CareerJournal.com’s Bend Without Breaking: Women Execs Discuss Flex Schedules is an interesting take on a woman’s leadership challenges. This quote is what caught my attention:
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rules she learned early in her career — to never leave the office at the end of the day before her boss — is considered outdated by her 20- and 30-something employees.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.
If you do not offer flexible work arrangements now, you should definitely prepare to in the near future. This flexibility is expected from more than just the younger generations. We are experiencing flexible hour requests from baby boomer candidates also.