Why Are Leaders Upset About Laundry?

By Stephanie Diana Eubank

I know I have been away for a while. I have been using the time to work on my doctorate and my teaching, as well as building my consulting company. My final defense has been scheduled for 1/6/25 so wish me luck. While doing this several articles have come out of leaders freaking out about remote workers doing house hold tasks.

What is meant by this is leaders are getting up in arms about remote workers taking their breaks and doing a bit of laundry, or house work. Tis the season and many remote workers with kids are having to juggle child care while kids are out of school. The holiday season also particularly stressful and creates an additional task for working parents to create holiday magic. This means remote workers have the unique ability to do something easy that helps them as an employee protect their sanity.

Burn out is a real thing and remote workers who can take their breaks to do a load of laundry, or throw some food in a crockpot, or do some online Christmas shopping. (Spoiler for parents doing online shopping remember Amazon will wrap your presents. ) Work/life balance is an important step in maintaining mental health as a prevention of:

Workplace PTSD,

Burnout,

Workplace Violence, and

Employee turnover.

When employees are happy and able to lower their stress, they are more productive. COVID proved that all the research since 1980 that remote work would hurt productivity was wrong. What the cry out from leadership is really a cry is because the change in the leadership style is being demanded by the workforce. As we talk more in this blog I will be sharing more results of my research on the demand for y-theory leadership as we move into a brighter remote work future. As always remember remote work, it is here to stay.