"Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don't Lead to Promotions?" (" Why are women willing to do tasks that don't serve their careers ?" ask researchers Linda Babcock, Maria P. Recalde, and Lise Vesterlund at the top of an op-ed in the Harvard Business Review. But what are these authors talking about ? " Glue work " or non-promotable work! We explain what it is and to what extent it is an obstacle to women's careers.

Holding together the components of project mode

The notion of " glue work " is coined by engineer Tanya Reilly in a blog post entitled " being glue ". In a deliciously ironic text accompanied by well-felt visual vignettes, she describes a paradox of teamwork. Everyone makes their contribution, by implementing their expertise and technical know-how.

But it is still necessary to put a link in the project so that it is carried out in good conditions, that the deadlines are met and that the whole thing is coherent. It is therefore necessary for someone to follow the schedules, follow up with latecomers, check the content of the contributions, plan the times of exchange, correct or have corrected errors, spare the personalities of each other, answer questions, bring on board any additional resources, etc.

Well, that's normally the job of the project manager. Well, if there is one. And if this person does not tend to consider that the word that counts, it is more " leader " than " project ". However, at a time when we value " experts " and pamper " talents ", there are some who would be quite willing to take on the role of leader but do not see themselves performing all these tasks, which are also heavy in mental load, which they would rather see executed by a super-assistant. Except that the " super-assistant " species is endangered, especially in organizations that operate in project mode.

So, someone has to get involved in this job of holding together the components of collective work. And who ? The most perfectionist ? The most attached to team cohesion? The least gifted to impose his or her expert stature ? The most pragmatic who knows that if we don't tighten the bolts between the plates, the edifice has no chance of holding ? The oldest who has the knowledge of the entire value chain and the experience of the mistakes of the past and who therefore knows that the success of a project depends on the coordination of the actors and the tying up of the details ? The most recent member of the team to learn the ropes ?

It looks like a game of mistigri : who will have the damned card to do the " glue work " ? But Tanya Reilly tells us, it's not because it's a job of lesser value, it's because it's a job that is not valued ! When it comes to promotions, bonuses and raises, what matters is to be able to highlight a creative contribution that you can claim to have, a particularly ingenious program that you can call yourself the author, a brilliant idea that you claim, an important customer that you have conquered...

But not the fact that I have worked on a daily basis, with micro-tasks, responses to multiple requests and solutions to various problems, to get projects done.

Extension of the domain of invisible labour

Non-promotable " glue work " does not only concern the functioning in project mode but extends to all organizational cultures in the financialized economy, according to the economist Pierre-Yves Gomez, author of the essay Le travail invisible – Enquête sur une disparition. Accusing reporting processes of being intrinsically linked to shareholders' idea of value and performance, Gomez denounces a growing invisibilization of " real work" in favor of an overestimation of positions that can be traced as directly profitable. Here, profitable must be understood in the literal sense of the term : that which produces rent. A priori, it's common sense, you have to focus on what generates profit.

But this is a fool's game because in reality, profit generation does not take place without real work, made up of a whole set of tasks, gestures and behaviors that are essential to the value chain. It's just that by being largely removed from the tables of measurement of value creation, this " real work" is demonetized and undervalued, or even made free outright.

In concrete terms, what is meant by " invisible work" ? For Gomez, a promoter of emancipatory work, it is all about " subjective and collective work" : what individuals do to " do their job well", help others and contribute to the collective being alive, cooperating and learning. This is what makes the difference between the salesperson who only applies the techniques of the commercial bible of the chain of stores and the one who is involved in the relationship with each customer.

This makes the difference between the colleague who achieves his or her goals first on his or her own and the one who is always concerned about everyone in the team being able to achieve his or her own. It is the time spent passing on your experience, tips, advice to others. It is the energy invested in the conviviality of the team, in the resolution of conflicts, in the support of newcomers. It is the commitment to meaningful projects  , even if they are not necessarily the most profitable. It is the attention paid to maintaining the well-being and motivation of everyone in the work environment.

Who pays for " glue work " ?

All of this, women would be quicker than men to do, say Babcock, Recalde & Vesterlu in their article "Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don't Lead to Promotions?". Their research has allowed them to estimate that women do 200 hours more non-promotable work per year than men.

This free work for employers is expensive for them. They pay the price on three levels :

• In the short term, non-promotable work is by definition not a producer of bonuses and raises.

• In the medium term, non-promotable work does not allow you to assert what you have learned for professional development... Even though it is a great space for the implementation of all kinds of soft-skills: empathy, emotional intelligence, relational ecology, sense of mediation, adaptability, political sense, stress management, solution orientation, openness to change, creativity...

• In the long term, and this is the point on which Babcock, Recalde & Vesterlu insist the most, this ugly habit of doing " free work" maintains stereotypes about " female work" that we imagine to be more focused on " care ", human relations, self-giving, a sense of the collective than on performance. rationality, competitiveness and ambition.

In short, women's " glue work " would not be for nothing in the glass ceiling!

Say no to " glue work " ?

For Linda Babcock and her colleagues, the solution is to say " no " to non-promotable work. And to theorize this invitation in a book entitled The No Club. Because it's not so easy for women to say " no " to work, the authors explain. They are mainly prevented from doing so by the fear of displeasing by renouncing the role of the one who renders service, arranges everyone, welcomes, takes care, supports, makes the environment pleasant and warm.

But who are they afraid of displeasing ? To the other women who might be waiting for them at the turn of the myth of the queen bee (Ah ! This one, since she has risen in rank, is much less nice with other girls than before)?  To men who would like women to move up in organizations but would prefer that they preserve their stereotypical feminine attributes (Women, okay, but hey, if it's to have some who behave like men, thank you !) ? Or to themselves who would find unflattering the reflection of a woman who refuses to be of service, who keeps a respectable distance from the necessities of " care " and reserves her time and energy for what can bring her money.

Babcock believes that women must fight against a range of limiting beliefs that plague their careers. They can learn to say " no " without seeing themselves as cold egoists, to delegate tasks that do not value them without feeling guilty, to take a step back from the daily realities of work without accusing themselves of being connected, and even to tell men to take more of their share of non-promotable work without fear of being seen as painful righters of wrongs.

But the responsibility for rebalancing "glue work " can only rest on the ability of women to say " no ". This question raises questions more generally for organizations about the value they place on this real work of making connections and subsequently on the way in which they take it into account in the definition of compensation and promotion criteria.