How much flexibility for work-life balance?
Hi friends of women in science,
On March 6, Jena McGregor wrote an interesting Washington Post article you can read here. As you may have heard, Yahoo had recently rescinded its policy saying employees could work from home, a policy that was helpful to many young mothers. Macgregor points out that the problem tends to be that we lack flexibility, not just that working mothers are impacted. She cites Cali Williams Yost, a consultant dealing with these issues, who had a client asking to train for a marathon and thus move work time from the usual daily hours, making up the time during other hours. However, the response from the boss was he'd like to take hot-air balloon rides too, a contemptuous rejection, although the company supposedly had flexible time arrangments.
She raises the issue of fairness for people with aging parents who need chemotherapy as well. Another employee was constantly asked to do last minute travel and found it almost impossible to arrange for dog care at such short notice. Macgregor said Yost commented that she was embarassed to say what her problem was because it seemed trivial compared to child care. According to Macgregor, "We have a media culture that obsesses over the challenges of working parents - particularly moms - to such a point that it's almost taboo to suggest other employees should have equal flexibility."
As STEM professionals, how do we feel about this issue? Shouldn't family and life flexibility be offered to all? Do children trump all other issues in terms of keeping women happy in STEM careers?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Meredith and Linda,
Well, there we have it: both sides, expressed with warmth and urgency. I find it hard to choose one over the other, Linda. Are old people and healthy activities unimportant? I don't feel that they are. Are children important? Yes, they are. If hard choices must be made, I don't have a good answer.
Laura
Laura--
It's hard, but I do think if choices have to be made, people with young kids should get the first breaks and the others should get some support but not maximum flexibility. It's to our whole society's advantage that the next generation be raised and mentored and loved, no?
LKR
Hi Laura,
I have my husband's father living with us and if I didn't have flexibility at work and some work-at-home hours permitted, I probably couldn't do it. I don't know how we could bring ourselves to put him in a nursing home, though, let alone how we could afford it. He wants very much to keep staying here. But it's definitely a lot of work and can include last-minute demands that require flexibility. So I liked the premise of this article!
MRC
