- a secretary or security officer probably can't telework routinely and still get their job done.)

+1 this is how my office does it too. I work from home 2-3 days a week, totally flexible based on my day's schedule (I don't drive into the office to be on conference calls all day). But, we have men with grown children who do the same thing because of their long commutes. The only stipulation my office has is that you cannot work from home every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My firm allows unlimited teleworking with no formal arrangement. I run my team this way as well. Some team members work from the beach during the summer months, others from home, etc. The policy i run my team on, if you can even call it that, that I have is all about results: if you should be in the office for a meeting or something, I expect you to make the right judgement call and come. If you don't need to be here, don't come in if you don't want to. If you rather come in, that's fine too. I won't reward long hours, I reward results. Work where you want, when you want, as long as the team isn't left holdin the bag, and you drive results, I don't care how you manage your time.

That attitude works exceptionally well- people feel empowered, they feel trusted, they feel valued, and they end up working harder because of it. If a late night comes up, no one makes a peep about it because they all know it just means they'll probably sleep in a bit more or kick off a little earlier this week. Giving people autonomy is incredibly rewarding - we have low turnover in part because people realize 99% of teams don't run this way. I've never got my team benchmarked at another firm but here we run 90% of staff saying they are "happy" in satisfaction surveys. I don't know how much of that is because of this flexible schedule business, but I would be willing to bet that it makes a big diff.

Also agree I see no connection between feminism and this issue. It's akin to my saying "Do I owe it to masculinity I have my team event at a strip club?". Somehow I find the whole premise of OPs question off putting.

I absolutely love this. We need more leaders like you!

[Anonymous]

In my book, telework is for stars who have proven themselves. If you are one of them, I don't care where you work. But a junior person who has only been around 6 months is not a star.