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Personal Business T


Making it work for working parents by Carolyn C. Shadle, PhD, and John L. Meyer, PhD


ammy Tamer came into the employ of the clinic about 6 months ago after a year of vet- erinary work in another state. There, she had developed


a firm concept of professionalism that guided her work life. Her definition of pro- fessionalism involved completely separat- ing personal affairs from business affairs. She had the feeling that women, in


particular, are regarded less seriously if they talk about their family. She could never and would never bring her personal life into the workplace. She preferred not to reveal whether she was married or had children and never exhibited pictures of family or friends. She would not accept personal phone


calls, emails or fax messages unless it was clearly an emergency. “That’s per- sonal,” was her reply to anyone who asked about family or even about what she did outside the workplace. When fellow employees asked, “How


was your weekend?” Tammy’s reply was always, “That’s personal.” As a conse- quence, no one asked about her personal life and she became a mystery person. She was even uncomfortable when employees used good work time showing pictures of children and grandchildren because that wasted a great deal of company time. One Monday morning, a strange thing challenged Tammy’s view of professional- ism. The practice manager, Tom Romano, called a meeting of all employees in


Trends magazine, September 2011


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