I never need to know you’ll be back online after dinner. I never need to know why you chose to watch season 1 of “Arrested Development” (for the 4th time) on your flight to LA instead of answering emails. I never need to know you’ll be in late because of a dentist appointment. Or that you’re leaving early for your kid’s soccer game. I never need to know why you can’t travel on a Sunday. I never need to know why you don’t want to have dinner with me when I’m in your town on a Tuesday night. I never need to know that you’re working from home today because you simply need the silence. I deeply resent how we’ve infantilized the workplace. How we feel we have to apologize for having lives. That we don’t trust adults to make the right decisions. How constant connectivity/availability (or even the perception of it) has become a valued skill. I'm equally grateful for the trust/respect my peers, bosses and teams show me every day. Years ago a very senior colleague reacted with incredulity that I couldn’t fly on 12 hours notice because I had my kids that night (and I'm a single dad. edit: divorced). I didn’t feel the least bit guilty, which I could tell really bothered said colleague. But it still felt horrible. I never want you to feel horrible for being a human being.
This. Is. Everything.
As a single father, all of this resonates. I stopped apologizing for that fact many years ago. Thank you!
As a fellow single Dad, THANK YOU! 👍👍
If anyone's interested in an updated version: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/iansohn_regrettably-26-months-after-i-first-wrote-activity-6825083608055758848-Lsle
Michelle Rowbotham… be good if your workplace understood even a shred of this post.
Are you hiring in the UK? 🤣
Thank you for this. I agree very much, especially about constant connectivity/availability being something seemingly praised and valued and demanded.
Hey! I think I am late here...haha. But thank you! I really needed to read this today! By the way, can I work for you? 🙂
Sales Executive / Master engineer / Harvard CSO
1yWe all struggle with the work-life balance, trying to figure out how we can have a fulfilling personal and social life while striving for a successful career. A single dad of two kids named Ian Sohn wrote a post on LinkedIn recently about how his employees need to stop apologizing for “having lives.” https://didyouknowfacts.com/a-single-dads-never-need-to-know-company-policy-should-be-corporate-policy-across-america/