You'll get your work-life balance now, you lazy...
Now is probably not the time to saunter into your boss's office and demand a flexible work arrangement involving telecommuting or job-sharing or scaling back to part-time. Or is it?
I've been getting and making a lot of calls from colleagues since my company announced layoffs this month. One thing I learned from an off-the-record source is that some of our magazine titles want people to go part-time. But they aren't explicitly offering part-time jobs, mainly because they hope workers who might want a part-time option will volunteer to leave altogether.
So that got me to think that maybe now is the time to try to gin up some sort of nontraditional work arrangement. It's contrarian, I know. But maybe a massive economic upheaval is indeed the time for a workplace revolution, the kind described in Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson's book, "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It." They're proponents of the results-only work environment, or ROWE, which makes a really persuasive business case: hold your workers responsible for their projects, not for punching a clock, and they'll become innovative, creative, independent team members—the kind we need to power our newly lean, mean economy.
Like I said, not everyone agrees. Take this guy, a lawyer named Jim Middlemiss, who writes in Canada's National Post:
Those lawyers crying out for work-life balance are about to get a taste of what it feels like. However, it might come with a pink slip. Law firms will start sharpening their knives and weeding out the under-performers and those who aren't putting in their time.
Ah. Putting in their time—at the office, of course. That's how Middlemiss defines good lawyers. As for a younger generation seeking a smarter approach to work, he has a solution: Want work-life balance, you lazy @$#%^? You'll find plenty of me-time on the unemployment line.
What do you think—good time to go nontrad? Or idiotic to stick out your neck?
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1
You've discovered ROWE! It's a brilliant idea that seems to be working really well in some pretty big corporations. I think now is the PERFECT time for a workplace revolution - a dramatic change is really the only thing that will pull us out of this economic and employment funk. ROWE might not be for everyone, but I think it represents a last real hope for {otherwise doomed} companies overloaded with tenured non-producers. So instead of 'Change We Can Believe In', how about 'Go ROWE or Go Home'???
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2
"What do you think—good time to go nontrad? Or idiotic to stick out your neck?"
Technically, I think you just stuck your neck out very publicly on a blog?
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My advice would be - depends. Primarily on your relationship with your boss. If you have a decent relationship you can have the conversation without fear and he/she can recommend the timing of the request (before/after layoffs). If you don't, I wouldnt stick your neck out until the bodies are done droppin. And then I'd wait to see if you can have an anonymous conv with HR from the visitor lounge/empty conf call first on what they are seeing. -
3
I was just talking about this idea with my former boss. Companies could save 20% in salaries if workers switched to a 4-day work week. That would definitely help the bottom line in these lean times.
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4
HRwench, what's the HR perspective?
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5
That's so typical of law firms. I've never met one that doesn't operate in the mid-18th century. At the last one I worked at (in 2000), they were still rolling out Microsoft Office '97, and skirt suits and pantyhose were de rigueur, mind you, in progressive California. You want flex-time, part-time, no face-time? Hahahahaha. Might as well fill out your own pink slip.
But Time Inc. is not a law firm; they have electricity. Maybe they would let you consider part-time for less pay, esp. if you are highly valued.
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6
I think the power to negotiate your work situation in times like these comes down to how 'fungible' you are. (FYI - According to IBM, being 'fungible' is not a good thing.) http://www.careerealism.com/2008/09/08/are-you-fungible-hint-you-dont-want-to-be-in-todays-labor-market/
I love the ROWE concept, but I think many managers aren't truly capable of being unbiased in their assessments of their staff's performance in this model.
Some employees are just better at connecting with management and conveying their value than others. I see employees who struggle with this on the chopping block right now. As much as I'd like to believe that producing great work is all you need to be employable and keep your job, in my experience, people who haven't developed the necessary communication skills to position themselves as an asset to the company are the ones that are at risk.
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