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Our Autonomy at Work Is a Privilege, Not a Right
Long before the pandemic, I learned not all bosses trust “work from anywhere”
“Remember that time Jane got pissed because your relative had cancer?”
Jane was a former boss (not her real name), but the cancer was real. An old coworker reminded me of this recently, and as much as I attempted to wipe that experience from my memory, it floods back to me regularly.
I’ve had some transformative, wonderful bosses over the past 20 years, and I’ve also had the opposite. Jane was the opposite, and the experience was notable, and a nod to the struggles that might lay ahead as the workforce considers going hybrid.
Organizational Culture Can Be Attractive
A big part of my interest in working with the company was their focus on the work itself, not working hours. There was a physical office and some sense of routine, though as long as the projects got done, few managers concerned themselves with the details of where, when, or how.
And this was years before the pandemic.
As millions of us are awkwardly trickling (or being coerced) back into physical offices, it has been interesting to think back on my “Jane experience.” I had only been with the company for four months, though there’s no good time to receive such news. But that didn’t matter; I needed to be with my family. There would be a lot of downtime, so I planned to continue with all my projects, most of which involved research that could be done anywhere.
I learned pretty quickly that Jane operated differently from the other managers. She expected her employees’ butts to be in seats from 8 am to 5 pm every day. So when I approached her with my family news, I vividly recall her three immediate responses, in order:
- “How long will you be away?”
- “How will I know you’re actually doing your work?”
- “Oh, sorry about your relative.”
I remember my exact response to her second question: “You’ll know I’m doing my work because the work will be getting done.” Jane couldn’t fathom — even with a laptop, strong WiFi, and a solid VPN connection — how I could…
