A Bit of History about the Workplace
Recently I heard a reading of the book Almost a Family given by the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, John Darnton. Mr. Darnton who was not yet a year old when his father Byron “Barney” Darnton became a war correspondent in the Pacific theater in World War II and was killed, possibly by friendly fire.
His mother stepped up to be both father and mother and initially became the family breadwinner by securing a job at The New York Times.
Today, I was reading a profile of Ann Lloyd the founder of the Susan Fund a non-profit that gives scholarships to students who are also cancer survivors. The fund is named for her daughter, Susan, who died (of cancer) in 1980. Ms Lloyd allowed that after her husband died of a heart attack in 1967 (she was 32 at the time) she worked at his employer IBM in a widow’s rights program. (Full disclosure-my spouse worked for IBM for five years ending in 1992.)
This seeming relic of a simpler time and workplace struck me as quaint and piqued my curiosity of what happened to this custom in an age of widespread unemployment and layoffs.
Tags: employee attitudes, work-life balance
