I’ve written about the virtual book tour for my book, Women Work and Autoimmune Disease:Keep Working, Girlfriend! It kicks off next week, Monday November 3.
Those bloggers who have asked me to write a guest post for the day that they’re highlighting the book have suggested a topic to write on. That’s more difficult than I expected. When I write a post, it’s because I have something to say about the topic. I thought I’d throw it out there and see if any of you have ideas to contribute. Here are two different topics that I could use some advice or information on:
- Please talk about the inherent conflicts between the need to slow down and care for ourselves and the pace and intensity of the working world.
- What kind of options are there for people who want to work at home because of chronic illness?
Share any thoughts you have on this here. I promise to give you credit in the post. Thank you!
Rosalind aka cicoach.com
Marlyn says
I’d love to participate in your VBT, but I’m not sure of the procedure once I sign up.
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Christina Gombar says
Re — taking care of one’s health versus keeping up with tne never-ending demands of a job. I wish I knew!
As for working at home — we are all bombarded with news and ads about green house gases. One of the best ways to reduce them would be to allow employees to work from home as much as possible. Companies can be loathe to do this, because they have considerable investments in renting office space, and it makes managing remote employees a challenge. However — it’s a good argument to make, if it is made in great numbers and often enough, and not only by chronically ill but well employees — something’s eventually got to give.
Another thought on wellness programs — my husband, who has a 170 mile a day round trip car commute four days a week, has several health ailments entirely related to commuting. His company is one of those that spent money on a wellness program designed to help employees lose weight and exercise. If the company would let him work at home more, he wouldn’t have the body stresses of a three hour commute, and would be able to work out every day.
Rosalind says
You’re right about the challenges of managing remotely but there is a considerable cost savings in some instances. Which is why some companies have embraced virtual work. Why is it that organizations can’t see what’s so obvious to the rest of us (LOL!)
Christina Gombar says
I have another topic I’d love to see you discuss in your blog tour:
When you’re hired at a job, full time on staff, you get all those great benefit goodies: company cafeteria, museum discounts, cheap life insurance, affordable group health insurance, short and long-term disability insurance.
Think again. If you’ve got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, mitochondrial illness and a host of other chronic diseases women, especially are prone to, you may not be covered by your company’s LTD insurance (which you are paying for through group premiums)– or you may only be covered for one or two years, if you have to use it (same goes for depression) — even though these conditions tend to last forever.
So a company may happily hire someone, even knowing she has a chronic illness — because they know if she gets sick on the job and has to go out, she won’t stress out the group plan for long.
We need to be aware of this going in to a job — but should we ask to see the fine print, all the exclusions on an employers LTD policy before going on staff? I mean, we’re not exactly in a great negotiating position — asking about a worst case scenario like that.
I’d love to see this discussed in the media. This is Michael Moore-worthy
Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com says
Thanks for the idea. Not sure I’m the right person to write on this since I can understand that a company wouldn’t want to pay for a better plan. I don’t have a good suggestion as to who should be paying for this since no one has enough money other than the government and they do such a poor job at administering programs.
Michelle Traub says
Please talk about the inherent conflicts between the need to slow down and care for ourselves and the pace and intensity of the working world.
—This particular issue is a constant challenge for me. I have found that when I get especially busy at work my health takes a back seat. The problem stems from a fear that if I let work slide, I may be viewed as unreliable because of my health. But, obviously I can’t let me health slide either because that will impact my work eventually. So, I am constantly working on balancing my work week by having at least 1 day in the middle of the week for doctor’s appointments, yoga, sleeping late, etc.. This has worked very well for me because if I didn’t have the set day off, I know I wouldn’t take it on my own. I negotiated this arrangement with my employer with the understanding that I would still complete all of my responsibilities – and I have. And, I make a point to keep a log of my work tasks and achievements, along with my time off, so that I can always have record of what I am accomplishing should my employer need verification.
What kind of options are there for people who want to work at home because of chronic illness?
I think there are actually quite a few options if you are willing to creatively approach the situation with your employer including flex time, partial teleocommute, and pro-rated salary based on reduced hours.
Working from home has been extremely helpful for me for MANY reasons, but I have also found that it is very beneficial to my employer. My employer gets my services during their regular office hours, but also during off hours, because I check in on emails, etc. during evening hours when I am often feeling better. I also feel more of a dedication to my employer to overdeliver because I am so appreciative of their trust in me. And, they save a substantial amount of money because I have been willing to accept a lower salary in exchange for my reduced schedule. In addition, I save them electricity costs and free up office space. Besides, I am far more productive in my quiet home office than I am when I am in the office where office gossip and wasteful meetings take my time.
I really believe most positions can fit into a work at home option, but certainly some of the more data or creative-driven disciplines work especially well – writing, creative design, Web site programming, accounting, etc. And many jobs have administrative tasks that could be completed at home, while other more social aspects of their job can only be completed in an office – those jobs are perfect for a split of some days in the office and some day out.
I urge anyone with chronic illness to at least try to talk to their employer about an adjusted schedule, or seek positions with a company that will be willing to work with you. My life is 100% better than it was in the days when I was a 9-5 worker who had to beg for time off to go to dr’s appointments.