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I was quite surprised to read this “UK staff denied flexible work” on BBC this morning. The startling statistic:

Of 8,000 firms quizzed, 90% in mainland Europe made flexitime available, compared with 48% in the UK.

I used to work in a company where “presenteeism” was a strong culture. Nobody frowned on you working late till 12 midnight but certainly, everyone’s eyes raised and tongues wagged mouths if you came in late. I think that’s changing now because it’s a US-based company and many of them practice flexi work now.

After that, I moved to an organization where I worked with a team located all over the world that being in one place didn’t mean anything. Why? Because we kept in touch through emails, teleconferences and the occasional face-to-face meetings.

There were deliverables and everyone were on their toes because of this. Having flexi hours made everyone more productive since neither their personal nor working lives were put on hold for the other. Our teleconferences were quite interesting because I’ve had colleagues chatting while:

  • driving their kids to work
  • washing plates in the kitchen
  • lining up at the bank and even
  • doing business in the toilet! (we accidentally knew about it when we heard it flushing and the Director diplomatically piped in, “I just want to remind everyone to use the mute button if they’re not talking - this helps to cut down on the noise.”) To this day, we’re still wondering who that was!

Admittedly, agreeing to a time that worked for everyone was touch and there were sacrifices esp when it involved Malaysia and the west coast of US since we’re exactly 24 hours different. The compromise? We took turns being the late ones up. Our Director was the best because he was in San Francisco (east coast) and frequently sacrificed himself to 5.00 or 6.00 am times. And being the leader of the pack, that spoke great volumes because if he was willing to sacrifice, the rest of the team were more agreeable to give and take.

That’s how I could enjoy a whole year’s working from home when Lucas was born. This was a big boon because I could breastfeed him for up to 8 months and take time off to bring him to the hospital and other needs. For occasions when I had to be away for a whole day, I took leave.

Did this leave me with more vacation leave? Not really since I had to take 2-3 days in a row sometimes when he was sick etc. I find this fair because there is the misconception (due to abuse) that when one works from home:

  • work is not done
  • time off can be taken liberally
  • staff working in the office are being shortchanged

I read recently in the Star’s In.Tech that even the Japanese are considering tele-working i.e. working from home. Going back to my original question, we now know what’s going on in the US, UK, Europe and Japan, how about Malaysia?

  1. Do you enjoy flex work at your office or
  2. Are you suffering from the “presenteeism” culture?

Tell us about it!

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