Why we're in trouble if only women sign up for Amazon's 30-hour work week

When I was Editor-in-Chief of Redbook, a magazine for young moms, I figured that the best ideas would come from editors in the trenches—those living with small kids. As a result, I cut flexible-hour deals with nearly every person who worked for me so that, say, Jane was in the office Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, but Dana was there a different set of days. Some employees wanted to do morning school drop-off and requested a late starting time; others wanted to head home early to pick up their kids. I accommodated all—and Redbook was the most hard-working, cheerful staff I ever ran. The problem was that gathering editors for a full-fledged meeting took the same execution as storming the beaches of Normandy! This was, after all, the nineties, long before official flex-time or cubicles had been invented (Redbook editors actually had offices with doors!--so you had to knock to see if they were there.) My solution to the flex-time chaos was to tape days-in-the-office-reminders next to each editor’s extension on my big brick of a desk phone.

I cut similar flex-time deals with employees at Marie Claire and More without ever alerting human resources which I knew would throw a wrench into my system. Besides, an uber-flexible schedule was one of my bargaining chips with employees who were put off by the low salaries in publishing.

Curiously enough, the only employees who asked about flexible hours were women. Yes, publishing is a female-heavy business, but I had men on every staff. Never a peep. Which kind of reminds me of what my husband said back in 1991 when our son was born and I asked him why he didn’t take the paternity leave his Wall Street company offered: “They’d think I was a pussy,” he said, only half joking. 

So it is with all of this hindsight, that I read the story in the Washington Post yesterday noting that "Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek"—a small program of salaried employees that will work Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (plus additional flex hours) with the same benefits of full-time workers but only 75% of the salary. While on the surface this appears to be a creative attempt to fashion a better working environment for all employees (who recently accused the company, in a stinging New York Times piece, of fostering a viciously competitive hours-driven corporate culture), it could also be an attempt to diversify the gender of its workforce which is sadly only 39% female.  Positive signs are that, according to the Post which is owned by Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, “the entire team, including managers, would work reduced hours”--making it less likely that time reductions will go strictly to women. The pilot will be taking place with teams who “work on tech products” (yeah, tech usually has men!) “within the human resources division of the company” (uh oh: HR has traditionally been an female-centric hub, especially in male-centric companies).

So here are the dangers we and Amazon have to watch out for: 

1. Unless the 30-hour work week is mandatory for everyone in the department, will this become like parental leave, something only women opt for (see exhibit 1, my husband, above).
2. Will this simply become the new mommy track—or “slacker track”—for people seen as “less than” capable?
3. Will short-time workers, as we might call them, really be considered for the same senior decision-making promotions as the guy/girl working 80 hours? (I don’t see how it can.)
4. If women gravitate to these reduced hours for reduced pay, how will that impact their financial stability in the future?
5. Will the rest of the teams feel resentful about those who work less? Or will they want to follow suit? (I did hear some griping from single editors who felt Redbook moms were treated differently—but interestingly enough, I can’t recall any who asked for changes in their own hours.)

Reducing employee hours is a step toward bringing more reason and diversity to an out-of-whack workforce like Amazon’s. But what women really need is not reduced hours for reduced pay, but more help from their partners at home. According to the most recent American Time Use Survey--2015 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the average time per day women spent doing housework declined from 58 minutes in 2003 to 52 minutes in 2015.” Who-hoo! Look at me: I’m dancing a jig!

*Come join my real jig where we can discuss topics of interest to women who want to live their most authentic lives at kindred.community