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 Bend Without Breaking: Women Execs Discuss Flex Schedules
By Carol
Hymowitz, CareerJournal.com
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leave the office at the end of the day before her boss -- is considered outdated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
As part of the Wall
Street Journal's "Women to Watch" report, Carol Hymowitz explores issues and challenges that executive women face, in a monthly
online column. Ms. Hymowitz writes the "In the Lead" column for the print
Journal.
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