Question

Mary is a fast-track graduate employee and a rising star in a management consulting company. She has two children, one nearly 4 years old and the other 18 months old. Her marriage has run into difficulties and her husband has recently left her and taken a job overseas. Mary works hard and is ambitious, but she also cares deeply for her children and she has told her colleagues that she will only be available for meetings during the ‘official’ office hours of 8.00 AM- 4.00 PM and will not be online or available for conference calls between 4.00 PM and 8.00 PM. Her team colleagues were initially sympathetic,

but after a couple of months they are beginning to get annoyed and concerned that her lack of availability will impact on team performance and thus on their own career success. They come to you, as you are their manager, and request you take action. so the ques is what action would you take and why?​

Answer 1

• I, as the manager, agree that that her lack of availability will impact the team performance and thus career success.
• I would suggest that Mary either take up a post that requires much of the work to be done from home or discontinue job in my company.
• Since Mary is a fast-track graduate employee and a rising star in a management consulting company, I believe that she would easily find job in some other company.
• In this way, she would be able to schedule her work and also take care of her children.