Personal life and work balance question

[Syt]

Martinus, what job levels are we talking about here? Receptionists? Secretaries? Partners?

[Martinus]

Martinus, what job levels are we talking about here? Receptionists? Secretaries? Partners?

Mid-and-upper management (so senior associates, partners etc.).

[Gups]

He's obviously talking about himself. As always.

If you work for a big law firm, you get a target for chargeable hours (amongst other targets). Everyone shoudl have the same targets but there should be a degree of flexibility in how the traget is achieved and the firm should accommodate its fee earners. So home working etc should be encouraged.

[Valdemar]

The "hire a nanny" attitude, the whole "judge everyone as if they were like me" attitude that you expose in so many posts lately and the apparent complete lack of ability to see it from anybody else POW, is what is grating on me. You seem to become more and more stereotyped and more an more one track minded, dismissing any other way of doing things, from breat feeding to employee management. Calous would be a fitting term, with definite streak of anti social.

As to the chance of your wish being granted, I may most likely live to very old age thank you, the disease is non lethal.

V

[The Larch]

I'm with Zanza and the rest, as long as you're able to be as productive as required by your position and are able to deliver as expected, this kind of things shouldn't be held against you, and there are many measures that can be taken to accomodate for them without your output being in jeopardy. Of course this is going to vary wildly depending on the kind of work, but for a modern service occupation it should be handleable.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think the default expectation should target a work week of 37-42 hours. I understand that there are difficulties keeping it down to that level when senior posts are involved, but that does not mean that efforts to restrict long hours cultures should not be made.

[Zanza]

Mid-and-upper management (so senior associates, partners etc.).

I was at an event once where someone asked a board member of the company I work for regarding his personal work life balance. That board member said that his job would require sixteen hour days everyday. That's fair enough as you know what the price is if you want such a position. The higher you go in the hierarchy, the better you are paid, the more the company can demand obviously. However, most people aren't in a senior position in an international law firm, so I answered not for your perspective, but rather for that of the average office worker.

[Zanza]

Well, I am not saying that people should not be allowed to work from home. I'm talking about people missing deadlines and so on because they refuse to hire a nanny and use their children as an excuse not to work.

Missing deadlines is obviously not acceptable, but then the deadline should be set in a way that the employee can actually make it considering his/her work-life balance. That's what should be expected from a modern company.

And I'm talking about guys here.

Welcome to the 21st century: fathers want time with their children too and guys can have chronic diseases too. Gender shouldn't play a role.

Fortunately, my boss (who herself has children) seems to have the same attitude as I do: we pay you well enough to hire a nanny - if you can't put out long hours despite that, then perhaps you should seek a job that pays less but offers less demanding schedule.

With a company policy like that, you'll obviously lose some talented people, but I guess there are still enough people who are willing to sacrifice their private life for their career, so it won't hurt the company much. Might hurt the work culture though.

[Brazen]

Another vote for 1.5. It should be tolerated and should not affect the person's career prospects so long as it's within reason and does not affect the person's ability to deliver his required work to deadline and specified quality, and does not dump any incomplete work on his hapless colleagues.

[Syt]

Missing deadlines is obviously not acceptable, but then the deadline should be set in a way that the employee can actually make it considering his/her work-life balance. That's what should be expected from a modern company.

Well, in my previous job you had to hit the deadline, no matter what (at least in our region). If the deadline was a public holiday: tough noogies. If it meant you having to stay late or come in on weekends: so be it. If you missed any deadlines: prepare to be bitchslapped. And I'm talking about the "normal" employees there.

[The Larch]

Mid-and-upper management (so senior associates, partners etc.).

I was at an event once where someone asked a board member of the company I work for regarding his personal work life balance. That board member said that his job would require sixteen hour days everyday. That's fair enough as you know what the price is if you want such a position. The higher you go in the hierarchy, the better you are paid, the more the company can demand obviously. However, most people aren't in a senior position in an international law firm, so I answered not for your perspective, but rather for that of the average office worker.

Personally I've never understood that attitude. Then again i'm not a workaholic sociopath.

[Eddie Teach]

I think more productive workers should get preference regardless of family situation, but also echo the sentiments of the majority that companies should be flexible and not demand too many hours.

Also, since I'm a nice guy, I hope everybody in this thread dies in their sleep. Preferably tonight. 

[Ed Anger]

I was almost always tolerant of people's personal life issues. AS LONG AS THEY TALKED TO ME.

We don't manage robots.

[DGuller]

Depends on how it affects productivity, obviously.  Pretty much what Zanza said.

[CountDeMoney]

Martinus, I used to think you were an OK guy, and that your opinions and online persona was a deliberate exageration, where your real life was more nuanced and pragmatic.

But these past months you've become so extreme, so socialible inept and your attitudes so close to sociopathic as they can possibly be without having you comitted.


I hope you die a very old man, lonely, in a cold cold place, exploited by your former relationsships in every possible way.

V

He likes to generate these little polls (git it) not because he's interested in our answers, but because he already knows it himself, and would like very much to have it validated.

He is, in short, a douchebag.