Many people can relate to this LinkedIn post by Megan Witherspoon which explains why it has now become a hot topic. When the Covid-19 pandemic forced everyone to stay at home, companies had no choice but to send their employees home to work virtually. And for the past 18 months, work-from-home or remote work arrangement has become the new ‘normal’ work setting. The sudden transition of working environment not only posed a great challenge to office workers but also to the employers as well. As employees begin to adjust to their new work setting, companies also have to figure out how to properly handle arrangements and schedules to maintain productivity despite the huge change in setting.
Megan Witherspoon, vice president of communications at Altria, shared a piece of her mind on how to handle flexible work arrangements on her LinkedIn page. As a mom of two, she understands that working from home and juggling between personal and professional responsibilities can be tough. So she made it clear on her post that if her employers need to attend to important personal matters, they can do so without having to worry about what she thinks about it.
Megan Witherspoon Writes A Post Talking About Providing Flexibility To Employees
On her post, Megan Witherspoon listed down all things that she does care and doesn’t care about. Now, some people might misunderstand the use of the term ‘I do not care’ in the context. She used the term to let her workers know that it’s okay and she doesn’t mind if they do the things stated after it. She also explained the importance of providing flexibility to the employees as a way to help them get through these extremely challenging circumstances.
With millions of people who can relate to her, the LinkedIn post quickly goes viral. While many people appreciate her effort of promoting flexible work arrangements, some people are raising the issue that tolerating flexibility to workers isn’t applicable to all industries. Apparently, front line workers do not have the same privilege as office workers who can work virtually at home. Furthermore, some people also raised the possibility of having employees abusing too much freedom by tolerating flexibility without constraints.
People’s opinions are indeed split over the issue. But Megan Witherspoon simply made the post to tell her employees that they can take a break from their work to deal with their family/personal matters. There’s no problem with that as long as they get their work done without missing a deadline. And we can only wish to have more compassionate managers like her.
Source: LinkedIn