Manager Lists All The Things She Does And Doesn’t Care About Employees, And Her Post Goes Viral
Interview With AuthorThe pandemic has changed our lives beyond recognition, and our jobs are no exception. Many employees feel overwhelmingly exhausted from the sheer length of it all. Add the yo-yo of good news followed by bad news, the pressure to get things in order with the kids and family, resuming some social life, and the anxiety of the unknown, just made it that many times harder.
So when Megan Witherspoon, a vice president of communications and mother of two, shared this heartwarming post on flexible work on LinkedIn, many people found it to be a breath of fresh air. By summing up what she ‘does care’ about employees and ‘does not,’ Megan showed how actually caring about your employees is what should be at the heart of every company.
Her post received 101,972 reactions and counting showing that it hit close to home for many current employees and job seekers on the platform.
Megan Witherspoon, a VP of communications, recently shared a post on LinkedIn that shows how caring about your employees and giving them flexibility is key
Image credits: Megan Witherspoon
Image credits: Megan Witherspoon
Many people supported Megan’s point of view and others shared their own experiences about working in a flexible company
Some were more critical of the flexible work model and claimed that it wouldn’t work for many jobs
everyone talks about how it doesn't work like that in all professions, and maybe that's true, but there are a lot of places it could work if they were not so insistent on the leanest staffing possible. if you have adequate staffing, you increase the chance that there is someone to help out when life happens. and life always happens. but if it's dealt with in short bursts like this, you can prevent a huge collapse later down the road. you can be flexible or at least more flexible than you currently are with genuinely sufficient staffing.
Came here to say that. If you are always running your business at a bare bones minimum, you don't have any backups for emergencies. That leads to burnout, high employee turnover, and frankly, loss of business.
Load More Replies...As a single women who choose not to have children, I was happy to see the comment about the dog. Many don't value people's pets as 'family'. My Zoe is my family and I would take time off to care for her if need be.
Same. I just started my job three weeks ago and I had to take a half day last week to bring my cat to the vet. They were like, "Oh don't worry about it. I hope your cat gets better!"
Load More Replies...Kara Weaver's response up there (the last one) and some of the others struck a cord with me...... No Kara - Megan came up with a solution that fit her situation and that's all she should be expected to do.......There's no "one size fits all" and you shouldn't expect other people to do your work for you.......It's up to YOU to come up with a solution that works for YOUR set of circumstances.
Yeah, those comments were almost in the Choosey Beggar range.
Load More Replies...Those say "we can't work flexibly because we need to turn up on time" forget that one of the consequences of more white-collar workers working flexibly is they can access other services across a wider range to times and days. So that means a plumber can get more work scheduled during a week because the owner is more likely to be able to be at home that day. It means a local cafe gets more consistent business throughout the working day because, you know, their patrons have the flexibility to decide "I'll take a long coffee break this morning and do an hour of work at the cafe instead of my usual rushed cup of takeaway coffee at 08:00". There are opportunities for EVERYONE by embracing flexible working, including those who can't themselves work flexibly.
As someone who’s worked in food service and retail, bosses in those industries can and should do better too. “I do care that you’re injured; I don’t care that you need to sit down while working on counter.” “I do care that you’re sick; I don’t care that I need to arrange for coverage.” Or to give an example of something a supermarket’s management here DID do, “I do care that you’re traumatised by the terrorist attack; I don’t care that we need to close the store for a few days and arrange for counselling for you guys.” Hell, a bunch of supermarkets in my area got shut down for two weeks so that all the staff could isolate after delta got across the border and caught the country off guard. It’s NOT impossible. More difficult, yes, but I’ve seen enough variance between good and bad management to know how much of it is a choice.
This is great! I do understand that it cannot work for all professions to this extent. However, my family and mental health will always come first regardless of the job.
i'm retired now. and, i don't know what it is...whether it is age or being more assertive for myself or what...but i could no longer put up with the things that i used to put up with from managers. the worst things was when my grandmother was dying i was told that i could either go see her before she passed to say goodbye or i could wait and attend her funeral but now both. i was an officer for the district attorney at the time. i told my mom the issue with the plan of leaving to say goodbye. little did i know that my tiny little mom (who had been security mgr for west coast for dept of navy and took no bull from anyone) got off the phone w/me and on the horn w/the d.a. ...who immediately reamed my boss w/the admonition that there had better not be any retribution for her reaming aimed at me.
This is exactly like my boss. I get to choose my work hours based on my availability and days that suit me best to work. I have a maximum I can work, I am not allowed to work more than 5 days in a row because my boss does not want us to become fatigued. Any time my kids have been sick she has ENCOURAGED me to take the day off and not only does she stop me from feeling guilty for taking time off she checks in with a message the next day to make sure I don't need another day because sickness is unpredictable. I have THE BEST boss in the world. I work in Aged Care, community in home care. So every day I go to different clients houses and assist them with showering, medications, cleaning, cooking, shopping ect... I love my job and my clients and I respect my boss and my team so much. Everyone deserves a boss like mine because you WANT to work for them when they respect you.
I would probably care if the employee said they wanted to work from Florida for a week, though. Don't risk going to Florida right now.
Why do people to which it doesn't apply feel the need to get angry? Now I don't appreciate the i don't care. You should care, you can just choose to find flexible solutions acceptable. But you do care that the work is done and how the work is done, you just leave it up to the judgment of the employee to plan the how themselves. And you still care because you need to be there when they make poor judgement calls, like not taking breaks or trying to do everything at the same time. That's caring. It's all kinds of stupid this.
You know how it works with shift jobs? Having enough effing people on staff that are cross trained to fill everyone else's roles. 26 people on staff? Each gets two weeks paid vacation? You need 27 people on staff. *That's* how it works in a factory or a hospital or a nursing home.
But not in the dentist office I work in; however, I am quite happy for those it does apply to. I’m not the kind of person that gets upset or bothered by stuff that benefits others but not me. If it works for them, great! 🙂
Load More Replies...I think as more & more women (especially those with children) rise through the ranks, we'll see more of this kind of mentality. I made a shitload more money than my ex, but if our daughter was sick & needed to stay home from daycare, I was expected to call out. Um - I have a meeting with the President, VP & US Sales Manager this morning, pretty sure Safeway can live without you for a day. (Note the key word "ex").
I have managed shift employees most of my career that were required to physically be present to do the job. There are ways to give them flexibility too. Four 10 hour days, job sharing, split shift. Our split employees worked 10am to 2pm and then 6pm to 10pm. In exchange they got every weekend and holidays off. It was very popular and always went to senior employees.
The solution to the inflexible jobs is better staffing. But that costs companies money, so you can forget it. If you want to blame, blame the rich who won't part with a few pennies of their massive profits in order to see to it that when you need to take time off, there's someone available to cover for you. Why ask this lady to fix the world's problems? She's able to fix what she's able to fix.
TL;DR: I see that you have an issue, I don't care enough to accommodate for that issue.
That's what you got out of this? That isn't what she was saying at all.
Load More Replies...everyone talks about how it doesn't work like that in all professions, and maybe that's true, but there are a lot of places it could work if they were not so insistent on the leanest staffing possible. if you have adequate staffing, you increase the chance that there is someone to help out when life happens. and life always happens. but if it's dealt with in short bursts like this, you can prevent a huge collapse later down the road. you can be flexible or at least more flexible than you currently are with genuinely sufficient staffing.
Came here to say that. If you are always running your business at a bare bones minimum, you don't have any backups for emergencies. That leads to burnout, high employee turnover, and frankly, loss of business.
Load More Replies...As a single women who choose not to have children, I was happy to see the comment about the dog. Many don't value people's pets as 'family'. My Zoe is my family and I would take time off to care for her if need be.
Same. I just started my job three weeks ago and I had to take a half day last week to bring my cat to the vet. They were like, "Oh don't worry about it. I hope your cat gets better!"
Load More Replies...Kara Weaver's response up there (the last one) and some of the others struck a cord with me...... No Kara - Megan came up with a solution that fit her situation and that's all she should be expected to do.......There's no "one size fits all" and you shouldn't expect other people to do your work for you.......It's up to YOU to come up with a solution that works for YOUR set of circumstances.
Yeah, those comments were almost in the Choosey Beggar range.
Load More Replies...Those say "we can't work flexibly because we need to turn up on time" forget that one of the consequences of more white-collar workers working flexibly is they can access other services across a wider range to times and days. So that means a plumber can get more work scheduled during a week because the owner is more likely to be able to be at home that day. It means a local cafe gets more consistent business throughout the working day because, you know, their patrons have the flexibility to decide "I'll take a long coffee break this morning and do an hour of work at the cafe instead of my usual rushed cup of takeaway coffee at 08:00". There are opportunities for EVERYONE by embracing flexible working, including those who can't themselves work flexibly.
As someone who’s worked in food service and retail, bosses in those industries can and should do better too. “I do care that you’re injured; I don’t care that you need to sit down while working on counter.” “I do care that you’re sick; I don’t care that I need to arrange for coverage.” Or to give an example of something a supermarket’s management here DID do, “I do care that you’re traumatised by the terrorist attack; I don’t care that we need to close the store for a few days and arrange for counselling for you guys.” Hell, a bunch of supermarkets in my area got shut down for two weeks so that all the staff could isolate after delta got across the border and caught the country off guard. It’s NOT impossible. More difficult, yes, but I’ve seen enough variance between good and bad management to know how much of it is a choice.
This is great! I do understand that it cannot work for all professions to this extent. However, my family and mental health will always come first regardless of the job.
i'm retired now. and, i don't know what it is...whether it is age or being more assertive for myself or what...but i could no longer put up with the things that i used to put up with from managers. the worst things was when my grandmother was dying i was told that i could either go see her before she passed to say goodbye or i could wait and attend her funeral but now both. i was an officer for the district attorney at the time. i told my mom the issue with the plan of leaving to say goodbye. little did i know that my tiny little mom (who had been security mgr for west coast for dept of navy and took no bull from anyone) got off the phone w/me and on the horn w/the d.a. ...who immediately reamed my boss w/the admonition that there had better not be any retribution for her reaming aimed at me.
This is exactly like my boss. I get to choose my work hours based on my availability and days that suit me best to work. I have a maximum I can work, I am not allowed to work more than 5 days in a row because my boss does not want us to become fatigued. Any time my kids have been sick she has ENCOURAGED me to take the day off and not only does she stop me from feeling guilty for taking time off she checks in with a message the next day to make sure I don't need another day because sickness is unpredictable. I have THE BEST boss in the world. I work in Aged Care, community in home care. So every day I go to different clients houses and assist them with showering, medications, cleaning, cooking, shopping ect... I love my job and my clients and I respect my boss and my team so much. Everyone deserves a boss like mine because you WANT to work for them when they respect you.
I would probably care if the employee said they wanted to work from Florida for a week, though. Don't risk going to Florida right now.
Why do people to which it doesn't apply feel the need to get angry? Now I don't appreciate the i don't care. You should care, you can just choose to find flexible solutions acceptable. But you do care that the work is done and how the work is done, you just leave it up to the judgment of the employee to plan the how themselves. And you still care because you need to be there when they make poor judgement calls, like not taking breaks or trying to do everything at the same time. That's caring. It's all kinds of stupid this.
You know how it works with shift jobs? Having enough effing people on staff that are cross trained to fill everyone else's roles. 26 people on staff? Each gets two weeks paid vacation? You need 27 people on staff. *That's* how it works in a factory or a hospital or a nursing home.
But not in the dentist office I work in; however, I am quite happy for those it does apply to. I’m not the kind of person that gets upset or bothered by stuff that benefits others but not me. If it works for them, great! 🙂
Load More Replies...I think as more & more women (especially those with children) rise through the ranks, we'll see more of this kind of mentality. I made a shitload more money than my ex, but if our daughter was sick & needed to stay home from daycare, I was expected to call out. Um - I have a meeting with the President, VP & US Sales Manager this morning, pretty sure Safeway can live without you for a day. (Note the key word "ex").
I have managed shift employees most of my career that were required to physically be present to do the job. There are ways to give them flexibility too. Four 10 hour days, job sharing, split shift. Our split employees worked 10am to 2pm and then 6pm to 10pm. In exchange they got every weekend and holidays off. It was very popular and always went to senior employees.
The solution to the inflexible jobs is better staffing. But that costs companies money, so you can forget it. If you want to blame, blame the rich who won't part with a few pennies of their massive profits in order to see to it that when you need to take time off, there's someone available to cover for you. Why ask this lady to fix the world's problems? She's able to fix what she's able to fix.
TL;DR: I see that you have an issue, I don't care enough to accommodate for that issue.
That's what you got out of this? That isn't what she was saying at all.
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