Flexible Work Arrangements – Luxury or Compromise

 

Most employers today boast about how they make life easier for their employees – flexible work timings, work from home option, part time options & so on. Though these options are open for all, it most benefits the “Married women” segment. While they juggle work, family & kids, these options seem like a godsend to them.

But is it that hunky dory? Let’s find out about at least one option: WFH…

The moment one opts for a flexibility option, the yardstick for measuring his performance changes drastically. While most managers won’t agree, it’s sadly the truth. Here are some of the notions that the so called regular employees breed about those who WFH (henceforth called as FlexSeekers):

·         FlexSeekers don’t work at all

Suddenly “Being in office” is equated with “working”. The regular employees are not required to give an update about their tasks & bandwidth while the FlexSeekers are constantly on the radar even if they make every possible effort to showcase the work they’re doing.

·         FlexSeekers are very unethical

FlexSeekers are unethical because they don’t start their work at the same time every day. People who part time between being in office & working from home find it even more difficult when their managers say, “If you say you’ll be in office by 8.30 AM, you can’t come in at 9 AM. That’s unethical”. The fact is FlexSeekers are ill-treated not just by their managers but also by their teams. They are not included in discussions. They are not given any information unless they ask for it. They are not informed about cancelled meetings. Imagine how frustrating it would be to spend time debugging an issue that’s already fixed or waiting endlessly for the cancelled conference call to begin. The torchbearers have got the concept of workplace ethics all wrong, I guess.

·         FlexSeekers are not as dedicated as regular employees

This belief goes so up in the hierarchy even to the level of senior managers. If a regular employee is in office till 7 PM as opposed to the normal 4-5 PM schedule, the manager goes, “She stays back till 7 PM during release cycles. She’s so dedicated!” If a FlexSeeker works from 8 AM to 11 PM every day of the week (weekends included), all he gets to hear is “That’s okay… X has not done her work yet. If I was in your position, I would take up his work too…” Now that’s the new definition of DEDICATION.

 

One piece of advice for all the people who are considering opting for a flexible work option: Before jumping into it, remember, once you do so, you’ll no longer be rated based on the work you do but by the time you are present in office. Make a wise decision.