Work, work, work

Former GE CEO Jack Welch recently climbed out of his cave and told women who want a work-life balance to sew up their uterus as the only balance that matters is work-work. I agree and disagree with Mr. Welch and some of the people who were also quoted. Face time, in an age where many employees, including upper management, telecommute at least part of the time, is not what it used to be. Does it really matter if I'm answering emails at 6:30AM in my sweats at home or in my office 30 miles away? I can easily work and hour or two (depending when I get up) while waiting for the school bus before driving to work (with the added benefit of missing rush hour) and still make any meeting scheduled (and conversely I can attend late night meetings with the west coast office from my home too). The other thing is that a work-life balance is not just for mothers anymore. See, I'm not the mom, I'm the dad and I am fortunate enough to work for a company with a very flexible schedule. Our hours are flexible. We can work at home a few days a week. Some directors with small children are home based. It does help that my company has many offices and face to face meetings are rare even if all are in their particular office.

Of course I am aware that there is a trade-off for this flexibility. I am a highly skilled and educated employee and my compensation and career path are not what they could have been if I had devoted myself to moving up the ladder. I and those like me with young families have turned down promotions because they would have limited our work-life balance abilities. However, my hours are fairly regular and I rarely have to travel meaning we don't worry about child care or missing a school event (since I have the flexible hours and my wife doesn't I'm usually the one who goes to these type of events). I choose life over just work. So shoot me and members of my generation (Generation X for the record), but before you do, remember that this is only for a relatively short period of our career life and, at least for those of us who are highly skilled and talented, if an employer chooses not to place our skills sets back on the corporate ladder, there is usually somebody else who would