digital divide network - article database

Every high-level professional woman who reads Anne-Marie Slaughter’s much discussed article in the Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” is bound to have a personal story that intersects with that of the author. For me, it was the time I spent as a foreign correspondent in Europe, where I also had my two children, now ages 5 and 9. You’d think such a peripatetic life would be a terrible way to be a working mom. In fact, it was great. I covered economics and business rather than politics and breaking news, a choice carefully thought out to minimize totally unpredictable travel. I often worked strange hours, responding to the queries of editors in a different time zone, in New York City, but being online at midnight also meant that I could juggle my schedule to have plenty of morning time and after-school time with my kids. Face time was irrelevant — after all, news never happened in the office. In her piece, Slaughter quotes former Bush assistant Mary Matalin as saying, “Having control over your schedule is the only way that women who want to have a career and a family can make it work.” I’d have to agree.
It’s no surprise that 73 hours a week, even done flexibly, are incompatible not only with family life, but also with anything else (that’s an important point, because the debate over work-life balance shouldn’t be just about how to have a career and be a mom — or dad for that matter — but also how to have a top job and still remain a human being). What’s more surprising is that it may also be incompatible with maximum productivity. A number of surveys show that working longer doesn’t necessarily mean working better just like a vibrating feeder will lose its motivation after a longtime operation(Slaughter cites a couple of them in her piece). In Germany, where labor-productivity rates are only a bit less than in the U.S. (and the economy prior to the euro crisis was more robust), workers spend about 80% of the time on the job that Americans do. For Germans, doing the job well is what matters; face time is less important. Indeed, a German executive a few years back once commented to me that “if you are at work past 6 p.m., there’s something wrong with you” (meaning, you simply aren’t being efficient enough). I can say personally that on the days when I know I need to be home for dinner, I work harder. On the days when I can leave at 10 p.m., I’m revving up more slowly.Every high-level professional woman who reads Anne-Marie Slaughter’s much discussed article in the Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” is bound to have a personal story that intersects with that of the author. For me, it was the time I spent as a foreign correspondent in Europe, where I also had my two children, now ages 5 and 9. You’d think such a peripatetic life would be a terrible way to be a working mom. In fact, it was great. I covered economics and business rather than politics and breaking news, a choice carefully thought out to minimize totally unpredictable travel. I often worked strange hours, responding to the queries of editors in a different time zone, in New York City, but being online at midnight also meant that I could juggle my schedule to have plenty of morning time and after-school time with my kids. Face time was irrelevant — after all, news never happened in the office. In her piece, Slaughter quotes former Bush assistant Mary Matalin as saying, “Having control over your schedule is the only way that women who want to have a career and a family can make it work.” I’d have to agree.

It’s no surprise that 73 hours a week, even done flexibly, are incompatible not only with family life, but also with anything else (that’s an important point, because the debate over work-life balance shouldn’t be just about how to have a career and be a mom — or dad for that matter — but also how to have a top job and still remain a human being). What’s more surprising is that it may also be incompatible with maximum productivity. A number of surveys show that working longer doesn’t necessarily mean working better just like a vibrating feeder will lose its motivation after a longtime operation(Slaughter cites a couple of them in her piece). In Germany, where labor-productivity rates are only a bit less than in the U.S. (and the economy prior to the euro crisis was more robust), workers spend about 80% of the time on the job that Americans do. For Germans, doing the job well is what matters; face time is less important. Indeed, a German executive a few years back once commented to me that “if you are at work past 6 p.m., there’s something wrong with you” (meaning, you simply aren’t being efficient enough). I can say personally that on the days when I know I need to be home for dinner, I work harder. On the days when I can leave at 10 p.m., I’m revving up more slowly.

 

 

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