Hell no

Having a family is like the worst thing ever.

Anonymous wrote:DOD agency.
-No flexi-tour (work 8:30-5 every day with no flexibility)
-No telework for anyone
-no AWS
-obviously no maternity leave
-not allowed to work out in the middle of the day (even thought there is a presidential directive saying we are allowed to...not a big deal, but it would be nice so I wouldn't have to use my limited hours with my child to get to the gym, so I just don't go)
-expected to be reachable on BB at all times
-Unreliable due to the fed budgets - Furloughs, RIFs (I'm slated to be RIF'd - got notice while I was on 'maternity' leave)
-no bonuses, which would be nice
-pressure to not use many days off in a row (so if you want a week off, it's likely to get denied - two or three days in a row, fine). and if you take vacation, you'll be expected to be on BB

This is me. Sucks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fed employee here. Very Family Friendly. In the office 1 day per week - telework 4. Flex hours (now I work 8-4:30- will adjust when my son hits school so I can be off work at 3:30 when he gets home). Have to use sick/annual leave for maternity leave- but no big deal- did 12 weeks. Now 0 a little over a year later- have 6 weeks already saved up again (we didn't take a vacation this past summer- just took a few days off here and there). My boss is the kind that believes family comes first - and with regard to telework and everything else- his stance is - I am an adult and I know what needs to be done. If I wasn't getting my work done or if there were issues- it might be different.

Amazing! 4 days? Are you with the VA?

No. USDA.

we need to do a roll call between agencies. I switched in the spring to a highly regarded agency (or so I thought!), not flexible at all. I did everything in my power to understand their telework or flexible time schedules before getting hired (I was recruited). HR just kept repeating that it was manager dependent. Apparently ALL their managers hate it. If I come to work 10 minutes late, it makes everyone antsy and uncomfortable. Previously when I was 10 minutes early or 10 minutes late, I just adjusted my end time by that much. I'm just frustrated by the lack of official policy. Oh and if Obama talks one more time about maternity leave I will scream. He's technically my boss's boss's boss. Stop talking about maternity leave for others if you don't provide your own employees it. Hypocritical.

I am the 4 day a week teleworker. I came from private industry before and teleworked 5 days a week (just needed to be in the office for meetings roughly 2-4 hours per week). When I came to my Agency- my prior manager was not a fan of telework and only allowed it because he was ordered to do so - but made sure to let us know it was at management discretion and he often cancelled it at the last minute. It is very dependent upon the manager and I accepted this job before speaking with the manager on good faith that they would work with me on my schedule (I originally turned it down). I got very lucky- and have a feeling I will be at my grade for a while (14) because I don't think there are that many 15 positions that are that flexible. BTW- we allow the 10 minute late thing at our agency if you are on the maxiflex schedule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spent 10+ years at Booz Allen. Totally NOT family friendly. Left a year after I had my first. How that company has made Working Mothers magazine every year is a joke. I left for the federal government 6 years ago and love my job and where I work. Completely different than I thought it would be, for the most part. And family friendly.

I'd say most of the big firms on that list are the least family-friendly. DH and many friends at PricewaterhouseCoopers experienced same. It was all talk.

I work for one of the big four and find it very family friendly, BUT it depends on your job within the firm, big time. If you are on the partner track, yeah, you are going to put the hours in and if you work directly with clients you will likely to have travel a lot. I am not in a client facing role and not on a partner track so my area is very family friendly:

-great maternity leave (6 months is standard, much of it paid)
-teleworking options - in my division standard is once a week with options for additional days as things come up
-a good amount of PTO

My husband also works for a family friendly, big corporation. He can't telework regularly but has a very flex schedule.

Mine is friendly to old white men, mostly former academics. But it turns out what is good for the gander is good for the goose. No management structure. No set hours. Up until this year our sick policy was "stay home if you're sick!" Budget concerns forced a change to that but still decent. Great retirement. I don't love the work, but I ain't going anywhere

Edited to add: I say the old white men thing cause that's the majority demographic.

Anonymous wrote:The jobs PPs describe sound pretty good. But isn't it disgraceful how little maternity leave we get here? I mean, people write about 6 weeks, maybe 12 weeks...

It strikes me how Obama made such a stink about family friendly a few months ago, but the Fed does not have great maternity policies. The government needs to set the bar on that because if they can't have a good policy (paid, 3+ months, etc.), why should anyone else? US is at the bottom of all developed countries for this and that is shameful.

DOD agency.
-No flexi-tour (work 8:30-5 every day with no flexibility)
-No telework for anyone
-no AWS
-obviously no maternity leave
-not allowed to work out in the middle of the day (even thought there is a presidential directive saying we are allowed to...not a big deal, but it would be nice so I wouldn't have to use my limited hours with my child to get to the gym, so I just don't go)
-expected to be reachable on BB at all times
-Unreliable due to the fed budgets - Furloughs, RIFs (I'm slated to be RIF'd - got notice while I was on 'maternity' leave)
-no bonuses, which would be nice
-pressure to not use many days off in a row (so if you want a week off, it's likely to get denied - two or three days in a row, fine). and if you take vacation, you'll be expected to be on BB

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fed employee here. Very Family Friendly. In the office 1 day per week - telework 4. Flex hours (now I work 8-4:30- will adjust when my son hits school so I can be off work at 3:30 when he gets home). Have to use sick/annual leave for maternity leave- but no big deal- did 12 weeks. Now 0 a little over a year later- have 6 weeks already saved up again (we didn't take a vacation this past summer- just took a few days off here and there). My boss is the kind that believes family comes first - and with regard to telework and everything else- his stance is - I am an adult and I know what needs to be done. If I wasn't getting my work done or if there were issues- it might be different.

Amazing! 4 days? Are you with the VA?

No. USDA.

we need to do a roll call between agencies. I switched in the spring to a highly regarded agency (or so I thought!), not flexible at all. I did everything in my power to understand their telework or flexible time schedules before getting hired (I was recruited). HR just kept repeating that it was manager dependent. Apparently ALL their managers hate it. If I come to work 10 minutes late, it makes everyone antsy and uncomfortable. Previously when I was 10 minutes early or 10 minutes late, I just adjusted my end time by that much. I'm just frustrated by the lack of official policy. Oh and if Obama talks one more time about maternity leave I will scream. He's technically my boss's boss's boss. Stop talking about maternity leave for others if you don't provide your own employees it. Hypocritical.

World Bank. Very family friendly - can work from home one day a week, can take time off easily (and there's a lot of it, I never have actually used up all my vacation time), can leave early or come late when needed with no compensatory time worked.

A clinic with nurse on site, childcare facilities on campus (not subsidized and very expensive), lactation room, and paid maternity leave of 70 business days. In practice, most people tack on another month of vacation, so we're out for about 5 months with babies.

Of course, it depends very much on your team leader, and whether your job is travel-heavy. But the system is there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fed employee here. Very Family Friendly. In the office 1 day per week - telework 4. Flex hours (now I work 8-4:30- will adjust when my son hits school so I can be off work at 3:30 when he gets home). Have to use sick/annual leave for maternity leave- but no big deal- did 12 weeks. Now 0 a little over a year later- have 6 weeks already saved up again (we didn't take a vacation this past summer- just took a few days off here and there). My boss is the kind that believes family comes first - and with regard to telework and everything else- his stance is - I am an adult and I know what needs to be done. If I wasn't getting my work done or if there were issues- it might be different.

Amazing! 4 days? Are you with the VA?

No. USDA.

Anonymous wrote:Fed employee here. Very Family Friendly. In the office 1 day per week - telework 4. Flex hours (now I work 8-4:30- will adjust when my son hits school so I can be off work at 3:30 when he gets home). Have to use sick/annual leave for maternity leave- but no big deal- did 12 weeks. Now 0 a little over a year later- have 6 weeks already saved up again (we didn't take a vacation this past summer- just took a few days off here and there). My boss is the kind that believes family comes first - and with regard to telework and everything else- his stance is - I am an adult and I know what needs to be done. If I wasn't getting my work done or if there were issues- it might be different.

Amazing! 4 days? Are you with the VA?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does family friendly really mean? Please be specific.

I'm 11:10. To me, it means being able to WFH when needed (i.e., DC is home sick, dr's appointment, need to be at school for a class event, etc). Flexibility in hours - work 7 hours on client site, finish the last at home after DC goes to bed, good maternity leave policy. My company also has on-site daycare in some locations, which a lot of people like. It's not subsidized though - pretty expensive but high quality.

For me it means being able to work more than 8 hours at the office one day and less on other days to make up your 40. I don't even drean of taking work home. It means taking a day off for a sick child is not secretly frowned upon so you argue with your spouse as to which one of your employers will give you a harder time or later penalize you in promotions. It means generous vacations that you can actually use. Long time ago at biglaw I didn't even use up all my vacation days I had accrued because I didn't want to come across as a slacker. I an now with the federal govt but my childless boss doesn't necessarily approve your flex time requests or other leave you have earned already without being a tad difficult.

Anonymous wrote:Another Fed. I think mine is fairly friendly:
No flexible hours, although I only have to work 8-4:30.
No Telework (up to boss and my boss hates telework)
No maternity, but can use sick leave. So far after working 6 years I've saved up 9 weeks. Baby #2 is screwed.

No flexible hours, but I work only 40 a week. Situational teleworking only. No maternity leave. Understanding supervisors.

Anonymous wrote:Capital one. Great place to work. My boss last week missed an important meeting with senior executives (which he is himself, I'd venture he makes $500k plus), because his daughter was sick and his wife was out of town and no one even batted an eye. It's culture that keeps people here.

Interesting - I know several people who work/worked at Capital One, and they all say pretty much the same thing - that it's a sweat shop.

Yes - its one of the reasons I am staying with the current job. (federal)

telework 2 days a week
managers are very flexible when I need to take time off for the kids