Show up at the morning meeting in jeans? No biggie.
Tweet about your nasty neighbor from your cubicle? Social networking is part of the job!
Get up to go home before it’s dark out? No way.
Last week Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stunned the working world by saying
she makes a point of leaving the office at 5:30 every day in order to eat dinner
at home with her family.
As she told an interviewer on Makers.com: “I walk out of this office every day at 5:30 so I’m home for dinner with my kids at 6:00, and interestingly, I’ve been doing that since I had kids. I did that when I was at Google, I did that here, and I would say it’s not until the last year, two years that I’m brave enough to talk about it publicly. Now I certainly wouldn’t lie, but I wasn’t running around giving speeches on it.”
It’s not surprising that Ms. Sandberg wanted to keep her secret under wraps. In an era of job uncertainty, when most people are too scared to be seen anywhere other than in their cubicles (even if they’re shopping on diapers.com), an early signoff is the ultimate corporate taboo. Leaving early signifies that you don’t care, that you’re not getting the job done—or that you don’t love your work.
Yet we all know that’s silly. When everybody has Blackberrys and cell phones and is essentially always on-call, is it really necessary to keep up appearances—and keep your chair warm for ten straight hours?
Most of us send and receive work emails from the moment we wake up until we can’t keep our eyes open at night. We can read and write and conduct phone calls anytime, anywhere. But it’s still seen as incredibly ballsy to stake a claim to evening family time.
Ever since returning from maternity leave, I’ve left the office at 5:10, so I can be home for my son’s dinner and put him to sleep.
The hour we spend together every evening keeps me going. My heart cramps up a little bit on the rare days when I’m not able to see him before his 7 o’clock bedtime. I am very fortunate to have a boss who understands that my babysitter needs to leave by 6:00 and I need to connect with my baby at the end of the day. I get my job done and I’m reachable should any last-minute questions arise. We both know I get just as much work done now as I did when I had unlimited time in the office.
But I’d be lying if I said that being the first person in my group to head home was entirely easy. There is always the lingering sense that I “should” remain seated, the urge to look at the carpet as I walk toward the elevator.
I’m thrilled that Ms. Sandberg opened up this discussion. But I have a feeling it’s a little bit easier to do things according to your own schedule when you are one of the highest paid executives in Silicon Valley than if you’re a mere mortal in the officeworld, and you’re hoping to get a raise or a promotion.
What is the atmosphere like at your office? What time do you go home? Do you find making it back in time for family dinner realistic or are the consequences too severe?
Content From: blogs.wsj.com
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan
Tweet about your nasty neighbor from your cubicle? Social networking is part of the job!
Get up to go home before it’s dark out? No way.
Last week Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stunned the working world by saying
she makes a point of leaving the office at 5:30 every day in order to eat dinner
at home with her family.As she told an interviewer on Makers.com: “I walk out of this office every day at 5:30 so I’m home for dinner with my kids at 6:00, and interestingly, I’ve been doing that since I had kids. I did that when I was at Google, I did that here, and I would say it’s not until the last year, two years that I’m brave enough to talk about it publicly. Now I certainly wouldn’t lie, but I wasn’t running around giving speeches on it.”
It’s not surprising that Ms. Sandberg wanted to keep her secret under wraps. In an era of job uncertainty, when most people are too scared to be seen anywhere other than in their cubicles (even if they’re shopping on diapers.com), an early signoff is the ultimate corporate taboo. Leaving early signifies that you don’t care, that you’re not getting the job done—or that you don’t love your work.
Yet we all know that’s silly. When everybody has Blackberrys and cell phones and is essentially always on-call, is it really necessary to keep up appearances—and keep your chair warm for ten straight hours?
Most of us send and receive work emails from the moment we wake up until we can’t keep our eyes open at night. We can read and write and conduct phone calls anytime, anywhere. But it’s still seen as incredibly ballsy to stake a claim to evening family time.
Ever since returning from maternity leave, I’ve left the office at 5:10, so I can be home for my son’s dinner and put him to sleep.
The hour we spend together every evening keeps me going. My heart cramps up a little bit on the rare days when I’m not able to see him before his 7 o’clock bedtime. I am very fortunate to have a boss who understands that my babysitter needs to leave by 6:00 and I need to connect with my baby at the end of the day. I get my job done and I’m reachable should any last-minute questions arise. We both know I get just as much work done now as I did when I had unlimited time in the office.
But I’d be lying if I said that being the first person in my group to head home was entirely easy. There is always the lingering sense that I “should” remain seated, the urge to look at the carpet as I walk toward the elevator.
I’m thrilled that Ms. Sandberg opened up this discussion. But I have a feeling it’s a little bit easier to do things according to your own schedule when you are one of the highest paid executives in Silicon Valley than if you’re a mere mortal in the officeworld, and you’re hoping to get a raise or a promotion.
What is the atmosphere like at your office? What time do you go home? Do you find making it back in time for family dinner realistic or are the consequences too severe?
Content From: blogs.wsj.com
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan
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