Do people with kids work *harder*?

[worktogether]

@whitm11 I know my colleagues that had kids were way more efficient with their time than I was pre baby but I wouldn’t say they worked harder. If anything they set stricter boundaries with their time. In grad school I joked that my work life balance got better when my labmate had a baby bc he set some firm boundaries on his hours in lab and I realized I could do that too. I personally have been back to work less than a week since becoming a mom so it’s too early to say for sure but I’m definitely not spending more time working than I was before. The only difference (so far) is I get to work much earlier than I used to arrive so I can leave earlier for daycare pickup.

I think what you’re observing may be more generational than parent vs non parent. Gen z is pushing back at unhealthy work life balance and I personally welcome it.

 

[1christian]

@whitm11 I’ll jump on after hours, but that’s because I usually end my work day early to spend time with the fam or run. We have a ton of non-parent high achievers on my team.

Sometimes, we see the patterns we want to see. Does your company compensate junior employees well?

 

[whitm11]

@1christian Yes, I think they are fairly compensated, at least for the roles that I was involved in hiring. As people here mentioned, in the $110 to $130K with a couple of years experience out of college.

 

[1christian]

@whitm11 Whoa, that’s a good salary for a couple of years after college! Depending on the COL I guess. Some of my younger colleagues’ total comp is that much too.

 

[whitm11]

@1christian We are mostly virtual, so COL is whatever it is in your location. Lots of folks have moved to VLCOL!

 

[bp3113]

@whitm11 Consider that a parent may also work late or come online late to compensate for daytime interruptions like school pickups, appointments, etc. That is the trend at my work as well something I have to deal with myself. Just tonight I was catching up on a meeting recording to make up for a morning clinic appointment. I suppose most of the timestamps from off-work hours that I see are from people with families.

The missed deadlines could be due to inexperience, both in the work and the ability to best communicate the situation. Lack of active management could also be a problem, since that’s more important at the start of a career.

Anyway, I often go for those hours, too, and I’m a millennial (I also WFH). I’m not the only one at work with a schedule like that. I do work hard and also sometimes I stay late because I’m on a roll.

People supporting a family also have more to lose and will behave accordingly. As a mum, there’s the concern if I do poorly and taking care of my child is blamed, policies for future parents may be more strict.

 

[diananwshiro]

@whitm11 I think it comes down to work ethic more than anything and I do think that the 20 somethings have less work ethic in general. There are still hard working people at all ages and life stages, no doubt, but in my experience the current cohort of 20 somethings is not as high in concentration of hard working.

Before I had kids I would say I worked more than I do now. Now I can't work as much because I have other priorities. I still work very hard though.

I will also say yay I disagree with a lot of the comments that hard work gets you nothing and raises stay the same. In times of financial uncertainty it maybe isn't as easy to get a higher raise but in my experience as a very hard working high performer, I consistently get above average raises (8-20%), spot bonuses and a good yearly bonus. All are performance based and I've always done well. I'm years I didn't perform as well, but still good, they were lower and more average. Even in the last year when my company wasn't doing as well, average employees got 2-2.5% raises and top performers were 3.5-4%, still not high, but better. So I do see the benefit of hard work in this regard.

Also, I may not always be the smartest in the room (I work with a lot of startups brimming with ivy Leaguers) in my career but I am usually one of the hardest working and will hustle to get the job done quickly and effectively. There is a lot of value in that and it's served me well.

 

[rickfelton1]

@whitm11 I think it’s more generation tbh. We have a young guy in my shop that comes in a 830-9, takes lunch at 1030-11 and usually doesn’t show back until 2pm. He leaves work at 330. He has a 2 year old and 6 week old twins.

Yes he claims 8 hours a day on his timesheet (contractor). No he doesn’t get his work done at all.

 

[poofiecn]

@whitm11

I can tell you, I work 45-50 hours per week and my colleagues who are single are definitely not working as hard. I guess being a parent gives you tough skin and we are just used to grinding and getting sh*t done.

 

[jimishasmom]

@poofiecn Just because you put in more hours doesn’t mean you’re working harder. Maybe you’re just not efficient. Or okay with being taken advantage of.

 

[poofiecn]

@jimishasmom Thanks for your comments, yes that is true I’m sure in many cases however not in my case