Reply to After Hours Availability

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "After Hours Availability - Working Parents"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How available are you for work after hours? 
Do you immediately respond to work queries while you're at home and if yes how do you balance this with being a fully present parent?

I am a working mom and struggling with this. 
I am generally never available outside of working hours as I have a toddler who needs my full attention. I work for a global organization with people in different time zones and my unavailabity has been raised as an issue. I love my job but I'm not sure how I feel about this - I see it as an intrusion into my personal family time. [/quote]

I think you aren't willing to meet the requirements of the job.  I work for a company that has global offices - at this point in time, I do not have any co-workers that are not in the US.  I know that if I take a different job that has more of a global function, I WILL have to have some wonky meeting hours, and check email once or twice before bed.  That's the nature of that beast.  I think you should look for a different role.  You will continue to get dinged for this, and rightfully so.
[/quote]

+1.  My colleagues are in Australia, India, Europe, and Egypt.  We rotate weekly meeting times so at one time or another, we all have to be on a call in the middle of the night.  For the most part, my group is pretty small.  If it's a true emergency and they know it's nighttime on the East Coast, they'll call my cell.  Emails I usually check one last time before bed, once when I get up to pee in the middle of the night, and first thing in the morning.  That way, if there is anything bubbling about, I can address it while they're still at work.  Yes, that sometimes leads to unexpected middle of the night meetings.

The flip side is that no one cares that I don't start my workday until 10am US time, that I run personal errands during work hours, or that I attend school functions.  It's all give and take.  I would be pretty annoyed if a colleague in India or Australia was constantly unavailable when I needed to speak with them or if they demanded that meetings always occurred during their working hours.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics