I feel like this is reading a lot into what the OP has provided. The Pros and Cons of Workplace Flexibility | TriNet If not flextime, then maybe something else? Its often a totally reasonable answer, and OP hasnt given us enough context to know if its reasonable from her employee or not. And we dont really know which one we are dealing with in this letter because, other than a parenthetical note about it, the situation is not explained. And yet my former boss still thinks that I was disrespectful, lazy, and stuck-up for saying no to her reasonable request. As a new manager myself, something that has been challenging but helpful is for me to be *extremely* clear about my expectations. And there are others. If that task needs to be done and isnt, then hire someone to do that task. (Im learning ALL about this in a management training Im in.) I was just about to quote this part of the letter and say the same thing. Especially if you are the junior employee who is new, doesnt have the confidence or know how or ask for reasonable requests or has had a terrible boss who definitely does play favorites. That said, I wouldnt push the issue much. As long as the perk is offered equally to both, I dont think anyone should police how it is used. mental health oriented? But I think its important that managers trust their employees, especially when given no reason not to. I mean, sure, adding kids to the mix does have the potential to increase the need for flexibility, but so do a lot of other things that are less photogenic/attractive, for lack of a better term. Im all in for that, the person in shipping is out unexpectedly, okay Ill pack boxes all day for a few days but Ive had this then become part of my duties, just no. If you ask me to do certain things, like secretarial work or personal assistant stuff when Im a technical professional, I will tell you thats not my job, because it literally isnt. Enh, I really get more the vibe of first time manager not sure how to handle this balance.. Hurray! On the surface, an eager go-getter who never demands flexibility may be easier to manage at first, but that doesnt necessarily mean that their productivity/results in the long run are better than the less flexible, more demanding employee. Im more eager to take on random projects and jump in to help anyone who needs a hand. Its also not in most employers best interest to pay someone to spend a big chunk of their time doing admin work when they were hired to do something a lot more specialized. Agreed! And if someone has a boss with bad boundaries, they can find their workload growing in all kinds of ways that actually distract from the job they were hired to do. Sometimes its to get out of work, sure. We had an open office; I came in one morning and my boss told me I was on another team and to sit at a table 3 rows down. So my name is next to various things, because I have overall supervision for them. A Guide to Enabling Employee Flexibility - Indeed Weve seen organizations where some managers allow their employees flexibility while other managers dont. I love having a flexible schedule to run errands, go to the gym during lunch, leave early on a Friday, and work from home *sometimes* more than our 1 day/week policy. I do a lot of the latter, because IT isnt clear-cut on who takes care of what within the department, and no one can know everything. Its not crazy for a manager to prefer an eager, reliable Sure, whatever you need, boss! type to someone who draws firmer boundaries around their work and frequently asks to work from home, be out of office, etc. The bottom line is that one employee wants flexibility and the other one seems content without it. For myself, for instance Im a code monkey, and pretty stereotypically, Id like to avoid team-building exercises, fancy meetings with higher-ups, and other mandatory social events. Adaptability in the Workplace: Benefits You do NOT want to fall into a pattern of I told this person yes to the last 5 requests so Im going to say no or put limits on the 6th just to exert my position. That they feel they should be saying to no because the other person doesnt ask as often and it seems unfair. And when I say it backfired, I mean that many good people got fed up and left while the slackers stayed. FWIW Ive worked in offices with similar dynamics to this; what usually happens is that the proactive team players get fed up with coworkers like her and quit. This describes my evolution as a young junior employee to a mid-level employee very well. I telecommute 100% of the time; Im a military spouse and happened to work for a company that was location flexible at the time this part of my life started. On the other end, there are people who basically believe that hours should be shifted freely as long as its not creating a work issue. Is there some threshold, like number of hours/days a week, where it seems fine for someone to be out of the office for that long but not for longer? But it can be very wise to remind your manager that its not the data entry supervisors job either to get coffee nor to moonlight at copywriting or graphic design. Other responsibilities, as well, such as houses or aging parents. I think the OPs attitude is kind of toxic, to be honest.. Im firmly of the opinion that you dont give a reason for this request unless you are denied, and you need to up the stakes. I feel like this is telling: and, most importantly, I feel like they actually show up and care. Are you one of those people who equates showing up and caring with having your butt in your office chair for 8+ hours a day? Just because the work is there and needs doing doesnt mean it makes sense for it to be done by her if the company would be better served by her experience and skill being applied elsewhere. We do that for our outages. But again, let me get the person who can help with that. If a particular approach to workplace flexibility isnt working for your team, change it. I would urge the OP to make sure the members of their team know that flexibility is available and OK to take advantage of. Im not going to automatically fulfill any old request without checking if its something I should actually be doing. As women we get assigned a bunch of stuff that is only assigned to us because of gender. Big oof. Im reminded of the recent letter from the person who had taken a job specifically because she was told during recruitment that WFH wasnt a problem then found herself trying to navigate a boss who clearly didnt want her to WFH but wouldnt actually say so. The whole thing (obviously) left a bad taste. You can work from a home office, cafe or even while you're traveling. We also do changes from home after hours, so its not like we actually have to be in the office to work. The point is, you need a very clear idea of what you need so you can manage her. Its absolutely important to make sure the time is there if she needs it, but its also good to remember that not everyone works the same way and she might prefer to be in her seat nearly all of the regular work time. But honestlythey still got their work done! I have worked with this person. I dont know. Does it make it harder for your other employee to leave early or work from home herself, because she needs to be in the office if her coworker isnt? I think the reciprocity is some of it, too. But Alison, what if it really is part of and other duties or and other duties as needs may arise. Id start by thinking, How often am I assigning tasks outside the employees area of responsibility? If the works getting done, does it really have to be with a passion? Like myself, I am sure you didnt disclose every last heart-wrenching detail, leaving your manager to trust you (something that is apparently super hard for managers to do). Nothing grinds my gears like having somebody tell you thats not my job. It didnt respond correctly down below. The demand for flexible work 'will only accelerate' in coming years It can be hard not to take action, but sometimes its the best option. I dont have kids, but I still consider flex scheduling a huge advantage. Guess Culture) Direct Report might be thinking Whatever, Id like to do X, so Ill just ask OP about it, she can always say No. whereas OP might be thinking Why is Direct Report not realising herself that her weekly questions are a burden/annoying/out-of-step with the teams culture/whatever and why does she continue asking?. Whats your advice? We have a calendar where we keep the in/out of office information. These flexible work categories serve as preliminary starting points for organizations that have yet to implement these kinds of options. This is a gigantic red flag to me that a company is poorly organized and managed. Maybe she does need to be more of a team player or maybe shes overwhelmed with work. Businesses that One is rude and unhelpful, the other is not. This is exactly what I was wondering everyone here gets flexibility because they have kids. Also, these are professionals hired to do a particular job; theyre not indentured servants and theyre allowed to push back when something is outside the scope of what they understood they were offering their labor to do. I get that your point may be in the ideal scenario it should not be implemented as such, but reality is it often is. Other duties as assigned is not supposed to be carte blanche for the employer to take advantage and pile on unrelated tasks. In other words, she enjoys a lot of flexibility and independence while generally defending her own job boundaries. For my direct reports it does need to be a need rather than a perk. Ive been reading this whole thing through a new manager jitters lens, and not knowing when / how much to trust employees is very much a new mgr thing. I think that the time flexibility wouldnt be an issue if the employee seemed more willing to be a team player and pick up occasional duties that are specifically laid out in her job description. I also tend to put in hours in the evening and on the weekend. I read it more like the OP has been knee-jerking to yes and so far its been fine, but is worried shes overlooked reasons to say no (such as effects on other employees and/or work processes) but because of her hesitation to say no, did she miss the boat and is she actually being walked all over? My first job was a very strict atmosphere where you HAD to be in the office, laptop on, butt in seat, work applications open, starting your work at or before 8:30, and you werent allowed to start shutting down or packing up until 5:30. The use of phrases like reasonable boundaries and not taking advantage of me makes me wonder if theres a disconnect here between what OP thinks of as flexibility versus how the employee defines it. Here are the But I always try to do excellent work and help when asked. It sounds like youre seeing that and the fact that she asks for a more flexible schedule as evidence that shes not as much of a team player as the younger employee, and I definitely think you should question that assumption. Reduce costs: A significant advantage Whether you're adaptable already or are working to be, here are some benefits of workplace adaptability: You'll be a more valuable employee. That doesnt apply to me so I dropped it. I may be out in the afternoon managing an appointment but will be available by phone. Then if something comes up, like a all staff meeting or event, you can say we have X coming up next week and thats regularly the day you work from home. Finally, OP is comparing this employee (who does good work, uses flexible time responsibly, and sets boundaries at work) with a newer employee (who does good work, almost never uses flex time for whatever reason, and says yes all the time *I* certainly dont say yes all the time, but I did at the start of my career because I thought I needed to show how eager I was and because I didnt know I *could* say no). Like I said, and I cannot speak for OP or her report, my need for flexibility was out of necessity. This can definitely come off as not being a team player but for me, its actually because I have PTSD, which doesnt come up in my ordinary duties, but DOES come up in these unusual one-offs. You'll be happier. Thats part of being a team player, and she needs to understand that, as long as what youre asking her to do is legitimate (like not asking her to take on more than one person can handle, or making her do someone elses work because they other person is incompetent and youre not willing to work with the other person to resolve it). My first reaction was to say no, but I couldnt think of a good reason why not, so I said yes. Which fell between x-mas and new years. Eh, people with kids do generally have way more appointments, etc. as a salaried employee you dont have to, say, make up hours for a doctors appointment, but conversely its not egregious for your boss to expect you to stay late on occasion when theres a big deadline, for instance. My Mentor when I became a manager gave me great advice that has helped me so much. We cant know the answer to that. Its okay for different people to value working from home differently. Tell me, were most of the people you let go for this women? OP might be feeling uneasy because the employee requests are reasonable, so the answer is always yes, leading to OP feeling like a pushover, when the reality is the employee is mostly demonstrating how in tune they are. Thats how it works in my officeyou get one or two regularly scheduled remote days, but are required to be there physically if certain events (an all-hands meeting, quarter-end day, etc.) If flexibility is available to all employees on an equal basis, then OP should make sure that her reports are aware of that, that they are free to use the flexibility, and dont feel pressure to be chained to the desk either because of their age or inexperience. I had someone on my team who would ask that question a lot, and 4 other people who never did. People notice this stuff. Sometimes people get weird about your hours, and sometimes with some discussion, they can get unweird about them too. I possess so much institutional knowledge that theres a lot of stuff I could do if were just talking about ability. As a young worker myself, I often dont feel like I can say no to a request, and I dont really think I have enough capital to be able to draw a line and say is that my job? More often than not, part of being a young person (and especially a woman) in the workplace is saying yes to whatever your boss asks. A report is asking for reasonable flexibility but then OP compares her to someone who asks for zero flexibility and suddenly reasonable requests seem like taking advantage. Keep being conscientious of your workers needs and try not to become paranoid! You are a cool manager. It is unlikely to happen but if I were called upon to serve as a reference Id be trying to find a semi-tactful way to say competent but sort of lazy. (Which would not be my reaction if she were otherwise swamped, or even moderately busy. More broadly, this actually reminds me a bit of the you shouldnt only give raises to people who ask for raises arguments if you only give perks to people who directly ask for them youre not necessarily going to end up distributing them equally or fairly, since not everyone will feel comfortable asking (and I know in this case its two women, but statistically that often breaks down along race/gender/privilege lines that you should be aware of in general). Especially as an inexperienced manager, though, theres a strong temptation to assign work to the person who will do it without complaint (or just the person who is around) rather than the person who will push back, regardless of whos best suited for it, who has the most free time to tackle a task right now, etc. I think theres a difference between telling and asking, which is what OP said. A lot of younger people in crowded living situations dont like to WFH because they literally dont have a private space to set up, so its awkward and inconvenient.
Spx Flow Distributors,
New Age Pet Cat House,
Nikki Beach Franchise,
What Happened To Jimmy Borrelli On Chicago Fire,
Articles E