Managing Your Career (HBR Working Parents Series)

7

Winning Support for Flexible Work

by Amy Gallo

Quick Takes

• Ask yourself what you want to accomplish
• Propose it as an experiment
• Consult with your team
• Highlight professional impact

Many working parents seek flexible work arrangements to accommodate lives that don’t mesh with being present in an office on a traditional schedule, five days a week. And research from Lotte Bailyn, MIT management professor and coauthor of Beyond Work-Family Balance, shows that when employees have the flexibility they need, they meet goals more easily, they’re absent or tardy less often, and their morale goes up. Yet not every company has an official policy or program for alternative arrangements—and not every manager is willing or equipped to provide them for ...