Differences in workload were related to industry and professional area in IT. The workplace accommodations for women also varied greatly. Twenty-one women mentioned the stress that a heavy workload and required travel put on their lives.
Internal IT auditors tended to work normal workweeks. Managers and women in financial and Big 4 consulting companies worked 60-70 hour workweeks, often traveling. Women with overlong workweeks worried about the effects on their families.
It was very tough during the first year of Sarbanes Oxley, very tough, because lots of the middle staff jumped ship. They were seniors but they could get director positions because everybody wanted someone with Sarbanes Oxley experience. So we lost the middle resource, the assistants. When we were out at a job on an audit, it was just me and an intern. Or me and a staff, who had no experience. So not only did you have to stay there and train them and explain things to them, you still had to do your own job, which meant I had to do everything, the senior job, the manager job, because they were not there. It was a very difficult year. That’s part of what drove me to leave. Ifelt like I was punishing my family. (R38)
Several women described their hours as cyclic, requiring more hours during certain times of year. Several women said they were ‘workaholics’ and liked to take work home. One woman, a telecommunications manager, indicated,
I sit with my laptop on my lap every night and work. Thank God, he (the husband) doesn t care. We watch a movie together, and I will be working while we watch the movie. I like to multitask… I also have an iPhone, so during dinner I was reading resumes because I am on a recruitment committee, which ones I want to call for an interview. I worked like a fool last week. Normally, I like to at least have Sunday off and maybe part of Saturday. If I had to think about it, 12 to 15 hours a day. I get so much email it is insane. To my employees I always write back thanks, so they know I read their email. (R19)
One woman in the healthcare industry said:
My bosses, the old one, and the current one, they don’t believe in watching the hours. They expect you to be professional and do what is necessary to get the work done. So, to the extent I get my work done, I work a 40-hour week. In almost 4 years… I can count with my fingers how many times I’ve had to work more than a 40-hour week. (R33)
Another manager, who had a 25-year career, found that her non-profit healthcare company focused on getting the work done, not on the location or time of day. She managed 200 employees who telecommute. The organization saved office space with this arrangement.
One of my direct employees has a child with sickle cell disease. Every three weeks the child goes to the hospital for blood transfusions. I understand how that is. But life goes on. When she told me about that, we sat down and figured out what to do. She is very capable, she is very intelligent, she has a very strong background, she produces very high-quality work. I told her to manage her schedule, that when she needs to go, she should go. It has worked out very well. You know what happens? Every time she takes her daughter to the hospital for a blood transfusion, she sits next to her daughter with her laptop, her air card, her palm pilot, cell phone, still on the conference, still on email, still reachable, and she gets the work done. I told her, to me, I am not going to keep track of where you are. As long as you figure out how you are going to get it done and balance it, we can make it happen. (R17)
In most other cases, organizations did not have official policies on telecommuting. Accommodations for women, especially those with children, varied widely. Managers decided on telecommuting, through informal agreements with employees, usually those they trusted. Women indicated they were more productive working off-site because they did not have so many interruptions. However, some felt isolated and missed the social interaction. While interviewees were asked about accommodations for promoting women or creating equal opportunity, very few mentioned any programs other than ones required by law, such as family leave.
Women spoke about the benefits of taking disability instead of family leave. A professional woman who worked in the health industry, said
When I was on maternity leave, which was twice since I have been here, my boss had to call me once, and he was really upset because he had to call me. I was on disability and I was not supposed to be working. The thing with family leave is that they offer it, but they do not have to guarantee your job. If you are in fear of losing your job, you wouldn’t want to take that. On disability, they have to give you your job back when you come back. But not with family leave. I wasn’t really nervous about leaving, so I was able to take all of that time…I have never heard of a man taking family leave (here). When my husband took it, it was when it first became available. Six weeks of it was going to be paid, just like disability…. He had to educate his Human Resources Department about it. (R16)
A few women mentioned that telecommuting was possible, depending upon your boss. Non-managerial interviewees talked about work as non-accommodating. Generally, if women work from home or start a family, they run the risk of not being promoted or not being seen as serious about their work. Women worried about what impact family might have on their careers and how work might impact their families. One young woman, who had just begun her career at a ‘laid-back’ company stated:
Another weakness, well not weakness, but something that is going to hold me back a little is having kids and being intimidated about getting married, and having to have time off. But I think, well, males have to do that do. But I think that being a female, I think companies look down on it. I have been struggling with that, and telling myself that everyone gets married, and everybody has time off when they have a child, so I won’t be discriminated against. I guess I feel guilty about wanting to take that much time off to have a kid so that part is a little in my mind, but I am dealing with it. It is new to me. To be gone from work for 3 months, to take care of a child and then coming back to a workplace, that’s a little scary for me. But that could be in any field. (R37)
This sentiment reverberates with that of another, experienced woman:
But when I had my daughter, I was a high level manager, about to become a senior manager. I didn ‘t get it that year and I knew why. Because I had just had my baby and I was on maternity. And I felt like I was punishedfor that. Nobody had told me that I wouldnt be getting it. They were prepping me to get it. I made sure that as soon as my medical leave was over, that I went back to work right away. (R38)
Women who were more established, identified other options that worked for them and seemed to have more flexibility. One company let employees accrue paid time off, although, from the description, employees did not take it unless the company didn’t have enough hours and wanted employees to stay home.
The woman in the healthcare industry who manages 200 employees, works two days a week at the company and telecommutes the rest. Another high-level manager commutes between Los Angeles and Phoenix, working on-site for three days and from home the rest.