Whose job is it anyway?
I read an article recently about how women disproportionately take on “non-promotable work”. These are things like picking up a birthday cake, planning the company holiday party, or taking care of onboarding tasks to welcome new team members. The article suggested a few ways to spread “non-promotable work” around more fairly or to eliminate it all together.
However, it brings up a fundamentally different question in my mind – why aren’t we compensating for or rewarding work that contributes to the well-being and experience of employees?
Some of what the article detailed around this type of work was work that probably doesn’t really need to be done, but much of it was the type of stuff that helps a workplace feel like a place you want to be, and not just a place you’re supposed to show up to. So maybe in addition to “What’s equitable when it comes to ‘non-promotable work’?”, the inquiry could also include, “How can we value work that doesn’t contribute to a company’s product or service, but keeps its workforce healthy, connected, and working well?”
There’s no easy answer to these questions (if there were, we’d already be doing it differently). But maybe there are some additional questions that could help us explore new ways forward that would evolve us upward. So perhaps consider these:
How much does it cost the business (in money, time, energy, morale…) when good people leave?
What is the incremental work or tasks that can promote overall wellness of the people in a business?
If it isn’t possible to have dedicated people for this kind of support, how can that work be combined and prioritized alongside and as part of a company’s core work?
