Full Time, All the Time
with Britt and Robyn
I'm Britt. I work full time as a mom, wife, blogger and salesperson with a fancy management title. And I'm Robyn. I work as a project manager and between corporate meetings manage to cook a home-made meal every day. This blog is about our experiences of juggling full-time work with family.
Check out our personal blogs:
Miss Britt and Who's the Boss?
In January, I started working from home three days a week.
After three months of enjoying a new work/home/life balance, I can’t imagine how I ever lived any other way. I’m thrilled and grateful that my boss was willing to work with me to create a work arrangement that made it easier for me to manage my family life. I understand now why “flex time” has become such a popular idea among women in the workforce over the last several years.
But is all this negotiating to create a work/life balance about to bite us all in the butt?
A recent Washington Post article warns that advantages like working from home could lead to lay offs in a bad economy.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
The hard truth is, jobs are hard to come by right now. It doesn’t matter what market you live in or what industry you work in, someone else out there would love to have your job. And employers know it.
According to the Washington Post article:
“…many managers are doing little to calm those concerns, human resource consultants say. They tend to view options such as flex time and telecommuting as retention tools, experts say, and in recessions, fear of unemployment is just as effective.”
In other words - you should be lucky to have a job. Don’t push it.
I have seen this attitude pop up at my husband’s company. New policies are put into place that demand more work and accountability, and any push back from employees is met with a “good luck getting a job some place else” attitude, if not that exact verbal response. Health insurance plans are changed and no one says a word. It’s unfortunate, but impossible to deny that employers have the upper hand in this job market.
Fortunately, I have yet to see that attitude within my own company. My boss and I are friends and he is still just as concerned with my overall happiness as he was a year ago. But I’ve noticed a slight shift in my own mind. I’m starting to feel less like a marketable commodity and more like the benefactor of some devine benevolance. I certainly won’t be asking for a raise any time soon.
What about you?
Are you going above and beyond to make sure you’re not expendable? Are you working harder for less in an attempt to stay off the downsize radar?
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We used to have flex time here at work too, but now only certain people have that privilege. Working from home has its perks though. My sisters and I have a business as well and we work from home, we are our own bosses so we aren’t really that scared of getting laid off.
Imee | March 25th, 2009 at 5:20 am
This is such nonsense. A flexible work schedule for ANYONE (male, female, parent, childless) can be a wonderful thing if it means the employee is happier and more productive. It’s about time the work world recognized that people have different rhythms and need to work with them, not against them in order to succeed.
Unless the work is suffering from the person working from home, I don’t see what the fuss is about. And that “you’re lucky you have a job” attitude? It kills me. And it reminds us of why unions were created — to stop the bullying (never mind what they turned into).
Finn | March 25th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Don’t buy into the fear mongering! It’s at times like these in the economy that we moms (and dads and grandparents and pet-owners) need to stand up for the work-life balance we need. If you’re a top performer at your company, it shouldn’t hurt you to work part-time. (Especially in a freld like sales, where performance can be measured in dollars and cents.) And if it does hurt your career, that organization probably isn’t the right long-term fit for you. Read my response to the Washington Post article here http://workingmoms.about.com/b/2009/03/24/will-working-moms-suffer-for-going-part-time-or-telecommuting.htm
Katherine | March 25th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Finn, I have a union job. And let me say that what Britt writes about is not nonsense at all.
For some bosses, it doesn’t matter that the work you’re doing from home is fine (or, in some cases, that you’re even more productive from home than you are in the office). They need to be able to *see* that you’re working and monitor what you’re doing, not because they don’t trust you, but they feel like they have to be accountable to *their* bosses. Many employers don’t really care about how happy an employee is, just that there’s still a profit to be had. And that “you’re lucky you have a job” attitude is unfortunate, but it’s very, very real.
Lylah | March 25th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
At this stage of my life, I simply wouldn’t take a job that required daily “face time.” I have turned down a number of lucrative offers for this very reason. Luckily, I have the flexibility because of my savings and frugal lifestyle.
Some people do thrive on the “face time” so more power to them. I believe there will always be options that don’t require it. If they don’t pay as much, I really don’t have a problem with that, because working at home is a huge perk, and it saves me valuable time and money.
SKL | March 25th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I too went from thinking, hey you are lucky to have me to hmmm, no raise request this year. Can’t wait for this recession to end.
PatriciaJ | March 29th, 2009 at 10:13 am