Ahhh silence.  It’s nice.  I enjoy it.  And it doesn’t make me uncomfortable as it does some others.

Which must be a good thing this summer as I have been writing/speaking much less than usual here and among the HR and work/life worlds.  It’s not that I haven’t been busy…

We’ve bought a new home, tried to sell the old home, are renovating the new one, doing maintenance projects on the old one, finding our nanny a new part-time gig so we can keep her on as our little one gets ready for a new school, then being mommy more often when the nanny found a new gig quicker than expected. I’ve also been working on consulting projects, helping plan a fall conference tweet-up, visiting and counseling friends and vacationing with family.

But not writing.

Rest assured summer will end and so will the silence.  But for now…take it easy and enjoy.  And continue to make these same kinds of choices to balance your personal and professional sides.

Talk soon.

I’m often told by new community members how much they like this site and the concept of more flexibility at work and more balance in their life…but how can they accomplish it?   My first advice is you must truly want it.  After all if you really want something, you go after it, hard.  You don’t wait for someone to offer it to you.

Then yesterday I was hanging out with a luncheon group I frequent called The Community Roundtable Live.  At that lunch we discuss building, growing, fostering communities and we also talk about daily life.  Yesterday’s discussion veered to leaving your community to manage itself or not while you go on vacation thanks to Rachel Happe’s great blog post.

I like it.  #1 Nutella is European.  They take their vacations…they see them as part of life and something to embrace not something to put off or avoid.  #2 It’s Nutella – seriously for 2 weeks how much could not having up to the minute information about a chocolate hazelnut spread harm anyone?  #3 They are setting expectations.  And setting expectations is one of my how to’s to achieving your own personal balance.

After talking about Nutella for a bit some of us shared our favorite “out of office-isms.”  I learned about one CMO whose out of office email says basically – “Hey, I’m out until blah, when I get back I’m deleting all the stuff in my inbox…if you want me to read your email send it to me when I’m back in the office.”   I love this one so much I’ll be using it as my out of office next week!

Another one was someone in their 40′s on their honeymoon.  Their voicemail message said essentially “I waited until I was 40 to get married.  I’m on my honeymoon.  If you really need to reach me, you can track down my in-laws and you can explain to them why what you have to say to me is important enough to interrupt their only daughter’s honeymoon.  Then if they agree they can give you my contact number.”  Hah!  How’s that for setting expectations and stating the obvious…a honeymoon is important….most business matters can wait a few days or weeks even.

Last year I got some notice for putting this as my out of office:

“I will be on vacation the week of 8/10.  I will be checking email just not at my usual responsive pace. If I am missing a deadline of some sort…do please call and remind me at 617-510-xxxx.  Otherwise…I’ll get back to you when my vacation needs a “work break.”  — A much more American sort of out of office message and an honest one for me as I own my own business and occasionally do need to take a “work break” on vacation.  Still I set the expectation that I’ll get back to work, when and if I choose.

Clearly all of those listed above (including me) value their time away from the office.  They wanted to have a vacation on their terms.  And they made it happen.  It’s possible.  That is your “how to” for this week.

I’ve been reading and am interested in the proposed legislation in New York that would give Nannies a Worker’s Bill of Rights both because I write about workplace conditions here and because I employ a Nanny. While  I do not live in New York so the legislation would not affect me, I certainly have an opinion.  But honestly we’ve heard from the bloggers, the journalists, and the moms on the issue but we have not heard much from those that it is proposed to help….the Nanny community.

So I asked my Nanny what she thought, which seemed a sensible thing to do.

Here are her details:

Juliette
30
Born & raised in the US
Professional Nanny – meaning this is what she does & wants to do for a living. Her mother & sister are also professional nannies
Some college education but college was not for her
Bright and capable
Has been in our employ 4 1/2 years

Me:  What do you think of the proposal that Nannies who work more than an 8 hour day get paid overtime – meaning time & a half?

Juliette:  (after thinking about it) I think it should be between the employer & employee to decide that.  For instance I worked for 1 family that asked if I minded working 50 hours/week.  I was happy to, and liked the extra pay.  If they had had to pay me time and half I’m not sure they would have offered me the extra work.

Juliette:  Also – what about how I used to work for you 4 days a week for 10 hours a day.  I really liked that schedule, it gave me Fridays off and I got to sleep in.  Would you have to pay me overtime even if I only worked 40 hours?

Me:  It appears that way.

Juliette:  That stinks for me (pause) and for you.

Juliette:  And what about weeks you go away?  If I was scheduled for 50 hours and you went away, would you still have to pay me overtime even though I didn’t really work that week? ==== (My family travels a lot!)

Me:  I don’t know.

Me:  Also the law would give Nannies paid vacation & sick time.

Juliette:  I already get that.

Me:  It would also mandate that I give you two weeks’ notice before firing you.

Juliette: Well, you just gave me 3 months’ notice that you could only keep me on part-time and then helped me find another family to fill in the gap.  (Long, long pause) So I don’t think I really care about this law.

Me: Yeah.

There are a million different scenarios for how nannies work and are paid in this country.  And I completely understand that workers now as in the past sometimes need protection.  But I fear the ones who need it will not get it with this law.  Juliette is an intelligent, strong-willed worker who interviewed us 4 1/2 years ago as rigorously as we interviewed her.  She does not need this law.  If she felt she was being taken advantage first she would speak up for herself and if that didn’t work she would simply find another job.  And I fear those that do need this law are mostly not in this country legally and will never complain.

I wish those who employ anyone – domestic workers, line workers, laborers, knowledge workers – would just treat others as they would like to be treated as an employee:

• Give a specific job description including what is expected during work hours and stick to it or amend it.
• Pay a fair wage.
• Vacation and sick time are part of a healthy workforce and should be paid.
• Reward good behavior.
• Punish bad behavior.
• Communicate early and often if problems/concerns arise.
• Understand those you employ do have lives outside of work and be flexible when needed.
• Do not take advantage of any worker.
• Employee US citizens or those with green cards eligible to work in this country.
• Give appropriate and honest notice of changes to work status – like reduced hours, lay offs, etc.

Any questions?