How the Future Works

Step 2: Level the Playing Field: Create Guardrails for Behavior

Early in her consulting career, Helen worked with a colleague who she describes as an outstanding leader and manager and as someone with the capacity to be competent, engaging, and empathetic all at once in her client interactions. It was a highly effective mix. Even in tough rooms filled with hard-charging executives, she always found ways to win people over.

The catch? She was the only one among her peers with a four-day workweek. She was adamant about spending that extra day off with her kids, and she rarely wavered when pressured by clients, colleagues, or just her heavy workload. Instead she carefully crafted her schedule to make it all work. She didn't shoulder any fewer assignments than her colleagues and her results were just as good, if not better.

Despite her results, this leader's choice of a nontraditional work schedule came at a cost to her career—a “slower slope,” as she once described it. She insisted the tradeoff was worth it, but Helen could never reconcile the feeling of unfairness. In the end neither the woman, nor Helen, stayed long at the company. Both moved on to better opportunities.

This isn't an unusual story: historically, employees who have flexible arrangements in terms of when or where they work risk being deemed less committed to the organization or not as much of a team player—despite the value they brought to their companies.¹ This notion is especially challenging when you consider ...