How to avoid becoming the "Office Housewife.mp4
How to avoid becoming the “office housewife.”
Women bear the burden in our cultures–at home and at work–for a lot of non-compensated and non-promotable work. In many a #corporateculture, #unconsciousbias means that most people simply expect that the women in the group will take on these under-appreciated tasks, even at the highest levels of leadership (and women do volunteer, as much as 48% more often than men.)
High-performance women find it frustrating when their colleagues and bosses give them non-promotable tasks like covering the workload of an absent colleague or unrecognized emotional labor such as setting up a wellness program. This is especially discouraging when the men in the group are relieved of these tasks in order to focus on promotable work like producing revenue and reducing expenses.
Much like keeping a house clean and a kitchen stocked is important, “office housewife” tasks help the organization run smoothly, but they’re tangential to measurable success and unlikely to help the women and men who perform them grow professionally.
The bottom line is that even if you enjoy this kind of work, if you don’t prioritize more promotable work, your career suffers.
To avoid becoming the office housewife…
1st, learn to notice what is promotable work and what isn’t in your situation.
2nd, tell others you’re prioritizing business-critical tasks over tangential work that does not directly affect the organization’s success.
3rd, follow your stated priorities.
4th, be proactive in asking men to volunteer more often.
When you do this, you may still have time and energy to contribute to important-but-not-promotable tasks. AND you’ll build yourself a personal brand based on career-defining, business critical wins and recruiting volunteers on an equitable basis.
What’s your strategy for avoiding office housework?
Women bear the burden in our cultures–at home and at work–for a lot of non-compensated and non-promotable work. In many a #corporateculture, #unconsciousbias means that most people simply expect that the women in the group will take on these under-appreciated tasks, even at the highest levels of leadership (and women do volunteer, as much as 48% more often than men.)
High-performance women find it frustrating when their colleagues and bosses give them non-promotable tasks like covering the workload of an absent colleague or unrecognized emotional labor such as setting up a wellness program. This is especially discouraging when the men in the group are relieved of these tasks in order to focus on promotable work like producing revenue and reducing expenses.
Much like keeping a house clean and a kitchen stocked is important, “office housewife” tasks help the organization run smoothly, but they’re tangential to measurable success and unlikely to help the women and men who perform them grow professionally.
The bottom line is that even if you enjoy this kind of work, if you don’t prioritize more promotable work, your career suffers.
To avoid becoming the office housewife…
1st, learn to notice what is promotable work and what isn’t in your situation.
2nd, tell others you’re prioritizing business-critical tasks over tangential work that does not directly affect the organization’s success.
3rd, follow your stated priorities.
4th, be proactive in asking men to volunteer more often.
When you do this, you may still have time and energy to contribute to important-but-not-promotable tasks. AND you’ll build yourself a personal brand based on career-defining, business critical wins and recruiting volunteers on an equitable basis.
What’s your strategy for avoiding office housework?