Working From Home
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I didn't expect that I'd have to stay home with a sick kiddo during my first week at a new firm, yet here we are. One of my boys has a fever and has been sleeping nicely on the couch all afternoon while I've gotten work done. I hate that kids get sick, but I do love the technology allows me to give care to a child while also still getting some work done.
When I heard about the fever late in the day yesterday I was nervous about telling my new boss about it. We were measuring a house at the start of a new project and I had gotten a call from pre-school on the way over. Fortunately my wife could go get him and I could finish out my tasks. As my boss and I were getting ready to part ways for the day I told her that there was a good chance that I would have to stay home the next day. Her immediate reaction, and I mean before I had finished talking, was to give me her notes from the site measure so that I could work on them from home. She quickly followed up by saying that she was concerned about my son and wanted to make sure that he got better. I was stunned and thrilled at how supportive she was.
This is a big contrast to past employers whose immediate response has been about how my sick kid impacts their life and to try to have me get someone else to take care of my kid so that I could go work. I get why an employer would react that way, but it never struck me as being particularly supportive of their employees. It became a big issue over time and contributed to my departure from that firm.
Still, I think about my current boss and her immediate support and I can't help but wonder if this is what it's like have a boss who is a mother rather than a father. Not that father's can't be supportive or empathic in these situations, but there just isn't a tradition in business showing those traits.
When I heard about the fever late in the day yesterday I was nervous about telling my new boss about it. We were measuring a house at the start of a new project and I had gotten a call from pre-school on the way over. Fortunately my wife could go get him and I could finish out my tasks. As my boss and I were getting ready to part ways for the day I told her that there was a good chance that I would have to stay home the next day. Her immediate reaction, and I mean before I had finished talking, was to give me her notes from the site measure so that I could work on them from home. She quickly followed up by saying that she was concerned about my son and wanted to make sure that he got better. I was stunned and thrilled at how supportive she was.
This is a big contrast to past employers whose immediate response has been about how my sick kid impacts their life and to try to have me get someone else to take care of my kid so that I could go work. I get why an employer would react that way, but it never struck me as being particularly supportive of their employees. It became a big issue over time and contributed to my departure from that firm.
Still, I think about my current boss and her immediate support and I can't help but wonder if this is what it's like have a boss who is a mother rather than a father. Not that father's can't be supportive or empathic in these situations, but there just isn't a tradition in business showing those traits.
That's a great response! My experience has been that it's less about mother vs. father or woman vs. man and more about good people managers vs. managers looking only at the bottom line. What I wish the second group recognized is that happy employees are more productive employees. And happy employees recruit their hardworking/smart friends.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you Andy. Glad they care about this stuff. It certainly goes a long ways. Unfortunately, I do think women are more understanding of work/family balance. It’s very sad but I think it’s true. Us men need to step up and speak up!
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