Winning - Jack Welch [114]
Contrast Susan’s story to that of a friend of mine who managed a sixty-person unit of a fast-growing company.
A few years ago, she was approached by a member of her team—let’s call her Cynthia—who had just had her second child. Cynthia asked if she could work at home on Fridays. The executive (a working mother herself) immediately said yes because she knew that Cynthia—an eight-year veteran of the company—would continue to deliver stellar results. She always had. In fact, she was one of the hardest-working, most organized, and productive members of the staff.
After a week or two, word got around the office that Cynthia was working from home on Fridays. Soon enough, my friend was approached by a young guy—we’ll call him Carl—who had been at the company for about a year with no distinguishing results. He too wanted to work at home on Fridays. “I want to perfect my yoga practice,” he explained.
When my friend said no, the conversation got very awkward. “You’re imposing your values on me,” Carl said. “You’re saying that mothering has more value than yoga. But I’m never going to have children. Who are you to say that my yoga is less meaningful in my life than Cynthia’s children are in hers?”
“Sorry, but that’s the decision I made!” the boss shot back.
Later, when the confrontation hit the office gossip mill and distracted Carl’s coworkers for a week with minidebates over fairness and values, my friend came to regret the fact that she hadn’t been more direct in her answer. Carl couldn’t work at home on Fridays because he hadn’t demonstrated he could do the job at the office Monday through Thursday!
Despite her own personal circumstances, my friend’s decision hadn’t been about yoga versus babies. It hadn’t been about values at all. It had been about results. Carl didn’t have any chits.
What does this mean for you? It means that as you think about work-life balance, know that to get it in most companies, you have to earn it. That process will take time.
One last thing to know about the chit system. To people just entering the workforce, it often seems unfair. Why, they wonder, do you have to wait to get the freedom and flexibility you want? But more experienced people tend to get it—in fact, many see the give-and-take of chits as perfectly equitable.
Finally, bosses like it too. For them, it’s a win-win deal.
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3. Bosses know that the work-life policies in the company brochure are mainly for recruiting purposes, and that real work-life arrangements are negotiated one-on-one in the context of a supportive culture, not in the context of “But the company says…!”
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A company brochure can be a sight to behold, with its glossy photos and long lists of lifestyle benefits, such as job sharing and flextime.
But most people know that the last time you look at the company brochure is the first day at work, when you fill out your insurance paperwork in the HR office. In fact, most savvy people realize pretty quickly that most brochure work-life balance programs are primarily a recruiting tool aimed at new candidates.
Real work-life balance arrangements are negotiated by bosses and individuals on an as-needed basis, using the performance-for-flexibility chit system we just talked about.
That chit system requires a special environment.
It requires a supportive organizational culture where bosses are encouraged to strike creative work-life deals with high performers, and high performers feel entirely comfortable talking with their bosses about their work-life challenges.
In such a culture, bosses have the freedom to reward results with flexibility. They don’t have to clear work-life arrangements with HR, nor do they feel forced to adhere to formalized work-life policies that actually might limit their ability to win, rather than enhance it.*
Remember the case of the boss who had the employee who wanted to work at home Fridays to practice yoga? In the end, when the news of the incident reached senior management, she was told