Let's take a minute to talk about corporate hypocrisy.
One of my friends recently shared her company has instituted a return-to-office mandate for employees above a certain level.
Now, RTO mandates are fine. I personally don't like them, and I can attest from personal experience that you can often be more productive (both personally and professionally) by working from home a few days a week... but I understand a company has a right to conduct its business as it sees fit.
But do you know what demographic tends to be especially impacted by having to be in the office five days a week?
Women with children.
Because women who work still tend to be the primary managers of a household, and the primary caregivers in a family that includes children, and those women are the ones who are most likely to need the type of flexibility that working from home can provide.
(After all, it's much easier to get the laundry done when you can throw a load into the washing machine during your lunchtime, and much easier to start making dinner after work when you can be in your kitchen in seconds after finishing work instead of having to first deal with a dreadful commute home.)
Back to my friend's company...
... they could not be any more loud last International Women's Day about how proud they are to support women!
Internal memos!
LinkedIn posts!
Newspaper ads, even!
But do they really support women when they don't provide women with what they may need to be successful?
A proclamation like "We support women!" without the policies to back it up is corporate hypocrisy, plain and simple.
Actions speak louder than words.
And if you aren't going to act...
... perhaps it's better to keep quiet.
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