I'm part of the founding team of a fintech startup. Our marketing manager heads a team of five. She's getting married next month and is super excited with the whole hoopla. Date outings, relatives, puja, invitations, festivals—it's just too much energy being redirected. We're happy for her, too. But now it's becoming a productivity issue at work. Things are delayed, nothing is on deadline, subpar work is getting published, and the numbers have dipped.
She was hired because she's good at her work, but this is getting her distracted from what she's good at. And it probably won't stop after getting married. She'll be even more taken up with a new house and responsibilities.
Ofcourse, I've spoken to her about this, and the response is the usual: "I'll do better, I'm trying, I'm aware of the delays."
Look, as a female, I'm all for women's empowerment. But if you get sidelined in your efforts, someone else will get this job. She's good; I don't want to let her go. What do I do here?
Please do not make crass comments on gender or call her names. This is a professional platform; let's maintain the sanity of the same.
This is why the gender pay gap exists, essentially. Either the woman sacrifices relationships or the company sacrifices targets. You can't keep both happy, it's almost impossible.
This isn't about gender strictly either, everyone has phases in life when they just can't show up to work. Sometimes it's ailing parents/grandparents/family members, other times it is getting married and starting a family. It weighs heavier on women, it's unfortunate but true.
There's a good chance she'll be back to usual performance after honeymoon is done, but then the question of kids will be there too. It's probably better for you to have an honest and upfront conversation about this with her. You'll need to know what her long term plans are and prepare for the worst case scenario simultaneously, in case she doesn't follow that plan.
Either ways, every one is replaceable in a company and should be. Otherwise it's not a good company that can sustain long term.
I agree, I have that fear too. Finding equally good talent is also difficult.
Not a crass comment or intended to taunt you. But do you expect your employees to be performing at the top at all times of the year?
I mean, is there no breather at all?
It is not about breather. Been like this for 4-5 months now. Plus it is affecting morale of the team. If you see your boss being too chill and not get reprimanded, you tend to relax too.
During the townhall at our office, I couldn’t resist but count the number of women that are actually present in tech! And guess the number? Out of around 100-150 people I could count only 9 women! (Including myself) And as I was thinking...
Pls only women, no men 🙏
I have an onshore counterpart, one level above me. We two are setting up the project and conducting workshops. The problems I have are: