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Hii fishes, help me choose the right company.
Yoe- 10.4 tech stack - Big data engineer with Spark scala.
Cognizant 20lpa(18.5fix)
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Citi Bank 29ctc(25fix)
I am looking for better work life balance and job security.
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People with kids have been handling their share of the work, and honestly I’m not sure how.
If anything it makes me feel like I’m not doing enough, considering that I don’t have to worry about the survival of another human being 🤷🏻♂️.
THANK YOU! ❤️🥰
I’m far from child-free. And I feel for my colleagues who live alone. Sure, they don’t have the added responsibilities of parenting, but the loneliness, the lack of human contact must be very difficult. So, thanks for the empathy towards us parents, right back at ya, people who live alone! No-one has it easy right now.
Appreciate this!
Wow I am pretty heartened by the responses here. Super tired of the child free vs parents debate, and the stereotypes associated with each group.
Chief
I agree! These responses aren’t what I expected and I’m surprisingly delighted. Everyone’s having a tough time right now in different ways.
Came here thinking I’d leave angry and instead am feeling buoyed by these wonderful comments. As a mom of 2 with an essential worker husband, I’ve been working my tail off and also taking time off when I have no other option. I appreciate the acknowledgment that everyone is trying their best and 2020 is hard for everyone.
Chief
Same! 💕
Personally don’t feel like I have had to pick up their slack. They need the flexibility to take care of another human. There is not much anyone can do around that really, considering the year we’ve had and limitations in child care that families are facing. They usually take the flexibility they need and then log back on later to get things done.
I’ve had to pick up more slack for child free team members who have been struggling with everything going on this year (I mean since March). Their of lack motivation and inability to keep up with the pace and adapt to WFH life created way more of a burden on the rest of the team. I’m not blaming them either, everyone deals with things in a different way and it’s been a tough year. But that’s been my personal experience.
Thank you! Really interesting insight. We're all in different boats, even though we're experiencing the same storm. Sometimes those that we think need us the least...actually need us the most.
Quite the opposite, parents are our most focused and effective stakeholders. I gave a presentation to a client with an infant napping on his shoulder a few weeks ago, it was lovely
Maybe we are an unusually friendly and open team, but we are all about flexibility and psychological safety regardless of someone’s circumstances. We have people caring for infirm parents, people with kids, people living alone, people with dogs, people with tech challenges — human needs are going to show and we support each other where we can
A silver lining of the pandemic/WFH has been more transparency and trust in all directions so it’s not just 1 person picking up the slack
I’ve found it to be quite the opposite, actually. Generally speaking, the people with kids seem to be the least liberal with going places and doing things in this pandemic because if they get sick, there’s simply more on the line, so they’re taking little to no vacation time.
Chief
And we’re also very conscious of people like OP so we try our hardest not to let having a kid interfere with our work. Will it happen here and there? Sure.
No, I’m happy to help. I don’t envy anyone with kids in 2020.
I’ve spent way more time covering for single people who come to work hungover (pre covid) than I’ve ever spent covering for working parents—they know how to juggle.
And hold our liquor
I’m not mad at parents because like others I honestly don’t know how they are surviving right now and should all be given whatever time they need. But I am annoyed with workplaces that don’t see my time as just as important and valuable. As a single, we are responsible for all the things and that can be overwhelming and isolating.
I don’t think it’s a they have it better than me or vice versa. I think both have their challenges (and benefits). It’s just that issues that singles face are almost never addressed where often parents’ concerns are which makes it feel unfair.
People without children are not on leave everyday. That’s a very narrow view. Singles and people without children often have to do everything themselves, are their only support system and work just as long and longer than people with kids, without having more socially acceptable reasons why they need to take time off or even miss a meeting because of a sick child. Often the single person needs to work when sick themselves. And it’s not as accepting if you have sick parents or family members and need to help with their healthcare. I feel for parents, but there is a lot of discrimination that you don’t face vs singles with no children because your choice is more of a societal norm.
As a parent, I feel guilty anytime I need flexibility and try to make sure that I’m not burdening others.
I appreciate that. And I’m lucky to have a team that understands and we make it work.
Chief
Keyword here: feeling
A functional society should account for people continuing the existence of the species, so there's that whole thing.
That aside, people are useless for a myriad of reasons. Blanket calling out parenting (or anything really) is lazy.
I am child-free, and no. I feel that the people I work with support each other, and that we are all doing our best in a terrible situation. I have a little teddy bear on my home desk to make the tots laugh if needed. Empathy helps.
My colleagues with kids are getting more work from home flexibility. I just wish we all got it.
If your employer isn’t letting you work from home right now, that’s not a parent issue, that’s an ignoring the pandemic issue (assuming you work in advertising here and are not an essential worker)
These comments make me feel envious. I pick up the slack for my team lead, who will basically will put off anything not in his job description until I really cannot get to it and during wfh, has been even worse. I can try to understand having a kid difficult but when he takes a day to work on a small report that i can finish in 5 minutes....you have to wonder.
As someone with an infant, it can honestly take all day to accomplish something that should take an hour. Not excusing him, but it is hard to sit down for ten minutes uninterrupted and my child isn't even old enough to walk yet. It's literally exhausting. You'd think being used to sleep deprivation it would be easier to pick up the slack from the work day at night once babe is sleeping, but no, then I am drop dead exhausted. We all feel burnout. Only now I feel it from two "jobs." Wouldn't trade my babe for the world, but it is not easy to finish simple tasks with a screaming, vomiting, pooping, crying, wriggling, tiny human who constantly needs something.