Pros
Harvard has great benefits with four weeks vacation for exempt employees, 3 weeks for non-exempt, 3 personal days, and 12 sick days per year. If you have a good manager they are flexible about work time (for instance starting late and ending late, or starting early and ending early). They also can be flexible about working from home. I asked to telecommute two days a week and to my shock they said yes. This is not necessarily common at every department at Harvard but at least the senior management is open to trying new things, as long as they aren't too new, like telecommuting 4 days a week, which was not approved.
Cons
Harvard is very decentralized so there's very little sharing between groups and departments. While some middle managers are very open to trying new things, like some telecommuting, some are not open to this at all. Since there is no University wide mandate to allow telecommuting, there is no reason for managers to approve it if they are philosophically opposed to it, which has happened. While some managers are very flexible in terms of taking time off, sometimes on short notice, and being understanding when you try to balance work and life, some are not flexible or understanding in the slightest.
