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Bend Without Breaking: Women Execs Discuss Flex SchedulesBy Carol Hymowitz From The Wall Street Journal Online
Just how nurturing and flexible a manager should be has always been a loaded question for women executives, who are expected to understand employees' problems on and off the job, yet not appear soft to their bosses. These days, technology that enables remote access -- and a younger generation of employees who want more work/life balance -- has made the issue even more complicated for women who manage both women and men. Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel of Pitney Bowes, says one of the main rules she learned early in her career -- to never leave the office at the end of the day before her boss -- is considered outdated by her 20- and 30-something employees. "We baby boomers were driven by face time, but younger employees say 'what's the point of that when everyone is wired and always reachable?'" says Ms. Mayes, who is 57. Some women executives Ms. Mayes's age glower when younger employees ask for flexible work schedules and complain they aren't committed, she says. Ms. Mayes dismisses that view as foolish, saying it can cost companies talent that they need and, now, with technology, can manage in new ways. She arranged for one attorney on her staff to leave work by 5 p.m. each day to spend time with her young child. The attorney works from home on her laptop later in the evening and never misses deadlines, according to Ms. Mayes. Each situation is different, however, which can raise thorny questions for Ms. Mayes. Not every job can be easily done from home, for instance, and some employees need more face-to-face supervision than others. Ms. Mayes says she tells employees that her decisions about flexible scheduling, like assignments, "may not always be equal, but I will try to be fair." Her guiding rule: put the needs of the company first, and then try to accommodate the wishes of individual employees. She turned down one employee's request to work part-time, telling her, "if you aren't here on a Monday, another department that needs something from you right away can't afford to wait." But before she said no, she asked the employee, "what decision would you make about your request if you were sitting in my chair?" The employee quit her job, but "understood my decision and left on friendly terms," says Ms. Mayes. Women executives say they're often either expected to be more nurturing than male colleagues, or risk being seen as too severe. Rosalie Wolf, managing partner of Botanica Capital Partners and formerly a top finance executive at International Paper, Banker's Trust and the Rockefeller Foundation, says a female employee expected Ms. Wolf to hold her hand, instead of show her the door, when she couldn't meet deadlines. "She didn't think I was being supportive enough when I told her, 'if you can't get this done by this time, someone else will have to pick up the pieces, and if that keeps happening, it will breed resentment,'" says Ms. Wolf. But when Ms. Wolf arranged flexible scheduling for a woman who'd just had a baby and wanted to work from home a few days a week, a male colleague warned her "everyone will want the same thing -- which turned out not to be the case," she says. Younger women managers who grew up using laptops, cellphones and other technology may feel more comfortable managing remotely to blend work and personal lives. "Baby boomer women felt they had to do and be it all -- super managers, super moms, super everything -- but younger managers want more balance," says Jill Hambley, 40, and a vice president of marketing at Hasbro. When the mother of two young daughters isn't traveling for business, she leaves the office at 5:30 most evenings to be home for dinner -- and then often works on her laptop at home for several hours at night. Ms. Hambley's staff doesn't have to ask her permission to work similar schedules, though she expects to be informed. One male employee leaves early one day a week to coach his son's soccer team, but, like Ms. Hambley, works from home at night and on weekends to keep up with deadlines. "This isn't about me being a nurturing woman boss, it is how work is getting done today," she says. She thinks women executives should exploit whatever nurturing qualities they have. She learned this from a male boss soon after she joined Hasbro six years ago. When her stepson was in a serious car accident, her boss called her at home and said "I don't want to see you in the office this week," she recalls. "His caring made me willing to work like a dog for him," when she returned to work.
Other Readings of Interest
Related Articles at Career Journal
-- March 08, 2007
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