Less flexibility in new role, what can I do?

[Anonymous]

She shouldn't have taken a higher profile job if she wasn't willing to put in the hours of the other team members.

Either she didn't ask or (like so many we have seen here) they know the reality and hope they can get their way regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She shouldn't have taken a higher profile job if she wasn't willing to put in the hours of the other team members.

Either she didn't ask or (like so many we have seen here) they know the reality and hope they can get their way regardless.

If the only way the team can get its work done is by working 10+ hours a day, then the team needs to hire more staff, manage its workload better, or start pushing back on executive management.

[Anonymous]

The exec team has crazy schedules so often 830 or 5 is the only time they can meet. Exposure to them will help your career but only if you are available and do a good job. Otherwise you have to switch to another role

[Anonymous]

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

An excellent way to get labeled an inflexible poor performer. Honestly if you’re trying to say to your new team that you aren’t willing to make any changes to adapt to the new environment you are going to be a problem they don’t need.

You have to decide what your priorities are right now. When my kids were young I stayed in an extremely flexible boring job that never required anything outside of 9-5. Now that my kids are older I’m working longer and even traveling for work again, for a bigger job with a great title. This job works great for my life right now.

I would not expect the entire new team to change meeting times for the new lady, I would be annoyed if you came in and made scheduling demands for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

Do you know anyone who got away with this at a private company? I don't. Also some of these execs likely have reasonable work life balance, they just have shorter commutes

[Anonymous]

Are these meetings with a person or two or a big group? Also, is there someone on the new team that you have good rapport with that you could talk to about your scheduling issues? They could give better advice than internet strangers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

We don't know exactly what kind of work OP does. It's possible these meetings are essential to OP's job, and by telling her to just decline the meetings you're essentially telling her to just refuse to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Started a new role in my company but on a different team, and 2 weeks in it’s apparent that there is much less flexibility and work/life balance than in my past 3 roles (at the same company). I am middle management - senior but not on our executive team, but this role has much more visibility to that team than my previous ones.

I have a long commute (generally over an hour with traffic) and in my last role (which I started during Covid) I arrived at the office between 9-9:30 and left by 5. This was fine with my manager since I always got my work done and often logged in at night after my kids went to bed, which was a trade off I was happy to make in order to get home for dinner and bedtime with my kids.

The challenge now is that I am regularly being invited to meetings that start at 8:30 and 5pm, and everyone else is in person so it would not be great optics for me as the newest team member to join from the car or at home. In addition, our policy is 3 days in the office each week and 2 days WFH, however nearly everyone on the team chooses to come in 4 days. That is so disappointing as I have no desire to come in an extra day that isn’t required, but again feel like it may not look great for me to be the odd man out.

Anyone have a recommendation on how to approach this to get back some flexibility? Not sure if there is really a way to change the culture on this team, but do feel like my days at the company are going to be limited if I can’t find a way to balance this job and my personal life since I have zero desire to go back to the company’s pre-Covid ways of long, grueling hours in the office every day and very limited time with my family.

This stood out to me. It sounds like the company's standard is not a "balanced" schedule allowing 2 days/week work from home--but that those concessions are a fairly recent (just since Covid) change. It's possible that the entire company intends to eventually go back to the long grueling hours, and that this department you just joined has already started (probably because, like you said, this team is the most "visible.")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

Agreed, but i would pick one end or the other - not both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Stop worrying about optics.
Charge ahead and just do a great job the way you normally do.

(I would not usually advise this about being new to cultures in norms in a job/neighborhood/school etc., but in this case they are all clearly conditioned away from work life balance and that is a stupid norm)

This. Do not justify or apologize. Decline 8:30 am and 5 pm meetings and say you are not available.

Do you live in the real world? What sort of prima dona refuses meetings during the normal work day. White collar professionals work more than a strict 8 hour day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She shouldn't have taken a higher profile job if she wasn't willing to put in the hours of the other team members.

Either she didn't ask or (like so many we have seen here) they know the reality and hope they can get their way regardless.

If the only way the team can get its work done is by working 10+ hours a day, then the team needs to hire more staff, manage its workload better, or start pushing back on executive management.

830 to 530 is a 9 hour day, which isn't unreasonable. No need to claim they need to push back on execs or hire more staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She shouldn't have taken a higher profile job if she wasn't willing to put in the hours of the other team members.

Either she didn't ask or (like so many we have seen here) they know the reality and hope they can get their way regardless.

If the only way the team can get its work done is by working 10+ hours a day, then the team needs to hire more staff, manage its workload better, or start pushing back on executive management.

830 to 530 is a 9 hour day, which isn't unreasonable. No need to claim they need to push back on execs or hire more staff.

8 AM to 6 PM is a 10-hour work day. Who is showing up at 8:30 AM for an 8:30 AM meeting? And those 5 PM meetings, if they are so important, are not ending at 5:30 PM.

Nine- and ten-hour days are unreasonable for a 40-hour work week. People who push longer days and longer weeks as a regular practice are mentally lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She shouldn't have taken a higher profile job if she wasn't willing to put in the hours of the other team members.

Either she didn't ask or (like so many we have seen here) they know the reality and hope they can get their way regardless.

If the only way the team can get its work done is by working 10+ hours a day, then the team needs to hire more staff, manage its workload better, or start pushing back on executive management.

830 to 530 is a 9 hour day, which isn't unreasonable. No need to claim they need to push back on execs or hire more staff.

8 AM to 6 PM is a 10-hour work day. Who is showing up at 8:30 AM for an 8:30 AM meeting? And those 5 PM meetings, if they are so important, are not ending at 5:30 PM.

Nine- and ten-hour days are unreasonable for a 40-hour work week. People who push longer days and longer weeks as a regular practice are mentally lazy.

How much do you make a year?

[Anonymous]

It did not sound like every day definitely had both an 830am meeting and a 5pm meeting. My guess is that that most days OP could either arrive by 830 or leave at 530 but not both and she can't count on it. This doesn't sound crazy to me for a private sector job with a lot of face time with the exec team. op, they won't change for you, you will have to figure out if you can live with this