Last week layoffs took place where I work. I know and am friendly with several of those who lost their jobs. Because I know them, I have realized that a handful of them had something in common. What they shared was a lack of face time at the office. One lady had over 10 years with the company. Her manager allows employees to work from home as needed and she often took advantage of this, rarely coming into the office. She most likely did this because she has several young daughters and working from home is helpful when coordinating school pickups/drop-offs and doctor’s appointments. Another lady that was laid off also worked for a manager with a similar work from home policy. Like the first lady, this one also worked from home more days than she came into the office, although I’m unsure of her reasoning for this since she has no children and is not married. Perhaps it was simply out of convenience.
The third individual I’d like to discuss has a different story. He had just over 10 years with the company. But unlike the first two folks I have mentioned, he consistently came into the office. Here’s a little more detail: he and his group moved into my building two years after the rest of us. They had been located at a downtown building that was being closed. When his group moved to my building, they were all assigned cubes on the fifth floor where everyone in our organization was already located. For some reason he refused to move to the fifth floor and found a cube for himself on the fourth floor, all by himself. So while he was in the office, his director, manager, and co-workers never saw him.
This makes me wonder if a lack of face time was one of the reasons these folks got chosen for the layoff. I’m sure it wasn’t the only reason. There absolutely had to be other, most likely performance-related or workload-related reasons. If one does not come to the office often, then your manager cannot visually see you working. One may not be chosen for special projects if you’re at home and the rest of your co-workers are with the manager in the office and he is able to speak with them immediately about the project. And when it comes time for layoffs, it may be easier for a manager to select an employee that they don’t have to look at and face every day.
Just to be safe, I’ll continue to only work from home when I need to and limit it to at most once a week.
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That is a very interesting point you bring. As the saying goes "out of sight, out of mind." It is probably easier to let go those people that you don't see on a regular basis. However, if the policy allows people to work from home as many days as they like, it seems a bit unfair that someone is let go just because they are taking advantage of a privilege they have been offered.
ReplyDeleteWe are expecting layoffs at my company too. I am really not looking forward to seeing some of my good friends go.
In my Leadership for Management class last semester, I read about some research that indicated that employees that telecommute get lower performance appraisals when compared to their counterparts in the office. This isn't because they aren't doing as well, it's because (apparently) the successes don't seem as significant and failures seem bigger when expressed digitally.
ReplyDeleteIt's upsetting, but apparently a real psychological phenomenon. I think we need to find a better way to make telecommuting not feel so distant.