Interesting feature in the NYT Sunday magazine about juggling family and work, and how the “norm” may be changing thanks in part to some recent successful law suits.

Seems companies can no longer expect workers to put the job ahead of everything, as was sort of standard when men were the workers (and did nothing at home) and women took care of the family.  This isn’t going to cut it in a world where 77% of women with schoolage children work.  But the lawsuits aren’t all about women.  According to the article (emphasis added):

The flood of cases reflects not just the increased presence of women in the workplace but also the growing difficulty Americans of all social backgrounds seem to be having in balancing the demands of work and family.  Unlike so-called “glass ceiling” cases involving women barred from the top rungs of a handful of elite professions, the plaintiffs in these new work-family disputes have ranged across the occupational spectrum, from physicians to police officers to grocery clerks.  While not all have become millionaires, more than half have prevailed in court–a success rate significantly higher than that of more conventional employment-discrimination cases, which is below 20 percent.  Beyond causing headaches for their employers, the lawsuits are serving notice that the battle over “family values” is no longer just about gay marriage and abortion: it’s also about workplace attitudes that some advocates believe do significantly more to undermine family life than those controversial practices do.

The article tells a few stories of women (and men) who lost their jobs because they placed a child, a sick spouse, ailing parents ahead of their work.  What can we learn from these people?

Namely, that we should always remember that the company isn’t there for us.  The company is there to make money for the owners and/or stockholders.  That means we need to understand family leave policies and what our rights are.   We especially need to keep records of conversations and arrangements made with our bosses.  Leave a paper trail, working girls!  This way if down the road there is a “failure to communicate” you will have some evidence on your side. 

It can be hard.  When you work with people you inevitably start to think of them as friends.  And it’s fine to be friendly.  But we need to never forget that our employers’ priorities are not our priorities.  Don’t be too trusting.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 10:18 am and is filed under life at work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.