Hi! So I (29F) work in the finance industry, I recently left a steady position of six years at a large health care system for a position a small firm.
During my job search, I was very upfront about my need for flexibility.(I don’t mean outrageously- most weeks I work 8-5 at my desk. But I have two young kids, and they get sick, they have a school play, etc.)
I was so adamant to bring this up, that I know it cost me several job opportunities. And good! That’s the point, I didn’t want a job that didn’t want me!
When I accepted my offer, my boss said to me (in email!) that it was fine for me to run errands as needed and what my expected billing hours are. I have exceeded them daily.
Nonetheless, if I so much as drive up to the pharmacy, I’m getting pinged for an urgent slack huddle and then reprimanded for being away from my desk.
The straw that broke the camels back was that today, I requested three days off- FOUR months in advance. My boss denied it on the spot. Said that I would be “disrupting operations” by taking three consecutive days at the beginning of the month. But I’ve worked here long enough to know that that’s not true at all.
My husband and I were trying to take our kids to Disney as their Christmas present, but the prices around the holidays are insane. January is 1099 season so there’s already a ban on PTO that month.
She asked me to “be flexible” but the time I requested off (a Thur-mon)
is the only feasible time we can book it.
Honestly I’m just a little speechless. I feel like I was lied to. My old job paid less but I never worried about this. If I wanted or needed off, I told my boss rather than asking. That was the culture and I’m really struggling to adapt.
Is this the norm? Am I just used to an unrealistic level of flexibility?