Coronavirus is forcing tech companies to embrace work-life balance

The Corona virus The pandemic has driven the world into a mass experiment at work from home. For some companies, the self-quarantine for the common good meant finding new ways to work together while navigating spotty Internet connections. Video conferencing Etiquette, new apps and even newer vulnerabilities. For Silicon Valley, this is a breeze. Companies are developing apps and technologies to support power services that are used by hundreds of millions of people every day.

With schools and daycare centers across the country closed, technology companies, from Apple to Facebook to Google and LinkedIn to Uber, face a more difficult test: the family. Even Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a press conference call in March that taking care of his two young daughters at home with his wife Priscilla, a pediatrician, was “a big change”.

The uninterrupted 24-hour work culture that many technology companies have led to Hire top chefs Offer on-site auto oil changes for free food cafeterias and, in some cases, do free chemical cleaning Realities of childcare and other family care in self quarantine at home. The unspoken agreement that all of these benefits were provided in exchange for long and hard working hours falls apart at home.

Nurseries and schools across the country are closed, while nursing homes are sending some residents into the family. All of this places additional demands on working parents, who now have to distribute their attention throughout the day to work, home lessons, childcare and family needs.

Zoom said it’s a 700% more Weekday evening meetings on its platform since February and weekend meetings increased by 2,000%. While users are flocking to the service and social zoom calls are now on the go, the numbers could also indicate an overworked workforce that drives non-business meetings when children go to bed.

“The idea of ​​the revision culture in Silicon Valley arises because innovation is really difficult,” said the Silicon Valley futurist Paul Saffo, associate professor at Stanford University. “But now that the climate has changed, we have a whole host of new problems.”

Silicon Valley sold for decades as a worker utopia. The promise that you will be successful if you work hard – with high salaries, employee benefits, and a stock option payment that could make you a millionaire – is the driving force behind the ever-connected work culture. But for families who are stuck at home and have no significant janitorial backups, many employees have the choice of taking care of their loved ones or doing their daily work. In California, home to Apple, Airbnb, Facebook, Google, HP, LinkedIn, Twitter, Uber and an endless list of startups, Most schools will only be opened again in autumn. In the meantime, nursing homes were among the places most affected by the novel coronavirus, which forced some residents to move in with family members instead.

Although tech companies are known for their generous vacation arrangements, which offer far more than the 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected family and medical leave required by U.S. law, some Silicon Valley parents say the pressure has been stuck since being stuck Has increased at home – and not just from their bosses. A parent who worked at LinkedIn and wrote about the anonymous employee messaging app Blind last month said while his manager was compassionate about work and the kids, “I fear losing my job if I cut my working hours. “

Most of the responding employees supported her and some shared similar feelings. But others told the author to “stop whining like a legitimate baby” and “having children is not an excuse to work less”.

LinkedIn, which is known in Silicon Valley for its employee-centric work culture, does not tolerate retaliation against anyone who takes advantage of the benefits it offers or raises concerns. It also gives employees the ability to report problems anonymously.

The social networking company offers an additional 12 weeks of paid emergency leave to help its 16,000 employees cope with the crisis (Microsoft, LinkedIn bought in 2016 for $ 26.2 billionmade the same offer to its 151,000 workers).

“Many of our employees have to take on extra responsibilities at home with children outside school or dependent parents, and we support them,” said Kenly Walker, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn.

The Apple and Uber staff who spoke to me also said they felt overworked with little room to take care of children. And they are not alone. More than half of the 6,163 working parents interviewed by Blind earlier this month said their work was not fair compared to that of their colleagues during the crisis. As a result, 61% of them, including Google and Facebook employees, stated that they invest at least three additional hours each day to complete their work.

“For people who have a family, you feel like you have to operate as if you don’t,” he said Carolina Milanesi, Analyst at Creative Strategies. She has experienced many of these battles firsthand share online about navigating life in the technology world while teaching her daughter at home. It is likely that this crisis will change the priority of life and family, she said. This can also change the culture of companies like Google, Apple and Facebook that have worked with remote work in the past.

“I hope that will help us become more flexible later,” said Milanesi. “I hope it will humanize the workers more.”

More flexible

Some companies are already rethinking how they treat employees with families. On April 16, during the crisis, Google renewed a special paid family vacation plan that granted up to 14 weeks of paid free time (or 28 weeks at halftime) to help more than 103,000 employees care for their loved ones. A company spokesman said nearly 1,000 employees signed an internal letter thanking Google for helping them reconcile family and work.

Facebook followed a similar model for its approximately 45,000 employees and announced in March that it would grant up to four weeks of paid vacation while the schools were closed. It also encouraged managers to offer their employees flexible working hours or even extra free time to manage family life in the midst of the crisis.

This is a new approach for Facebook, said Brynn Harrington, the company’s vice president for human growth. The social network recognizes “that you have to be in your life,” she said. “It is no longer ‘I want to come to my child’s school concert.’ It’s ‘I need a four-hour block to take care of my children.’ “

Then the San Francisco Bay Area ordered the residents Protection on the spot from March 20The Uber administration team sent notes to managers and to a group of parents who chose the opt-in staff and asked them to find a schedule that was appropriate for them.

“Please run with empathy to help balance work and home needs, and be flexible wherever you can, rescheduling, being offline at certain times, or needing some free time.” Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s senior vice president of global rides and platforms, emailed the managers on March 17.

Apple meanwhile said communication with managers and employees has improved since the outbreak began. The 137,000 employees were encouraged to ask for help or accommodation, but managers were also asked to proactively help employees. This means flexibility, be it for parents who have less time or for caregivers who need to take time out to take care of older family members.

“No deadline is too important and no priority is more urgent than caring for our relatives. Our goal is to be flexible, cooperative and accommodating for all parents and carers in our teams,” said Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet. “This is a busy time for everyone – especially parents – and we want to do everything we can to support every member of our Apple family.”

Work-life balancing act

This is not just a Silicon Valley problem. Most employers seem to recognize that their workers “experience challenges that are unique to their situation and that this evolving situation requires more flexibility,” he said Amelia Green-Vamos, an expert on career trends on the Glassdoor employer reviews page.

Still, 28% of adults in the US from different industries According to a survey by The Harris Poll for Glassdoor, her employer “did nothing to respond to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.” And only 16% of those surveyed stated that companies offer additional paid or unpaid sick leave.

Surveys by the email customer manufacturer Superhuman culminated Email time has increased by one hour to 9 a.m.. People also work later. Surfshark, a manufacturer of data protection apps, found peaks in usage between midnight and 3 a.m. that did not exist before the crisis.

“Although it is too early to say how this will affect the long term, this new way of working is an interesting test for Silicon Valley,” added Green-Vamos.

As soon as the pandemic subsided and we return to the new normal we will live inAnalysts and companies I’ve spoken to say their work environments will be different.

Texas-based technology giant Dell estimates that more than half of its 134,000 employees will work remotely. In order to lay the foundations, the computer manufacturer strengthened the communication between the management team and the employees.

This includes regularly informing employees about conference calls when they also take care of their children or family. This makes them more comfortable with this new balance between life and work. It also means that a wayward child or pet that appears in the background does not bother.

“The work will not be the way it was,” she said Jennifer Davis, Senior vice president of global communications at Dell. “We have to promote the need for flexibility and that it is okay to have a work and private life.”

CNET’s Richard Nieva and Queenie Wong contributed to this report.