If you work at a company that isn’t trying to overwork you, you probably have a decent work life balance, meaning that you probably have enough time at work to get your work done while still having time to live your life, spend time with your family, take a vacation once in awhile, maybe even take up a hobby.

Unfortunately, many people do not have jobs that allow them to have a very good work life balance. They find themselves having to work long hours and without any flexibility. That means they miss out on special activities, have to decide between family and work, and often the decision has to be work in order not to lose their job. Money puts food on the table, so most people can’t just walk away from their job.

Although the pandemic has obviously been a huge negative in our lives in many ways, there has been something positive for many people – the ability to work from home. Many companies that had never let employees work remotely before, suddenly had all of their employees working from home.

Working from home, especially on short notice, can come with challenges. Not all employees have high speed internet or their own quiet home office. Many had to make do with dining room tables while their kids were doing school via Zoom right next to them.

It’s not ideal, but yet it is. The pandemic brought many employees back to their homes and their families. Via Zoom, they got to see a peek inside the lives of their co-workers, possibly for the first time. The work persona gone, now they were working with real people with real challenges and real lives.

Megan Witherspoon is the VP of Communications at Altria, and she believes that more companies should let their employees prioritize their real lives outside the office as long as they’re still getting their work done. She wrote a lengthy post on Linkedin about what she does and does not care about as a manger. For example, she wrote, “I DO care that your daughter is home with yet another ear infection. I DO NOT care that you’ll be offline for 2 hours this afternoon for her doctor’s appointment.” 

Witherspoon summarized her post by ending it, “I DO care that you deliver quality work and perform at your best. I DO NOT care when, where or how you get your work done.” You can read her entire post below.

Many people commented on her post praising her for being such a wonderful boss; however, others pointed out that this type of flexibility doesn’t work in every industry. For example, doctors, teachers and grocery store employees can’t just decide not to show up for work.

What do you think of Witherspoon’s post? Does your job offer flexibility? If not, do you think it would be possible for your industry to be more flexible or at least more compassionate when certain situations come up (like doctor’s appointments and transportation issues)?