Personal life and work balance question

[Martinus]

I'm interested what Languishites think, as the approach to this varies wildly. For example, in work like mine, you are expected to work a lot, often over weekends. This is a nuisance to everyone, but people who have kids (and have to occassionally take them to schools or hospitals etc.) grumble about it more. Then again, someone may for example have a chronic disease which takes them out of work for days or weeks at a time.

Option 1 says such reasons should be tolerated and accomodated and they should not affect such person's pay or career prospects - some people claim this is the right approach - do you agree?

Option 2 says this should be tolerated, but should be taken into account for career or promotion reasons. So you are given a choice - either dedicate yourself more to the career or to your personal life, with consequences.

Option 3 says that such people should be let go.

For the sake of argument, assume that such disruptions are statistically significant - of course if someone has to come late to work once a month or so, then it is not relevant. If they have to leave the office early each day, or are unavailable once a week, then it is relevant.

[Sheilbh]

Option 1.

[Martinus]

Option 1.

Really? How is it fair? To me it's a classic case of moral hazard. Why do people that, say, hire a nanny be worse off than people who refuse to do so and as a result their work performance suffers?

[11B4V]

Depends, what does the CBA cover.

[Martinus]

Depends, what does the CBA cover.

CBA? Can't Be Arsed? 

[11B4V]

Collective Barganing Agreement.

or are you just asking something in general and not specific?

[Valdemar]

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

[Zanza]

Option 1.5 - meaning that while companies should certainly accomodate for a chronic illness and should be flexible regarding taking care of children, that has to be within reasonable bounds. Obviously at some point, it affects career chances, e.g. working part time will harm your prospects, but shouldn't exclude promotion, but having to leave every Thursday at 4 pm to pick up your child from kindergarten shouldn't - companies should be able to cope with that.

[Martinus]

Collective Barganing Agreement.

or are you just asking something in general and not specific?

In general.

[Valdemar]

Option 1.5 - meaning that while companies should certainly accomodate for a chronic illness and should be flexible regarding taking care of children, that has to be within reasonable bounds. Obviously at some point, it affects career chances, e.g. working part time will harm your prospects, but shouldn't exclude promotion, but having to leave every Thursday at 4 pm to pick up your child from kindergarten shouldn't - companies should be able to cope with that.

This, I would not take a job that didn't allow me to flex my hours around being able to attend doctors and children's functions, but I would make up by doing the hours at other times.

V

[Zanza]

For all office jobs, companies should generally allow more working from home and at flexible times.

That's obviously not possible when you work at an assembly line or in retail, where companies can show less flexibility regarding work time.

[Martinus]

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

Wow. That's unexpected.

I hope you and your family die soon, too, preferably in a painful way. Judging from your posts about your personal life, I think it's more likely to happen (at least as far as you are concerned) than what you exploited from my own posts about my personal life to create a barb directed at me.

[11B4V]

of the options, #1

[Martinus]

For all office jobs, companies should generally allow more working from home and at flexible times.

That's obviously not possible when you work at an assembly line or in retail, where companies can show less flexibility regarding work time.

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. And I'm talking about guys here.

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.

[Sheilbh]

Basically what Zanza's saying.  I think most companies should be able to accommodate people with young families or illness through flexible working and that sort of thing.  It shouldn't be allowed to impinge on the progress of an otherwise talented employee.