May 15th, 2008
Today is National Work from Home Day in the UK.
And, since I’m always a jet setter, I am celebrating at home.
OK, maybe the plans for my day off got canceled, but, still today’s the big day, I’m working and I’m at home.
National Work From Home Day, a part of Work Wise Week, is intended to demonstrate the benefits of home working. Reports estimate that approaching five million workers across the United Kingdom are planning to “make their home the office” on May 15th in honor of National Work from Home Day.
According to Work Wise UK, the benefits of working at home are:
enhancing work-life balance for staff, with added health and leisure benefits, and reducing the need to travel, working from home significantly improves productivity, enabling businesses to be more competitive.
I’m a bit skeptical about what one day does to demonstrate this, but, if it works, then by all means, keep on.
I agree with the premise of working at home, but as I’ve said before, I come from a hospital patient care background, an industry that really doesn’t lend itself to working at your own home, so it’s hard for me to relate.
However, there are many businesses that lend itself to this work arrangement and it might benefit both the employee and the employer.
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By elizabeth -- 2 comments
May 14th, 2008
One of the hazards of being a working parent is the moment you get “the call” from daycare or school, “Your child has a fever (insert other contagious illness, here), come get them.”
All at once, you feel deflated because that parking lot dose of ibuprofen didn’t hold (kidding. mostly.) and you worry that something might be really wrong.
At that precise moment, the magic “hour” stopwatch starts ticking and you race to get there before…well…before, I’m not sure, but I’ve never wanted to find out.
Tekla, at Silicon Valley Moms Blog, had that experience recently and the school couldn’t reach her or her husband and the office got upset:
I called the school when I got the message and rushed right over. She was feeling a queasy and looked a little feverish, though when I took her temperature it was normal. She’d been lying down on a cot in the health office. She wasn’t bleeding or throwing up.
The school nurse glared at me. “Where have you been? We’ve been trying to reach you for an hour and a half! Why weren’t you answering your cell phone!”
While I’m sure there is the occasional parent out there who resists picking up a sick child, I think most parents respond promptly and appropriately as soon as they receive the message since it’s not good to leave a sick child to expose other people.
It’s vital to leave a good contact number with the school or the caregiver, but, schools need to remember parents who are at work may not always be immediately reachable, but they can respond in a reasonable amount of time.
What about you? Have you ever surpassed the magic hour of picking up a sick child from school? Did you live to tell about it? Do you find that parents are expected to be “on call” and immediately available?
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By elizabeth -- 4 comments
May 13th, 2008
My work situation is on the verge of changing soon.
In the next few weeks, I’ll likely be working alone since my employee is moving on. And, well, I’m going to be busy, busy, busy.
As I’ve told you before, my job is reasonably flexible, but the added workload may compromise that flexibility and I’m concerned.
My daughter will be starting high school in the fall, and my sons are getting older and doing more things that require my time, and now I may have less time to manage it than before. But, as with any change, you just have to go along with it, and I shall, but I may need to drive just a little faster to get to soccer practice, so you might want to stay out of my way.
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By elizabeth -- 2 comments
May 12th, 2008
Career Builder.com had a Mother’s Day survey that revealed that 43% of working moms are willing to take a pay cut if it allows them to spend more time with their children.
If had read that about 7 years ago, I would have thought, “That’s nice, but it doesn’t apply to me, we can’t do that.”
But, it was decided for me immediately upon my return to work from maternity leave.
My job was eliminated, and I had to find one within the organization (lots of reasons) pretty quickly.
The job that was the most appealing to me paid a LOT less than I was making, but I kind of held my breath and jumped in, thinking I could always look again if we didn’t drown financially before then, because taking a drastic pay cut after having your third kid isn’t something I’d recommend.
However, the change turned out to have more benefits than I could have ever imagined.
I didn’t cry all the time, my job was flexible enough that I could pick up someone from school if I needed to, and, I got home at the same time every day..
But, another huge benefit wouldn’t be realized until years later when my mother became ill. When I had to miss so much work, I couldn’t have asked for better support, and, I knew right away this was the job I was supposed to have.
There are some things money can’t buy.
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By elizabeth -- 7 comments
May 11th, 2008
A Happy Mother’s Day and best wishes to mothers who work here, there, home or office.
I hope you had a wonderful day and many more to come.
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By elizabeth -- 0 comments
May 9th, 2008
In the workplace, it’s often perceived that parents, especially mothers, get preferential treatment when it comes to working late or overtime.
However, a recent survey by Adecco USA Workplace finds that working moms are just as likely as non-parents to work late:
The latest Adecco USA Workplace Insight survey, conducted in recognition of Mother’s Day, found that working moms (71%) are just as likely as non-parents (73%) to work late and respond to e-mails after hours, even though one-third of all workers (32%) would be less inclined to ask a working parent (male or female) to do so. Further, even though they’re willing to burn the midnight oil with the rest of their colleagues, nearly half of moms (49%) think their companies should do more to help them achieve better work/life balance.
I know there’s conflict between parents and non-parents in some workplaces, but fortunately I’ve never experienced it.
I worked for a brief stint in IT, and the culture was clearly different than what I was used to as a nurse. I had my first child during this time and knew I had to get out because my supervisor was a caricature of of the boss who thought people who arrived early and worked later were better employees.
I disagreed with that philosophy before I had kids, and I certainly wasn’t going to change my mind after I had kids, but I never asked for anything special because I was a parent.
I might add that he died of a heart attack at a young age.
There are people who clearly take advantage of their status as a parent to get out of things at work, in my experience, the majority don’t.
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By elizabeth -- 3 comments
May 8th, 2008
How much is too much personal information to share in the workplace?
At one time or another, we’ve all asked a co-worker what they did over the weekend, that’s just small talk, but sometimes people “over-share” or “under share” and it can cause problems in the office.
We all know the person that gives one too many details about their personal lives and everyone is uncomfortable.
Forbes Magazine discusses sharing personal information in the office, and concludes that when sharing personal information, honesty is the best policy, but it must be tempered with basic manners.
Do what your mother told you and avoid discussion of sex, religion and politics even if you spend a great deal of time with your coworkers.
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By elizabeth -- 0 comments
May 6th, 2008
There’s a new site in town called Comeback Moms. It’s a community for mothers who are returning to work after leaving careers for family reasons.
There are articles, forums, reviews, net working opportunities and more. Check it out if you are reentering the workforce or thinking about it.
via So Little Time
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By elizabeth -- 2 comments
May 5th, 2008
Yet another study that “shows” working women only spend 30 minutes with their children:
New Delhi: An Assocham study, based on a random survey in which over 3,000 working couples of various companies participated, says a working woman nearly spends 10-hours in office, over 2.5 hour in traveling, almost seven hours sleeping, three hours working in the household and thus has less than one hour of entertainment and can hardly spare 30 minutes for her children.
I love the way it says “can hardly spare” 30 minutes. It may be a language barrier of some sort, but it read pretty dramatically.
It also doesn’t take into account that you can spend time with kids in different ways.
No wonder working parents are stereotyped, sometimes.
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By elizabeth -- 2 comments
May 4th, 2008
Telecommuting is oft praised as a boon to the elusive balance of work and life and many companies have enthusiastically jumped on board.
But, is the honeymoon for telecommuters over?
Some studies suggest that the “myths” of telecommuting might be true:
Sixty-one percent of executives surveyed in January 2007 by Korn/Ferry International, a Los Angeles-based recruiting firm, said they saw career stagnancy among telecommuting workers.
Nearly half of CIOs felt that remote employees’ quality of work suffered due to reduced in-person contact with colleagues, and one-third said that these employees were less productive due to a lack of supervision, in a study released last July by Robert Half Technology, an IT staffing firm in Menlo Park, Calif.
I think that the success of telecommuting depends on the person and the position as well as a certain level of trust between employee and employer.
I’m sure there are some cases where is just didn’t work out for an employee to work from home, and in other cases it turned out better than expected for everyone and it’s hard to speak in absolutes about it.
However, the current gas price situation may force employees and employers to look more intensely at making telecommuting work.
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By elizabeth -- 4 comments
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