Communications Professional Publicly Lists What Matters To Her As A Boss During A Pandemic And Her Post Goes Totally Viral
If only more people in managerial positions had an attitude like this about their multitasking and hardworking employees.
While the pandemic is certainly not something any of us would celebrate, there have been many interesting lessons learned for working families in particular. Near the top of that list is what it looks like to work primarily from home.
In years past, the idea of allowing employees to work from home was restricted to rare cases outside some very specific industries and was often considered a burden to employers and an opportunity for employees to "slack off." However, as we've seen, there are many benefits to allowing employees to work from home, and there are many more companies and industries capable of providing these opportunities for their workforce.
Megan Witherspoon, a vice president of communications and mother of two, recently turned to the social media and business platform LinkedIn to highlight her sentiments about being flexible with her employees working from home while they juggle family life during a pandemic, and her post has gone totally viral. Megan summarized what she 'does care' about regarding employees and 'does not,' and many people from various walks of business life found her words to be sincere and a "breath of fresh air."
Megan believes that genuinely caring about your employees should be at the heart of every company. She received over 104k positive reactions and more than 2,200 comments from other users on LinkedIn!
In an interview with Bored Panda, Megan explained:
“Caring is critical, in my opinion. For a very long time, the business world believed personal and professional should be separate.When we walked into an office building, we would shed one persona and don another. Sure, we had office friendships, but we stopped short of talking too much about personal issues, and many topics were considered taboo.”
Megan WitherspoonMegan, who works for Altria, says she has "the mind of an artist and the determination and persistence of an endurance athlete."
She also told Bored Panda:
“We’ve now spent 18 months with our colleagues in their homes, with their children and pets, and in their personal spaces. We’ve had to help one another through extremely challenging circumstances. We’ve supported each other, cried together, and talked about mental health and wellness.”“Now the personal and the professional are intertwined, and we’ve all felt the benefits of caring for our colleagues; we no longer need to divide ourselves in half when we log into our computers each day.”
Megan Witherspoon "I’m passionate about building culture, bringing humanity into business, work/life harmony, and pushing for positive change."
Megan Witherspoon
There are things every boss and supervisor cares about and doesn't care about.
Megan Witherspoon
Megan was very explicit in her LinkedIn post about what that looked like for her as a manager.
Megan Witherspoon
The majority of people who responded to her post responded positively.
Megan Witherspoon
However, some people also noted that her model won't and wouldn't apply to every industry, which is fair.
Megan Witherspoon
Even then, Megan's attitude and approach really are a breath of fresh air for many working individuals in the United States.
Megan Witherspoon
"In my 17 years at Altria, I’ve held roles across a range of functions: corporate responsibility and community relations; strategy and business development; investor relations; marketing; and now corporate communications."
Megan Witherspoon
In a blog post, FlexJobs highlighted the many benefits of having employees work from home. Here is just a snippet of the information they shared:
- Better Work-Life Balance: "Flexible work arrangements allow employees to manage their time effectively, leading to a better balance between personal and professional responsibilities," says Gretchen Rubin, happiness researcher.
- Less Commute Time: "The time saved from commuting can be redirected towards personal development or family, significantly enhancing overall life satisfaction," notes Brian Tracy, motivational speaker.
- Improved Inclusivity: "Remote work opens doors for diverse talent, allowing companies to benefit from a wider range of perspectives," emphasizes Simon Sinek, leadership expert.
- Money-Saving: "Working from home can lead to substantial savings, as employees cut costs associated with commuting and daily expenses," states Liz Weston, financial columnist.
- Positive Environmental Impact: "The reduction in commuting not only benefits individuals financially but also contributes to a healthier planet," explains Dr. Mark Hyman, functional medicine expert.
You can read more about these insights from various experts here.
Over 2,200 comments rolled in from LinkedIn users.
Paige Nicole Baskwill
Flexibility is a good thing.
Jodi Ireland
"It makes me want to work," says Katie Stevens.
Katie Stevens
"Better flexibility would have made me a better employee," chimes in Julie Jenson.
Julie Jenson
Louder for the people in the back:
Amie Campbell
Good employees will leave a company that clearly doesn't care about them.
Deborah Grace
Of course, not all responses were team Megan; John Raiteri highlighted immediately how not all industries can use Megan's flexibility model.
John Raiteri
Kara Weaver gave even more passionate examples of how this model simply won't work for everyone.
Kara Weaver
Some users were confused about Megan's message entirely.
Pradana Atmadiputra
Dennis Goodhart felt that Megan came off as cold and angry in her passionate post.
Dennis Goodhart
"Shout out to Kerry."
John Haldeman
Megan also told Bored Panda that she believes companies that embrace flexibility “will better retain top talent, be able to recruit new talent from broader and more diverse talent pools, and have more engaged and balanced employees. It’s a win-win!”
“The structure of work differs by industry and role; every company has its own culture and work patterns, and individual employees have different flexibility needs.I would advise companies and leaders to go as far as they realistically can with providing flexibility to their employees. Flexibility isn’t a sacrifice – it actually makes great business sense. Employee expectations have changed, and they’re willing to vote with their feet.”She also said that the pandemic “served as an accelerant, dramatically speeding up trends that were already in the works but would have otherwise taken much longer to materialize.” Adding:
“Traditional office-based employees have been wanting flexibility and the ability to work remotely for a very long time, but workplace cultures and behaviors were so entrenched that it was difficult to overcome the inertia. The pandemic was a disruptor and a catalyst for change because suddenly entire companies were forced to adopt flexibility and remote work overnight, and many are still remote some 18 months later.”
Megan Witherspoon
Megan also said: “We’ve adopted new technologies and new work behaviors, and we’ve reorganized and reprioritized our lives. It’s hard to see how or why we’d go backwards from here.”
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While Megan told Bored Panda that she wasn't expecting the responses she received, she did say: “I know many people are passionate about this topic, and previous posts about flexibility and empathy in the workplace have gotten good engagement, but not to this magnitude.”
What do you think about working from home opportunities and what the future holds for the working class? Share your thoughts in the comments when you get a chance.
