Adam Barr discusses flex time work arrangements in the Windows Server division. Worth a read – I’m all in favor of keeping things as flexible as possible, and my experience so far with the company has been that it is very accommodating to varied schedules (at least over here in marketing-land). There are always some “can’t miss” meetings, but generally good managers here I’ve worked with adopt a “work to get the job done” and actually do take the much-derided idea of work-life balance seriously.

Maybe I’ve been lucky.

I do know of some seriously opposite examples. Like my good friend’s first manager at the company. His story is one of my favorites, and highlights the truism that it all depends on if you get a good manager. I’ve been lucky, he didn’t start out with such luck…

(first day at the company, meeting with his new manager, who looks 6 shades of red with stress)

“You may have seem some posters around here talking about work-life balance. Well that doesn’t apply HERE! We’re fighting a WAR here!”

“I’ve only taken two days off THIS YEAR (we would find out later that yes, this included weekends…he skipped two Sundays apparently. Slacker).”

And my favorite:

“I don’t have enough cycles in the day to take a S**T!”

Ahhhh…the memories…