#employee-accommodation

#employee-accommodation

I manage a team of four. One of my staff members, Jeff, asked to go to a conference that was about a five-hour drive away. I approved the request as the conference would be good for his professional development. Three other staff members from our closely connected teams were also going. Jeff registered for the conference. A couple of weeks later, he asked me about booking a flight to it. I was surprised by this, as the conference was a reasonable driving distance. I explained that the department would rent a van and the attendees would drive there together. (Our department wants to minimize expenses when reasonable, so this is normal unless it doesn't make sense logistically or financially.) He pushed back with a couple of reasons that he wanted to fly, such as it would save time and he didn't feel comfortable driving.

Recent history (the pandemic, the Trump administration) has affected our work a lot. It's been hard, more work (our constituents have been very affected) and everything feels tenuous. Not unique here in the US, I'm sad to say. Many of my colleagues were affected, and I had people retire, change jobs, suffer through mental health crises, and one left to join a cult (not kidding).