Over a year ago, in April of ’08, I was laid off.   I had worked in the aerospace industry since 2001, specifically in contracts, and it was time to move on.  Prior to that, I had worked primarily in marketing and had finished an MBA in Market Strategy a year prior to the lay-off that I was hoping to eventually utilize to transition back to marketing.  In the meantime, my new husband and I were hoping to have a child and it all seemed to be appropriate timing.  After a miscarriage around the same time as the lay-off, we were lucky enough to get pregnant soon after and now have a 4 month-old daughter.  I already have an 11 year-old son from a previous marriage and feel blessed to have my little girl as well.

One of the issues I struggled with while working outside of the home, particularly as a single mom, was a desire to have more balance in my life and to telecommute more.  It was frustrating to have my son in daycare from 6:30am to 6pm while I drove two hours daily to get to and from work.  It was the same in the summer when I wanted him to be in specific camps and activities for his enrichment, but had to keep him in full-time daycare because I could not leave work to take him to those activities.   It was even more frustrating to realize that most of my work was done using a computer, which I had at home.  I was even emailing my colleage in the next office, rather than walking over.  The nice, big office with custom furniture I was in seemed wasted.  I wondered how much the company would save in facility costs if they didn’t use so many resources for employees; and the employees would be happier because they wouldn’t have to pretend they didn’t have other parts to their lives, and would maybe stay with the company longer! ***sigh***

When I finally requested to possibly leave a few hours earlier to pick up my son from school and work from home, my boss saw it as a personal affront.  He thought he was being taken advantage of…

What I’ve come to learn about the lack of support for more telecommuting is a lack of trust from management and a concern from HR that other employees will be jealous.  This does not make sense since no supervisor is looking over the shoulders of employees all day long to determine productivity.  All one can look at is the ultimate result.  Is the work getting done?  Co-workers wouldn’t be jealous if they can have the same benefit if they desire.  I have seen instances where some employees in some departments got to telecommute some of the time and others did not.  Ridiculous! It felt like a clique in high school you couldn’t get into.  How did these people become the “chosen telecommuting people??”  Were their lives more valuable than mine??

I hope that when my daughter is an adult, much change will have occurred in this area and she will be amazed at the resistance there was in allowing people to have more balance in their lives.

I am always pleased to see women achieve this and the following article is an example:  CNN Article on Self-Employment