Yeah, this. I'm not planning on boycotting them either, I just think it's a poor decision.Quote:
Originally Posted by KimPossible
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Yeah, this. I'm not planning on boycotting them either, I just think it's a poor decision.Quote:
Originally Posted by KimPossible
The bolded seems to be the fictional employees main point. Can I ask ~ why doesn't the employee take a sick day? If her daughter has literally been sick less than 5 days in two years, what is the big deal? I mean, presumably this is a fictional salaried employee as I haven't heard of hourly employees telecommuting. Yahoo is a publicly traded company. When I worked for Citi, I had 3 weeks of vacation, 3 personal days and 2 floating holidays (or something very close to that, I could be off a day or two).Quote:
Dear Marissa,
Whoa, girl! You really know how to drop a bomb. Everyone is still talking about that HR memo. I'm sure you're like, "Hey can we move on and start making some money now, people?!"
I'm totally with you, Ms. Mayer. Totally! I mean, we really need to tighten things up around here, get those lazy butts in seats. I'm a little bummed that my view of the parking lot will now be blocked by the guy across the hall -- the one with the sweet window office -- who hasn't been in for the last six months. But if innovation comes without access to direct sunlight, then I won't complain. I am ALL in!
Let me also just say that I think those who've dubbed you "the Stalin of Silicon Valley" are completely out of line. I mean, that's an insult to Stalin. He was way, way worse than you are. And, really, is being forced to work in your office really like the Great Purge? At least we get free lunch at Yahoo. Am I right? If we were face-to-face right now, we could fist-bump to that one.
Now that we'll all be in the office, we can fist-bump all the time!
There's just one thing I wanted to ask you about. It's a family issue. And I know how important family is to you because you built an on-site nursery for your son -- who, by the way, is adorable and SO smart. Just like his mom!
So here goes: I'm a solo single parent. I have a 6-year-old daughter who I adore probably as much as you adore your son. You've totally inspired me to become a CEO, though, so I can bring her to work and have her privately schooled on site while I work.
But until that happens (you can laugh at THAT idea now!), I sometimes have to work from home when she's sick. She's a pretty healthy kid, though, so I promise it won't happen too much. Seriously, I can count on one hand how many times she's missed school in the last two years. And as long as her fever isn't too high, I can usually dose her with Tylenol long enough to make it into the office for a few hours before the school nurse calls demanding that I pick her up.
I will definitely use the company's backup child care option, but -- and I hate to complain -- it gets expensive. And when yours is the only income, child care really adds up, not to mention sometimes a sick kid just wants to be with her mom.
Also, I occasionally volunteer in her classroom. Research shows that kids whose parents participate in their learning do better in school. I know you're a data-driven decision-making kind of gal, so you can appreciate that one. Virtual fist-bump!
And just so you know, I'm a pretty decent performer. I'm actually one of those people who's in the office every day, not one of those slackers you're hoping to drive out of the fold. I actually like coming to work!
So I'm hoping you might make exceptions to the new policy in cases like these. And if not, then I get that too. We working gals can't sacrifice getting ahead to take care of family needs, can we? So if keeping my job means my daughter has to raise herself, I am ready to take that for the team!
Thanks for listening, Ms. M!
Yours truly,
*An imaginary Yahoo employee
Taking a day off to take care of a sick child is part of having children, IMO.
and Were you just speaking about yahoo as I am paid hourly and telecommute.
Cecilia has conjunctivitis, woke up with it yesterday morning. Told my boss that she was staying home and that I'd take a sick day. I also told him that I'd probably squeeze in some work anyway. He told me that it was close to the beginning of the pay period, and week and he said if i end up logging 36 hours over the course of the week anyway to not bother taking the sick time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Potter75
She will be on antibiotics for 24 hours by 11am today and I'm getting her back to daycare right then and there so i can actually work without distraction.
But yes in general, I agree, people should take sick time if they are home with little ones.
I dont' take sick time when the older kids are home sick.
If her child has only been sick a handful of times in the last 2 years then yes, taking a sick day here and there is not a big deal.
Like I said, my problem is when it is more than that. 20 sick days between 2 kids plus 6 days due to weather in 5 months. There are also issues with deadlines for myself and my husband. I would have quit by now if my husband wasn't able to shift his hours and stay home most of those days.
I don't usually experience mom (parent?) guilt about working. They have a far better time at daycare than home with me because no matter what I have planned, I cannot keep up with the excitement of 5+ kids 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I feel horrible on days when they wake up feeling lousy and if I was still a SAHM, I would have cancelled our plans to go out/had a low key day wih lots of rest. However, unless there is vomitting or a high fever I still drug them up and send them because I have no more days to take. I would rather take a day without pay or make up the time in then evening then send them to daycare on those days but it is not an option.
Yeah i have 6 sick days total a year. I could really easily go over the sick day limit in a year. If i was working in an office...i'd be coming into the office sick as a dog due to lack of sick time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danifo
For those of us who have project-based jobs, taking the day off is sometimes NOT an option. If I was a single parent and my child happened to get sick on the day or two before a filing, or on the day I've scheduled a multi-party conference call, there's no way I could just call in sick. This kind of work sometimes needs to be done on a particular day. Hopefully as a single parent I would have backup for my backup to cover situations like this, but at the same time, a sick kid usually wants mom, not a sitter. My DH is a stay-at-home parent and I still sometimes telecommute when the kids are really sick because they want *me* not even him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Potter75
I was thinking about this debate today. My kids had a snow day and we ended getting about 12" of snow. Now my kids are older, and since dh works nights there was a parent home. But I still had to go into the office. The weather turned nasty by about 9:30, and they decided to close the office early. So many people came in even though the forecast was awful, and then we were back on the roads during the worst of it. If we had the option to work from home, it would have been a much more productive day for many of us.
I am so thankful to not work or live in a large metro! I lived in Chicago for a bit and it is really beastly to get around in when the weather turns bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by mommydearest
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spacers
Out of curiosity what would you do if you had a death in the family or a child in the hospital? You really have ZERO flexibility on certain days? I guess I can't imagine the pressure of that situation working for someone with a family at all, you know? I get it that things happen ~ My husband travels almost weekly and for almost the past two years has been away at school (overnight) every other friday and saturday, so there has been a TON of juggling that has had to happen (i.e not scheduling traveling too close to the end of my pregnancies lest he miss our kids birth, or dealing with emergencies like a grandparents death from out of town, or my broken hip (I feel like I bring that up a lot, but with kids 5 4 and 2 and me not even able to DRIVE a car for 4 weeks and on crutches for a total of almost 9 weeks it was a massive upheaval in our lives) or our babies recent almost 2 week stretch of unplanned hospital time ~ well, I guess I can't imagine having zero flexibility, or what that actually would look like in an average American family. Am I just unrealistic? I'm not being snarky, it is truly hard for me to imagine.
I guess its also hard for me to imagine that a normal, functional company would say "No! No taking work calls, NO WORKING! Today while your child is in surgery and you are sitting there with nothing to do, you MUST take a sick day.". Again, if I am being utopian give it to me straight, but in my experience with working remote my employer extended that benefit when it benefited them AND me. To me, Yahoo saying all employees must be workplace based does not mean *and in any emergency ever will also have to come into the office. Most employers IMO will react just like Kims did ~ don't take the sick time work when and how you can.
In other words, they are making this decision as a profitability one for them. Its hard for me to imagine that the productive workers who have weathered this change would not be extended grace in the case of weather or family emergencies, or if they had, say, a Dr's appointment far away with a specialist and wanted to work 1/2 day remote. I see that flexibility all the time with my working friends employers, I guess I'm just assuming Yahoo will still employ that same efficient logic?