Uncle Johnny, actually my great uncle, my father's mother's brother, was an old school executive. His specialty was sorting out heavy manufacturing. Late in his career, his last job, he was sent to a foundry in northeast Ohio to fix quality control and production issues. His first day there he summoned all of the managers to his office for a meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon. The men in suits all arrived, coffee cups in hand and sat around the conference table in his office. (Of course they were all men.) He looked at them and simply said, "I didn't know I had scheduled this for the time of your afternoon coffee break, I will be back in 15 minutes when your break is over." That was his way of setting a very formal workplace structure. A workplace that is not family friendly, starting with all men at the table.
Today there are more women at the table, though still not in proportion to the population in most every field. Bringing your coffee cup to a meeting is acceptable, we are seeing fewer suits. But still the most common reason we hear for women leaving the workplace, is caregiving.
Along comes the global pandemic, and home is the new office. We had a board meeting recently. On Zoom of course. We had a parent with a six-month old, a parent directing a 7 year old on remote schooling, someone taking care of a very elderly cat, and someone house-training a puppy. And you know what, the business of the business carried on. There was ooo!ing and Ahhing! at the baby and the puppy, and people saying "go ahead a take a minute" for the home teaching, and everyone seems to like a dog (who it turns out was camera shy.) Uncle Johnny would have been aghast, but caregiving is a part of life.
Is this a glimpse of the evolving workplace of the future, more blending of home and work? Being more family and caregiver friendly? I like it.
I think some of this will remain and I would hope to the advantage of women, but I still think personal contact is good.
ReplyDeleteWe need to be more caregiver friendly, then maybe more men will take on the role of caregiving, many men are very good caregivers.
DeleteI'm almost sort of glad I didn't have a job where i could work from home. I'd feel as though my home and work life was blurring and invading my sanctuary. When I left the store....it stayed there.
ReplyDeleteIt is harder to draw the lines, but my commute is 5 seconds.
DeleteIDK...I'm like maddie, I want my work life and personal life separated.
ReplyDeleteWhat if, you could take the kitties to the office?
Deletenope. work and home should always be separate entities, IMHO. with cell phones, the damn employers think they can contact you 24/7 - WRONG!
DeleteI like the idea of not having to give up family life for work life, but I found when i combined the two I spent more hours working and never seemed to switch off. I preferred separating work from home.
ReplyDeleteWith work at home being so widespread, there is open discussion of the need to draw boundaries - to not expect people to work more - to allow flexibility on work hours. One of my co-workers has three young children, WFH allows her flexibility to work around the school schedule, she works most Sundays, and late evening, but seldom in the middle of the day in the middle of the day - as those are school times.
DeleteIn my work environment, family, friends, and personal needs always seemed to take precedence over job responsibility for my co-workers, supervisors, and staff. And remote work has enhanced that. I’m all for accommodating when possible, allowing schedule flexibility and time off as needed because life does not always conform to our work schedules, but I do believe we have a responsibility to be at work when we’re at work and I’d like to see more professionalism brought to the office in conjunction with more tolerance for personal life events. It’s too often one extreme or the other. Personally, the more flexibility and freedom I’m given, the more effort I put into focusing on my work when I’m at work to earn that freedom and flexibility. I, too, need a clear line between work and home. Perhaps it’s a sign that I need to retire (and will ASAP.) I think my work ethic and attitudes are too outdated for the modern work force and environment.
ReplyDeleteSassybear
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There are five people in my department, four of us have really well with work from home. It does not work for everyone.
DeleteNice! (Even though I am a fan of stiff formality and rigid etiquette.)
ReplyDeleteNever turn you back to the queen
DeleteI think this might be the future. My workplace has already started talking about lowering the office space. And yes, I've been on several online meetings that have been interrupted by kids with questions or dogs barking. In fact, my boss has three cats and they seem to rotate for attention while she's on calls. It feels to me like it relaxes people and gives everyone a warm feeling.
ReplyDeleteIf not for a lease, we would abandon most of our office space (I have been there three times since the end of February
DeleteThe old management model based on hierarchy, command-and-obey, and unquestioning self-sacrifice just doesn't work any more. And that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think back on some of the people I have worked for, I shake my head.
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