Read-Connect-Reflect #25
Who still works from home? (NY Times gift link)
As I’m sure you’re all well aware, this month marked the 4-year anniversary of the COVID shutdown and it sparked a number of reflection pieces. I found this one to be useful in summarizing the current state of WFH and hybrid work. Key takeaways include:
80% of workers have returned to in-person work, with 10% working hybrid and another 10% working fully from home.
People with college degrees, as well as white and Asian people are more likely to work from home.
Workers under 25 are the most likely age group to work in person (partly because a smaller share have completed college degrees at this stage, but also because younger workers see the direct benefit that in-person socialization and mentorship provides—and most don’t have family responsibilities yet, so they have greater flexibility).
Women are more likely to work remotely than men for a two reasons: 1. Moms are more likely to work remotely than dads, 2. Among workers without college degrees, women are more likely to have jobs that lend themselves to greater flexibility (for example, admin assistant) than men (for example, construction).
Workers with disabilities have a strong preference for working from home.
Virtual meetings are killing the vibe. Here’s what to do about it (Washington Post)
Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering was one of my favorite books that I read last year, so I was excited to read this recent interview that she did about the pitfalls of virtual meetings. She raises a lot of interesting points, but I love this gem:
There’s not a trick to getting people to come online or come to work. People go to where they feel needed, where they feel like their participation matters, where there’s relevancy.
Every single person who plans or hosts a meeting should print this out and tape it to their desk. If you’re asking people to come together—whether it’s on a Zoom call, for an off-site retreat, or instituting return to office orders—you have to make it worth their time. Make them feel like the gathering matters.
This is the most common career regret, and it’s easy to avoid (Fast Company)
This article can be best summarized by its opening sentence: “Taking a leap of faith is scary, but maintaining the status quo is more likely to result in regret over time, especially at work.”
A recent survey found that two-thirds of workers express having regrets about their careers. Most common regrets included not asking for a raise, not prioritizing work/life balance, and staying at a bad job for too long. The unknown is scary—I get it—but maybe this serve as the gentle nudge you need to make a change.
Would teacher salaries get there quicker if more teachers were men? (Forbes)
This is a thoughtful article about how “pink collar professions” (i.e., jobs and sectors in which women make up a disproportionately high percentage of the workforce) are systematically undervalued in our society. This is a major problem; as the article’s author points out:
“A massive study looking at U.S. census data from 1950-2000 found that ‘the proportion of females in an occupation affects pay, owing to devaluation of work done by women.’ A new study by the University of Zurich found that men are twice as likely to leave fields that are ‘feminizing.’ In a gendered version of the phenomenon dubbed white flight, as women enter fields that have been male-dominated, men leave, and the jobs they’ve left behind begin paying less, controlling for education, work experience, and skills.”
We’ve become so used to politicians describing teachers, nurses, social workers, etc. as “heroes”, but it’s time to pay them accordingly.
The fourth trimester series (Bon Appetit)
Right before I gave birth to my daughter, my friend Danielle gave me what I fondly recall as the best baby gift I received—six frozen meals she had prepared for my family. Once I gave birth, my work bestie Jess would come to my house at least once a week and deliver lunch. We would regularly go out to lunch together at work, and she wanted to continue the tradition; the fact that she would deliver any food I requested was an added perk.
I absolutely love this new series in Bon Appetit that talks about food as an expression of love in the postpartum period. Hana Asbrink writes about eating miyeokguk, a Korean seaweed soup for the 450+ days she breastfed her baby. Hetty Liu McKinnon details how her mother’s ginger fried rice helped her connect to her Chinese heritage. And MacKenzie Chung Fegan writes about how her friend Jess would come over to cook lemon pasta and set a candlelit dinner for her and her husband while they were putting the baby to sleep.
BONUS: Accepting transformation (The Learning Curve)
I was very honored when a former client asked me to write a letter for her wonderful newsletter, The Learning Curve. I wrote about my experience with professional ambivalence following miscarriages and fertility treatment.
Connect
I don’t know about you, but I feel like a whole new person now that spring is finally here. Although I’ve been here since 2018, I’m still adjusting to winters in Connecticut… they just so long and dark and claustrophobic. Now that the sun is out and temperatures are in the 50s (hey, that seems downright balmy right now), I’m making an effort to spend more time outside.
I’ve been encouraging clients to similarly take advantage of the change in season and start taking walking meetings. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s exactly what it sounds like—instead of taking a meeting in the office or on Zoom, both parties pop in some headphones and go for a walk (either together or separately). In addition to the health and mental health benefits of being outside, walking meetings have also been linked to an increase in creativity. This HBR article offers suggestions for ways to maximize your walking meetings.
Reflect
Have you noticed that sometimes you tend to disproportionately focus on the negative? Think back to your last performance review. Did you gloss over all of the positive feedback and spend your time perseverating on the areas for improvement? Are there times when its easier to focus on all of the tasks/chores your tween didn’t do, instead of the ones he did? This so-called “negativity bias” refers to the human tendency to give more weight to negative experiences than positive ones.
Scholars have argued that there is an evolutionary basis for this—we have evolved to be differentially attuned to negative information because it helps us avoid potentially harmful stimuli and allows us to understand others’ mental states. However, only seeing what’s wrong with someone can be maladaptive in the context of forming and maintaining meaningful relationships.
I encourage you to reflect on which situations, people, or circumstances trigger particularly negative thinking. What is it about these stimuli that might elicit this response? What feelings, other than negativity, do these triggers elicit? Helplessness? Anger? Incompetence? Fear?
Next time you find yourself being exceedingly negative about something, ask yourself the following questions:
Why does this feel so acute right now? Will this matter one month from now?
My perspective may feel true, but is it serving me/my goals?
How much energy do I want to devote to this issue?
Is there an entirely different way to view this situation?
