The Chief Operating
Officer of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), China Gorman, testifined in front of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections on June 11. China was called upon to discuss SHRM’s comprehensive plan for Workplace Flexibility which turns out to focus on creating one bucket paid time off for personal/family illness, leaves, vacations, etc. Whether this is a good thing can be debated, but what's critical is that SHRM as the largest HR organization broadens the discussion about workplace flexibility to include flex in terms of where, when and how work is done and that we talk about this as giving more control to employees -- and their manager and team -- to determine what works best. The employee's need for flexibility and its benefits to the business go way beyond the conversation about paid time off. Hoepfully that won't get lost in this debate! 

Michelle Obama spoke last week about her commitment to flexible work and desire to be personally involved in helping it expand.  She talked about how important flexibility and other benefits like paid sick time are in helping people deal with realities of their lives.  In her down-to-earth manner, she got a good laugh when she said that, like her, ‘Everyone should have a chief of staff and a couple of personal assistants; that’s what they need.’ And she noted, ‘There are a lot of people counting on us to figure this out.”  Clearly, expanding access to flexibility is something high on her agenda; she knows how important it is from personal experience.

 The event was Corporate Voices for Working Families’ Annual Meeting May 7 in Washington, D.C.  In conjunction with her talk, Corporate Voices released the results of a study involving innovative workplace flexibility programs for hourly workers.  

She was her graceful, articulate self, and clearly appreciative of the pressing realities that both workers and the businesses they work for are experiencing.  She encouraged the highlighting of best practices and the spreading of good ideas.  

There is clearly more to come from her on this topic in the not too distant future.

We would welcome any of your thoughts about best practices -- what are the best ideas and where have they been tested.    We'll spread the word.

You can help your company understand that to be in compliance legally, it now must do more than simply allow flexible work options for some employees.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says employers should encourage it and make sure that there are no barriers to workers’ access to it.  It also says that employers should re-evaluate old practices that are obstacles to flexibility (like mandatory overtime) and make sure that line managers fully understand and support flexible work options.  You may want to pass on this news.

 Here’s the background:  on April 22, 2009, The EEOC issued suggestions to employers that can help them avoid discrimination problems involving their employees who have caregiving responsibilities.  In 2007, EEOC had issued guidance explaining to employers that discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities might constitute discrimination based on sex, disability or other characteristics protected by federal employment discrimination laws. The EEOC now suggests that employers:

1. “Encourage employees to request flexible work arrangements that allow them to balance work and personal responsibilities. Work with employees to create customized flexible work arrangements that meet the specific needs of the employee and employer. Ensure that managers do not discourage employees from requesting flexible work arrangements or penalize employees who make such requests. Flexible work arrangements may include:

• Flextime Programs. Flextime policies generally permit employees to vary their work day start and stop times within a certain range, such as allowing an employee to arrive at work at any time between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. and then work for 8 hours.
• Flexible Week Opportunities. Flexible week opportunities may include compressed work weeks, such as a workweek consisting of four ten-hour work days.
• Telecommuting, Work-at-Home, or Flexplace Programs. These options enable employees to work from home or alternate office locations.
• Reduced-time options – These optionspermit employees to work part-time while juggling other responsibilities, such as caregiving.Reduced-time options include:
• Part-time work opportunities. Part-time workers should receive proportionate wages and benefits compared with full-time workers. Similarly, part-time workers should receive proportionate credit for relevant experience needed to qualify for promotions, training programs, or other employment opportunities.    

2. Ensure that managers at all levels are aware of, and comply with, the organization’s work-life policies. In particular, front-line supervisors, middle management and other managers who regularly interact with employees or who are responsible for assignments, leave approval, schedules, promotions and other employment terms, conditions and benefits should be familiar with the organization’s work-life policies and supportive of employees who take advantage of available programs.      

3.  Review workplace policies that limit employee flexibility, such as fixed hours of work and mandatory overtime, to ensure that they are necessary to business operations.”   

There’s more.  For the full list of suggestions, see the technical assistance document, Employer Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, which is available online at http://www.eeoc/policy/docs/caregiver-best-practices.html. The best practices document supplements Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, a guidance document issued by the Commission in 2007. The 2007 guidance, available online at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/caregiving.html, examines how federal anti-discrimination laws apply to workers with caregiving responsibilities.”Virtual, flexible is increasingly recognized as not just an alternative, but as the new normal.  It is simply a requirement for most working people, no matter their age or circumstance.  And it’s the best way to do business (See, “Why Flex, Why Now?”) The EEOC’s latest issuance is simply another sign, but sometimes it takes a while for these shifts to be recognized for the permanent change they are (See “Shift Happens”)You can help your company and yourself by passing the word.

This blog post by Dr. Sandy Burud originally appeared in Sloan Work and Family Blog, and was reposted at Georgetown Law Workplace Flexibility 2010.

I’m usually out in the trenches, talking with employers about flexible work practices or others who monitor their attitudes. As I hear their questions and hunt for answers, I notice some that seem to not yet have been answered. So, I pass them on to those of you who do research and discover answers so well. I should say up front that if anyone’s already doing this work, I’m eager to know about it. Let’s get the word out.

I’ll mention three in this blog:

1. Who Requires What Type Of Flexibility?

Overall, it would be great for research to now get very specific. We know most people (across genders and generations) want more flexibility in general, but we seem to know less about how important specific forms of flex are, especially informal flexibility and the newer forms of flex, like reduced work schedule options and career flexibility. We also don’t know much about those preferences by the types of jobs or education level. It would be great to show employers that highly skilled or people in shortest supply (engineers, medical technologists or IT people), for example, crave a reduced work hours option or some other option. Employers understand that flex is valuable, but not how valuable, what types of flex exactly, for whom, and in what situation.

For example, what is the importance of flexible options
or a flexible climate in whether an employee chooses to stay or leave? In these
days of job loss it’s easy for employers to think that people will work in
whatever way the company requires. To enlighten them, it can help to show if
and for whom flexibility is a requirement rather than a “nice-to-have.”

2. Flexible Rightsizing vs. Layoffs

There are great conversations now happening about the advantages to employers of ‘flexible rightsizing’ (using flexible work options to reduce personnel and other costs) in lieu of layoffs. I’m participating in an effort spearheaded by WorldAtWork that identifies the various savings from across-the-board layoffs vs. the advantages of flexible rightsizing.

If an organization chooses flexible rightsizing and invites, for example, employees across the board to choose a reduced work schedule or to take time off without pay with job protection, there are direct and indirect benefits. All are ripe for research. An earlier study by Wayne Cascio (Responsible Restructuring, 2002) found that organizations that downsized unilaterally weren’t even more profitable in the short run, let alone the long run. An update of that analysis would be very valuable. Research exploring the other effects would be incredibly valuable right now, especially if it can be done quickly. For example, researchers might look at how layoff survivors behave (perhaps less risk-taking) vs. the greater focus, sense of security and reduced stress of employees in organizations that use flexible rightsizing. I’m especially curious about whether allowing people to take unpaid downtime or work on a reduced schedule for a while gives exhausted people (which is most of us) a chance to rest and rejuvenate. I wonder if it’s true that they are qualitatively more effective from this break, and in what ways, e.g., more focused, creative or relating to coworkers and/or customers differently. It makes sense to me, but it would be great to explore and document.

3. How to Do it Well – Flexibility

There has been much research groundwork laid about why it’s important for organizations to transition to a flexible way of managing people. What has been investigated less is what it means to do it well and how doing it in specific ways impacts desirable outcomes for employees, teams, and organizations. We know that culture and communication matter, but it would be great to take it another level and get very specific for those seeking to apply research findings in their organizations.

I celebrate and appreciate the important research you all do and invite your comments or questions.

I read with interest “Putting Yourself Out There on a Shelf to Buy” in the March 28th Personal Business section of the New York Times.  I was feeling vindicated when I saw the words “But what if I don’t want to be a brand? What if I don’t want to build a public image and network?”  Not that I agree with that philosophy… in fact, a good part of what I do involves representing the FlexPaths’ brand and company value proposition to corporations, consumers, investors (whomever will listen) on a daily basis.  I’ve read, rewritten, refined our elevator pitch with our team (and pretty much tortured those around me) what feels like dozens of times.  Do we have the right combination of words/phrases?  Is it relevant to today’s buyer?  Does it cause a visceral reaction?  Is it cleansed of corporate speak and $5 words?  Does it feature tongue twisters or alliterations?  You get the idea.  

But reading further, it isn’t only about the corporate brand, it is one’s personal brand and again to quote “if you don’t brand yourself, Google will brand you.”  How true, so true.  Just a few weeks ago, I was on a tirade, complaining to my husband that without my permission, one of my childhood friends (former, as you will see why in a moment) posted several quite unattractive high school pictures of me on her Facebook page.  Yes, all in fun and nostalgia, right?  But do I really need people seeing me in that G-d awful purple sweatshirt and bad haircut? And yes, it is now officially, according to the article, part of my online brand.  Then there was that day when I actually joined Facebook. My first branding decision in that venue  - which picture to post? I naturally choose the very professional pose featured on LinkedIn. Is that a mistake-should I have let my hair down and used a more informal picture, perhaps one with my husband and girls at the beach? Does that contradict the dominant brand I really want to surface? Am I creating brand diffusion which could transcend into the perception that I am goal diffused?

The questions and confusion continue. I hesitate, ponder, wonder in fear that my type A personality will take over my brand identity.  

Realizing that this very trait could impede me from not unleashing my whole, personal brand,  I stop, take stock and commit to letting my hair down – BEFORE SOMEONE DOES IT FOR ME!

If you are a union member or potential member, in case you didn't know it, someone has been working on your behalf to make important information available to you.  You may know of the Labor Project for Working Families -- a fantastic advocacy organization that has lead the charge for union members and helped create all kinds of flexibility and related benefits.  These same folks have just created a terrific new resource that includes a national database of information for people who want to understand their rights.  It also has contract language and laws related to bargaining for these benefits, current laws that impact bargaining, case studies, and bargaining techniques.  It's a free online resource network -- the "Labor Education & Resource Network" (LEARN) and can also help anyone working to create a similar benefit somewhere else.  

We're very interested in keeping you informed of the latest and greatest, so if you have other resources that can help folks who need to work in flexible ways, we encourage you to post them here as well.  If you've been able to benefit from working flexibly and what to share your story or your comment about what you've learned along the way, that's great, too.

Help us spread the word.

For the first time in its 20 year history, the Families and Work study of the Changing Workforce found that men report experiencing more work-life conflict than women, with 59% of fathers in dual-income families reporting conflict compared to 45% of mothers. This study, which is reported in USA Today and the WSJ in a column about the 'new workplace equalizer', among others, sites other interesting findings as well. However, the fact that men are now not only as stressed, but actually more stressed, may not surprise many working couples today. They're just not that used to it..the 'balancing' or 'juggling' act. And, while the added stress is not good news for men, the fact that they're sharing responsibility for life needs is good news. And, I think the added stress men are experiencing may actually be beneficial for everyone. It may be the tipping point that moves organizations to embrace flexibility in the way work is done, which is one of the primary ways to relieve work-life conflict resulting from not being able to effectively manage work and life.

For decades women have struggled to deal with the challenges of being a productive worker and also taking care of their personal lives while many men continued to follow what we still call the 'Traditional Family' model -- implying this is the norm even though it represents less than 20% of today's workforce -- with the man working outside the home and a full time stay at home spouse who managed their 'life'.  As men have taken on more of a fair share of the personal side of life, they've inherited the stress that women have been experiencing for decades. In the past, organizations have attempted to accommodate individual women -- especially those who were highly valued -- by granting them some form of flexibility so they would continue working. More recently, companies have begun to recognize the importance of creating a more flexible, resilient organization that can adapt to changing times, which in part means having a flexible workforce. Now, as the pressure builds for men to manage both work and personal life, hopefully more of them will come forward and demand more control over
how, where and when work is done…leading to a real culture of flexibility.

Several years ago I led a diversity exercise at a major corporation that involved separating the group by gender and asking each group to tell the other group what it would like them to do to create a better work environment.  I was quite surprised when the men read their list which was toped by the item: 'Ask the women to keep fighting for more flexibility because we want it too, and we'll be right behind them.'

Well, now's the time to speak up. Flexibility is the way work needs to be done for the health of the organization, for women, and now, for men, too.

Last week I attended Intelligence Squared from NPR – and the motion was “Blame Washington more than Wall Street for the current financial crisis.”  Excerpts are in this week’s Newsweek and no wonder….the panel was extraordinary and the audience fully engaged.  Both sides agreed that there is plenty of blame for everyone and what we’re really debating is incompetence versus malfeasance (I’ll let you decide which party received which label). The highlights published were some of the more compelling comments but I strongly recommend that you download the podcast.

There was one aspect of the debate that went unnoticed.  Nell Minow, editor of The Corporate Library, a corporate-governance research firm provided such a vigorous plea for us to raise our standards/expectations of Corporate America.  In fact, she looked disgusted that she actually sat next to Richard Fuld Jr. from Lehman Brothers when he testified to Congress. Ms. Minow  has built a career on corporate responsibility and it seemed very convenient to let her stand alone while she urged us to demand more from these Executives who are our fellow human beings.   

At the end of the debate I actually changed sides (of course in the opposite direction of everyone else) but I suddenly became further disenchanted.  When I took a step back and really absorbed the compensation of the Wall Street firms’ executives and their key personnel – I realized not only have they gamed the financial system but they duped all the rest of us – and we continue to choose to remain duped.  Many of these executives have been touted as champions of Diversity and Inclusion and Work-Life.  If these executives truly cared about inclusivity (or frankly anything besides themselves) perhaps they would have made better decisions that considered long-term risks and concerns.

Those who favored the debate motion to blame Washington accepted the fact that since the inherent nature of Wall Street is greed – we are required to forgive Wall Street for making borderline criminal choices. Therefore, it is Washington’s fault for not managing the almost-crook.  If that is the case then why be so harsh on Bernard Madoff?  Wasn’t he doing basically doing the same thing except to a more extreme degree? Why is Wall Street allowed to dismiss  risk? Aren’t “modified” financial statements fraud?  

What I’m writing here is primitive compared to what these experts were debating.  But as someone who focuses on the changing workplace - I have to wonder what our future progress can be.  If Corporations can’t manage their Balance Sheets how can they recalibrate Work-Life Balance?  The formula for net profit is very simple and we know that an engaged workforce drives up profitability but perhaps this leap is too sophisticated for the Corporate World that would rather gamble its financials rather than manage them.

Rather than ending on a rant, I’d like to point out that there are a large number of corporations such as IBM; Sara Lee; Ernst & Young (and many more) who have embraced their company’s profitability and the Work-Life effectiveness of their employees as a driver of bolstering the Balance Sheet.  Imagine where we’d all be if more Corporate Leaders actually chose to run a healthy company with real profits and an engaged workforce.

Recently I was introduced to Twitter and quickly became smitten with the notion of hyper-relevancy and hyper affinity.  Take the “sound byte” and put it to good use – ie, collaboration.  As a newbie to social media, I have been fascinated by the direct correlation of success to openness. Many of us spent a long time not believing in this however if we think about Linux, Drupal, Joomla, wikipedia – at minimum you can not deny the power and effectiveness of the model.  And overtime, someone like me has evolved to the point of “why be anything but open?”   Twitter is a fast way to source collaboration leads and opportunities.  At it is lowest form, it is a PR vehicle and you can see who is paying their publicists for the “retweets.” I am not advocating socialism, frankly, I think it’s great – message and build market.  But what happens when tools like twitter create factions instead of markets. Is it simply fair competition or undermining the potential for collaboration?  How does the “open” landscape change? We all deal with sour tweets like spammers and robots.  But trying to create tweet-exclusives, blocking reciprocal tweets seems anti-twitter. 

Check out this link. I think it says a lot -- what kind of bird do you want to be? And what is the impact to your neighborly currency.  Twitterbirds

There's room for everyone – We are at a time in history – where everyone’s business acumen, skills and dreams  can make a difference – why the sour tweets now when collaboration has never been so important.I truly welcome your thoughts, comments and perspective.  

Who says that in order to have flexibility the adjustments need to be made by an employer?  Let me be clear –  FlexPaths  does not advocate companies standing still but I did hear an interesting story last week. 

While on date night with my husband – we met up with one of his colleagues Larry and wife.  Larry is an SVP at a leading brokerage house and his wife Nancy a trader for over 20 years.  Nancy and Larry shared their personal ‘take’ on flex.  Like many of us, they face the expected pressures of work executives and share the bonds of family and parenting.  Neither of their jobs allowed for flex so years ago, Larry and Nancy decided to “live” flexibly.  They figured if “work” could not be the answer – how about life.  So they live in NJ and NYC (yes you heard me right) and work in NYC.  They found a creative way to make their work/life equation work for them.  Here is the set up… each Friday, together, they head out of NYC and commute back to NJ.  They either eat out or bring dinner in.  On Saturday mornings, Ron heads out and gets breakfast, enough for two days – yes two days ‘cause on Monday morning, they leave their suburban home for the week, to live in their NYC apartment.  And, to boot, Nancy’s 20 something daughter lives with them in the apartment (yes you heard me right…they live with their daughter!).  Ron describes his 10 minute commute to work as delightful.  Given that neither of their employers or jobs allow for flex they’ve built it in, on their terms.  So instead of jobsharing ortelecommuting, it’s now home sharing …And in this case, keeping their family time as well. There are clearly sacrifices – neither home is their “dream home” but they absolutely have their dream life with work that fulfills them as well.  I have no doubt there are variations on this theme… Do you have similar stories - I welcome yours…

I met my husband at work – from our earliest moments together we spent no less than 18 hours a day together.  In fact, when I decided to leave where we worked- he actually thought we might run out of things to say to one another.  We just did so well – working side by side – but those times were over and we adjusted to a married life with children and two very different work patterns until a few months ago.

My husband’s company AXA-Equitable  relocated him to New Jersey which increased his commute to nearly two hours each way.  Fortunately, AXA has flexible work arrangements and supported him to arrange multiple locations including one day a week at home.  

Despite confusion with multiple flexible schedules, we were so excited – we were Co-working again. For the first few times, it was terrific – we managed the multiple laptops, phones, blackberries, and even had lunch together.  It was delightful – we talked during the day.  Slowly things changed:

-          Office clutter began to rise

-          Laptop adaptors were getting mixed up

-          Blackberries were no longer charged because we were silently unplugging each other’s pdas

-          We were each talking over each other due to simultaneous conference calls

-          Raised eyebrows as we noted one another’s procrastination and “puttering”

-          Expectations around “getting a few things done around the house” were increasing

-        New unspoken rules emerged like: the person with the longer meeting had squatter rights to the office and the other person had to go downstairs. 

By the time the day was done – we both sat with our respective ipods on and opting out of dinner since ‘just spent so much time together.’ 

With the markets being so hectic  – my husband’s work from home days disappeared – he wanted the direct time with his colleagues.  I understood and really respected his choice. I was impressed by how his company trusted him to make the decision over where and how to get his work done. 

I got “my” space back – and I’ve begun to miss him again during the day. 

Yesterday he worked from home but this time I prepared.  I woke up earlier, created extra space in the office, and recalibrated my schedule to ensure that we did not have conflicting calls.  And when he got really busy, I went to Starbucks and saw my local fellow virtual workers.  I was home in time for all of us to have dinner together and talk.  It was a great day.

So I must admit – I really don’t want to leave the house -- any ideas for how two spouses can work from home  in the same office?    

I’m going to take a tip from Meryl, and trace my journey to flex. When I first started talking to FlexPaths, I didn’t  realize the scope of what Flex is. Needless to say, that didn’t last long.  Quickly, I found out that it really relates to just about everyone that has a job today. In order to share the way I found that out with you, I’m going to trace my career path.

I’ll start at the beginning.
 
August 2001 – I move to New York City. Fresh out of college, I  do what I need to survive while I find the “perfect job,” and so I continue what I’d been doing for the last 8 years and get  a job in the restaurant industry. This is how I find myself  with a bartending shift on the evening of September 11th. The  night before I was staying with a friend in Manhanttan and I’m  one of the few employees that isn’t trapped (bridges closed, subway shut down) in an outer borough. Numb, I go to work,  those who lived in the neighborhood needed a place to be with other people, cold drink in hand, watching everything unfold on  the television, not speaking. I cover for other employees who  can’t make it in to work. I’m relieved to be there so I can hold onto something - to remind myself that what’s happening is real, and that life does go on – it’s the only way I can fight  back. Flex in a disaster.

October ‘01 – March’02 – I find a job in my Brooklyn neighborhood at a sound stage. I work strange hours to accommodate film shoots and live events on the weekends.  Odd days, flex hours and a very peculiar job – my role is site specific, but my job isn’t schedule specific. Can I get a scanner so I can get some better photos on the studio website? This turns into helping a film crew get polaroids to their team back on the West Coast for approval one day using a scanner and a connection to the internet. Looks like it could use some color-correcting, quick fix in a big pinch.  Interesting, but not what I want to do with my life. On the plus side I inherit a living room couch from the set of a Wu Tang Clan music video. Did I mention this job was strange?

April ’02- November ’04 – My first “good” job. I take on a series of roles at a production company cum boutique ad agency. “Sure, I love travel,” I say when I get the job. Almost three years later on a schedule that turned into 30% on the road with extraordinary demands of my energy and passion, and I’m tired. I was up to my eyeballs in formatting video for the web, delivery for broadcast, for editors.  Archiving and content management- and trying to do support from afar when the library is still very much a spare room with piles floor to ceiling with reels:  D1’s, D2’s, digibetas, beta masters, hundreds and hundreds of ¾” reels, there’s got to be an easier way. And then there was the big chore - turn this room of video into an interactive DVD and a website. We were on the cusp. Everyone was in the same boat. We had too much physical content, and not enough virtual spaces to store it. Relief was coming, but either we couldn’t see it from where we were, or what we knew was priced out of range. Server space was still precious, and the tools to get it there still cost hundreds an hour to use. It was my first web build, and it was outsourced – only to London, not India. I learned how to wake up early so I could get the most out of the developers before they quit at 4pm to head to the pub, (instead of later day worries about an 11 hour time differential with teams in the East).  I get to know and work with a lot of successful and famous people, music videos, commercials, parties, film screenings, studios, unheard tracks, high times, fine art. We did a lot of great work - I’m flexing left and right, I’m drowning in high rez photographs, video tape and digital files. I’m a road warrior. I’m a right-hand to too many people. I need a break.

November ’04- November ’05 – My first “Start Up.” Most people wouldn’t call that a break, but concert.tv was bootstrapping it, and I wasn’t working full time- I had a few projects of my own that I balanced as well, and I was enjoying life. Some days I’d work from home, some days I’d work from the web shop downtown, some days I’d head into the office on Union Square– but never during rush hour. We negotiated all the agreements to get usage of high quality audio and video of bands on digital cable and over the internet – and that’s no small feat with the grumpy labels. I learned database structure, how affiliate deals work, CDN’s, CMS’s and how to do my own Information Architecture. Mashable.com was born this year, I’m immediately an avid reader. “OOOH, you can do THAT with THAT, and how do I get me some of THAT?” Web based technology for consumers is springing to life, and I can’t get enough. We got a great website up and we were in maintenance mode, I was ready to jump back into the fire. By this time I knew I wanted “all-day-everyday” to be about digital technology and online production. The web and what it facilitated was a common thread through my previous job, and now it was time to take it primetime.

December ’05- December ’06 – My first completely inflexible job. I learn a lot, I find a great mentor, I handle dozens of site builds - handfuls of clients. Enterprise e-commerce, desktop applications delivered via the web, emerging social media strategies, CAD interfaces through web browsers, databasedriven touch screen interfaces. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. The day I write or respond to what I counted to be 300 emails by 4pm is the same day my (bi-polar) client calls me (on my cell, while I’m trying to eat lunch) to scream obscenities at me about something I didn’t do. This is the same day I return to the office to find out my mentor is leaving… I start looking for the next thing. I sure hope it flexes.

December ’06- May ’07 – Out of the pot and into the fire. Start-Up #2. Working with the “internet famous.” Sure did learn a lot about personalities. Shooting in the morning, publishing to the web in the afternoon. Syndicating feeds, organizing metadata, optimizing keywords, downloading uploads from all over the country, spec’ing editing stations, managing emotions of a young staff near and far,  coordinating the platform build that was ultimately to syndicate to over 100 different iterations, with all the new whoseitwhatsit badges and hooks and traction points of the web 2.0 world and custom designs for each piece. I was flexing alright, but I was flexing to accommodate a 16 hour work day. Late nights, blackberry around the clock (and under my pillow while I slept), the fall guy for the egomaniacal founder’s circle; my boyfriend leaves me, my friends stop speaking to me… You’ve got to be kidding me.

June ’07- May ’08 – Taking a break. Give me a big, predictable, advertising agency that arrives at 9 and leaves at 6. Let me put my head down and not get noticed. Let me fall in love with technology again, and have some time to think, to breathe. I revel in the luxury of gynormous budgets – extended timelines, stable after stable of resources to tap and hundreds of minds to pick. Great mentor #2. Best informal flex manager on the planet. Get your work done, let me know where you are. I’m squared away on the job by 3 today, and would love to skate over to the New York Public Library for a lecture on Net Neutrality and Intellectual Property.  I’ve got my cell if you need me, I’ll only be 10 blocks away. “Go for it,”  he says, “but bring me details tomorrow. I wish I could go too.” I get promoted within the year, I get relocated to a different account and a micro-manager. I lose great mentor #2, my informal flex evaporates and I start looking again…

I find Robin. I find Meryl. Out of this I get the pleasure of a Sandy and  a Karol. Don’t get me wrong, we have our challenges, we have our long days and long weekends. We’re a 100% virtual team and so we have to closely coordinate schedules, observe time differences and personal lives almost blindly. Everything I ever did before was about selling to people and leveraging the web. Everything we’re doing now is about taking care of people and leveraging new business strategies. They’re different worlds. My world was filled with tech buzzwords, speedy solutions and “The Next Big Thing (for the next ten minutes)”  I say “ruby on rails” and they smile and ask if that’s how Dorthy gets back from OZ these days. The best part about it, the part that keeps me coming back for more, is that every day they teach me about something I never would have learned anywhere else, working with 100 other people like myself. Now I care about BI strategy and secure data transfer; SaaS, cloud computing and online collaboration. Now I get to work on products and services and partnerships that really might just change the world for millions of people. Maybe I’ll get to be a part of that.  

Here I am today, 9 months into start-up #3, working with great people, making great stuff (more on that this Spring). Work these days has a lot more meaning and a lot less BS. Third time’s a charm. The true “Big Thing” I learned out of all of this: it’s a hell of a lot easier to find something when you know what you’re looking for. I sure took the long route, but maybe I can help you find yours easier.

Put on your flexible spectacles, what’s your flex career story?

What are you looking for?

Next up, who I flex for.