Do You Avoid Office Housekeeping Tasks?
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Here's a question for today: do you get asked to do office housekeeping tasks — and do you associate being asked with being junior, or being female? Do you purposely avoid office housekeeping tasks — or have you found that they're the kind of things that can move your career forward, either by making you more visible (planning the office party!), giving you access to VIPs (getting you in the room where it happens… even if you're there to take notes), or general “team player” cred?
The Cut recently posted an advice column about pretending to be a bad assistant that outlined when women are asked to do extra work around the office:
Many women volunteer for office ‘housekeeping' tasks — things like taking notes at meetings, straightening up the kitchen, planning team lunches, and so forth. They volunteer because they want to pitch in and be helpful — we’re supposed to be team players, after all, right? — and because they assume that others will also pitch in and do their fair share of work that benefits everyone. The problem, though, is that women tend to volunteer for this type of care-taking work at much higher rates than men do — which is no surprise, given the way we’re all socialized.
We've talked about this a bit before in discussions about being mistaken for a personal assistant as well as willfully becoming the office mom (the one who remembers Administrative Assistants' Day! and gets the card! and flowers! and collects the money! and has the Advil and band-aids that everyone can steal!), but I thought office housekeeping tasks would be an interesting discussion for today.
What have you been asked to do — what have you volunteered to do — and have you ever successfully moved your career forward with these tasks? On the flip side, do you avoid office housekeeping tasks — and if so, what scripts do you use? Do you re-delegate when work has been delegated to you, perhaps to someone more junior? Or just prove (as the writer into The Cut wondered) that you're really, really lousy at these tasks?
Further Reading:
- Why Men Should Want To Share Office Housekeeping Tasks [Forbes]
- Women of Color Get Asked To Do More “Office Housework.” Here's How They Can Say No. [Harvard Business Review]
- Women, Stop Volunteering For Office Housework! [New York Times]
- Sticking Women with the Office Housework [Washington Post]
I am very careful to avoid them- it means time spent on tasks that aren’t rewarded. But I’m also careful in the ways in which insidestep them because us women unfortunately always have to walk that tightrope.
In general I don’t think it’s rewarded, however there is one management path at my very large company where (extremely qualified) women (it’s always women) become assistants (aka glorified secretaries) to (mostly male) vps and then are rewarded after a few years with a higher level manager position. To me that path reeks of sexism and you have to put in a lot of hours of bs for it to pay off, and I’m just not interested.
Our CFO, a woman, is ALWAYS the one cleaning up after monthly board meetings (dinner is always served, and she’s always the one who boxes up the food and takes it somewhere it’ll get eaten, wherever that might be). It infuriates me, even though she sort of seems to have accepted it.
I think there is a distinction to be made between “menial but directly work-related” tasks and true “office housekeeping” tasks. I think people should not shy away from the former and should jump in to do things like be a notetaker in an important meeting. I got invited to a fair number of meetings that were way above my pay grade early in my career so that I could take notes, document next steps, manage the agenda, etc. It definitely gave me a boost to have insight into the organization and facetime with higher level people, plus I learned a lot from hearing the discussions.
That is very different from making sure the break room has enough plastic silverware stocked or planning the office Halloween party. Those types of things I decline to help with 90% of the time – although I will admit I do enjoy partaking in things like office social events, so I try to help out occasionally.
This is exactly what I was trying to articulate but wasn’t sure how to express. IME (non-profits, not a lawyer) not doing “menial but directly work-related”is absolutely going to hurt you, because there is so much of that work to go around that even our president helps out when needed. But being the only person to clean the break room = no go. If a staff members needs to take care of that and they aren’t, it should likely be an AA and their manager should talk to them about it when it doesn’t happen.
+1
I got PMO roles on important interal projects because I took notes and sent out actions.
I was actually just reflecting on this the other day. At my last job the office was 100% female, so I happily did dishes, arranged lunches, took notes, all of the above – because everyone else really WAS doing the same. It was the most equitable workplace I’ve ever been in. My current job is about a 40/60 split, men/women, and it’s clear that the senior women do not spend any time performing those tasks, so I have 100% opted out (unless specifically assigned to do so. For example, we have a bi-weekly kitchen cleaning rotation that everyone is part of). But I don’t voluntarily arrange for coffee, set up office potlucks, or clean the kitchen when it’s not my turn.
I will take the marker for the whiteboard or flip chart at meetings. My handwriting is nice. And, it allows me to be visible and to drive the conversation while doing a “chore.” I do not bake cookies, but I will bring something premade or drinks. I do not plan parties, but I will contribute $$ or bring cups or napkins. If I am asked to clean up after a special occasion event, I say, “Sure. Bob, could you grab the X? Mike, can you do the Y? I’ll do the Z.” If they don’t do it, then I don’t either. When the men start volunteering to do office chores, maybe I’ll feel differently, but until that day, I only do the work when it clearly benefits and advances me. Otherwise, I refuse. If people come back, I politely suggest they ask Matt, Curt, Tom, or Dan… maybe they could do that instead this year.
I do one thankless committee and then use it to fend off other thankless committees.
I work at a nonprofit. I recently stayed after work for a few minutes to clean out our party cabinet (and then email the office to not buy ANY MORE paper napkins). I needed something from it and it was a disaster so I did it. We all are assigned one afternoon per year to clean the kitchen. If I’m waiting for a client, I’ll put toys away in our lobby or put paper back in the right files. Maybe that’s menial work but if I have a few minutes, it means the front desk people don’t have to do it plus everything else they have to do to keep our heads on straight. I don’t really care. The guys do the furniture moving and carrying heavy boxes so it evens out.
I have always good-naturedly made it a point to avoid these tasks and am lucky enough to have a (male) boss who totally gets what I’m doing and totally supports it. While I am his junior and probably should be the one performing some of these tasks, he’s always taken them on, and though we’ve never specifically addressed it, I know it’s so that I’m seen as his equal, even though I’m technically not. Ours is an industry dominated by older male attorneys and he’s always quick to diplomatically say something when its assumed I’ll be the one doing the “bitch work.” Typing this, I realize how freaking lucky I am to have him in my corner.
As a woman partner, I do NOT mind serving cake and asking others what they want the manageing partner to order when he is buying all of us lunch. I figure that I am very efficent in gathering orders and serving cake, so I just do it. It is NOT a male female thing, especially b/c most of the men are slow with fat fingers or just plain klutzey, so I would not want their grubby fingers on my cake. I also know that most men do NOT wash their hands when they go to the toilet. FOOEY!
We have a kitchen dishwasher at work and I swear I have never seen a guy unload it. They will also leave their dishes in the sink right next to the dishwasher. I am certainly not going to clean up after them but I’ve spoken to the manager of the department where most of these guys work about it. I’m tempted to put up one of those “your mother doesn’t work here” signs.