The Telecommuting Mom » Uncategorized

Novartis faces lawsuit on sex discrimination against female employees

Michele — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:48:32 +0000

Uh Oh. Someone’s in trouble. Five thousand six hundred employees of Novartis are suing the company for sex discrimination against female employees.

Just because a company is on one of those Top 100 Best Places to Work list doesn’t really mean it’s the top place for you to work. Working Mother included it in one of its Best Lists because the company offered ” flex time, job shares, telecommuting, and seminars on pediatric issues.”

A neighbor works for another one of those Top Companies for Working Mothers. Her company was included because it provides onsite childcare for when one has to work extra hours. Gee thanks. Now I can continue to not see my kids but continue to work longer hours, for you, the company.

That’s fine if that is what employees want but I usually dismiss those Best Companies to Work For lists as much as I dismiss those Best Places to Live reports. The information is compiled from stacks of data, graphs on paper, not real life anecdotes.

Workshifting

Michele — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:28:33 +0000

I learned a new word today.

Workshifting

Workshifting is working with a virtual office. It’s not new but it is gaining popularity thanks to technology – webcasts, browser accessed software – and it is becoming an increasingly viable option. Imagine working from these lovely beach houses over the summer instead of your cube.

Every Tuesday morning I workshift. My youngest spends the morning at a small daycare while my four-year-old and I spend time going out to breakfast and playing, then I take him to his swim class. While he is in swim class I drive to a nearby Starbucks and for an hour and fifteen minutes I enjoy a nice cup of cocoa and access the WiFi to do some work. Changing up the surroundings puts me in a better mood and increases my creativity. And because much of the work I do involves using the web it’s really easy to work anywhere I have a connection.

This web site www.workshifting.com ” features tips, reviews, and opinions about the world of Web commuting (relying on the Web to get work done at any time, from virtually anywhere.) If you work out of coffee shops, hotels, airports and your home every bit as much as the office, workshifting.com is for you.” I’m going to continue to check it out. And one of these days I hope to be working from a beach house.

Challenges that come with working from home

Michele — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:23:48 +0000

If you follow this blog, or have just visted for the first time, you may have noticed that I haven’t made an update in more than two months. I took on a third part-time event management gig and with it came hoards of work in preparation for their annual conference this week. What began as a 12-hours-per week position quickly ballooned at last week’s count to forty. I also work with two other groups who have between them eight other events scheduled throughout the fall. Most important, my children are only in preschool 18 hours total per week. This put tremendous strain on my parenting capabilities. While the work had to get done because there is literally no one else to do it, I also had to care for my family, which came at a cost. I found myself putting the kids in front of a movie far too often, and having a near nervous breakdown when I discovered my two-year-old in my office, jumping on my charging laptop , which was sitting on the floor (lesson learned).

The work is very cyclical, which can be nice. While I put in extra hours ahead of an event, it also means that I will have very slow weeks, and can enjoy more time being a mom. Working from home is convenient, but far too convenient. I can hear my office phone ringing at 8 p.m. because someone is calling from west coast, and I will pick it up. As I prepared for this week’s conference I found it increasingly difficult to distance myself from work. I was making myself available at all hours. It made me miserable.

This weekend I didn’t work at all. I think of it as the calm before the storm. There will be a flurry of activity the first day onsite at the event, and no matter how much I prepare I cannot anticipate the number of walk-ins, the people who want to change registrations at the last minute, or the inevitable snafus that will arise. I spent this weekend playing with my family, working on small projects around the house, baking a pie, and now, as it snows on this Sunday in October, a little time writing my blog. My sanity will thank me for it.