At this point I think most everyone has heard the news and resultant uproar about Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer and the whole not being able to work from home thing. Now there's a new book coming out from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg that's all about how women need to seize their opportunities and how they should strive to achieve success while maintaining a good life balance with their family as well. (CNN: The myth of balancing motherhood and a successful career) I've had gripes with the Yahoo decision for a while and this latest news has prompted a nice little blog rant.
I'm not going to touch on the actual topics of what these two women are espousing. I happen to think telecommuting, remote working or whatever you want to call it can be a great option and should be something offered at many levels across different careers. I think working in the office doesn't inherently provide a better or worse product simply because you can see someone. But as I'm not an insider at Yahoo, I can't speak to Mayer's decision. This could very well be the thing that Yahoo needs to become a relevant company again and congrats to them if it is. I mean hell, does anyone remember the last time they seriously used Yahoo for anything? I sure haven't and don't see myself doing so anytime soon.
I also happen to agree with Sandberg's idea and view that women should strive to achieve all they can in the workplace and out of it. I fully agree with the idea that there should be more female leaders of both countries and companies. Women are a valuable resource in all respects and the glass ceiling bullshit of the past needs to go, the quicker the better. (I both truly believe this and am shamelessly trying to pander to my female readership, if there are any.)
The big issue I have with both of these recent developments is the same issue I've had for a long time now. I'm sick of hearing various different arguments and thoughts from people out of touch with the reality of most common American people. It's stupid, unhelpful and fucking insulting to those of us that struggle to live in the new America. It exemplifies the entire reason why our country is in the shitter and why nothing is changing despite the various crises the country finds itself in.
I don't have a family yet but I already know it's going to be a struggle when I do between all the costs and stress and work. While the dream of winning the lotto is still present, I'm nowhere near making millions of dollars a year. So you'll forgive me if I call bullshit on an out of touch CEO who cancels work from home initiatives because she has the money and clout to have a fucking nursery center put in next to her new office. I can guaran-damn-tee that if she were making that same decision, but making it from mine or any other normal worker's perspective, that there would still be remote options at Yahoo right now. But for her it's an easy solution because she doesn't have to worry about what that might entail. Struggling to pay for childcare or staying home isn't something she needs to worry about.
Sandberg is much the same, arguing that women should stop avoiding advancement in the career simply because of concerns over the family. Easy enough to tell people that when you're making crap tons of cash and can afford to "balance" your home life by throwing money at it. Not such a simple decision to make when you're trying to make ends meet while still maintaining some presence in your child's life and advancing your career.
To be clear, I understand that I have it better than a good chunk of people in this country because I have a job and a roof over my head and I'm grateful for what I have. However I'm also aware that for those who don't have it as good as I do, I shouldn't expect them to be able to make the same decisions that I could simply because that seems to be the "right" choice for me with my circumstances.
These CEO's, and most in general from everything I've read/seen lately, are so far out of touch with reality it's scary. It's already been established that most CEO's are psychos (Forbes: Why (Some) Psychopaths Make Great CEOs) so it should come as no surprise at this vast level of disconnect. But it is fucking irritating and disheartening because no one seems able to call them on their bullshit. And it's left to the minions (aka you and me) to deal with the repercussions of their decisions and policies.
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