Have you ever noticed that if you have six hours to do something, you get it done in six, but if you have three hours to do that same thing, you get it done in three? Or that the less you have on your plate, the longer it takes you? If so, then like me, you may be a procrastinator. But never fear: being a procrastinator is not only common, it’s also not necessarily a bad thing.
In this capitalist world, money is a necessity. But it’s an extrinsic motivator, not an intrinsic one.
There is no place for a “best attendance” or “never tardy” award at work.
In the context of gender and work, people often talk a lot about choice. It’s empowering to view the decisions we make solely as a matter of individual will. But choices aren’t made in a vacuum, and most of us weigh a variety of factors when faced with decisions about how to support ourselves and spend the bulk of our time.
After writing my recent post “If You Build It, She Will Come,” I was left with a nagging feeling that I was missing something about why women in particular seem so much more inclined to leave the workplace rather than men. Do women have an inherent need to find more meaning in work than men do, and do they leave because that unique need is unfulfilled?
We cannot blindly assume that the decisions being made for us about the way that work gets done are the right ones.
You don’t foster fairness in the workplace with blanket edicts that treat different circumstances in exactly the same way. And you don’t maximize productivity by squeezing a few extra ounces of it out of your least productive employees.
When I say I want to “work from home,” what I really mean is that I want to work in the environment that makes the most sense for me to get my work done in the best way possible.
With all the conversations going on about how the country needs more women in technology and Sheryl Sandberg’s claim that women should ‘lean in’ to their careers, I got to thinking more about my own path and why, as a woman with a background in computer science, I’m not leaning in myself.
Employers and employees both should always be looking out for ways to improve the workplace.
