Written by Elizabeth Exline
As any working mother can tell you, balance is like perfection: It鈥檚 a nice thing to strive for, even if you don鈥檛 really expect to achieve it.
More possible (and sustainable) might be to puzzle all the pieces together in an evolving whole. Work, family, school 鈥 they can鈥檛 all be first all the time, nor can one of them always come in last. This was one reality the Mothers Overcome More鈩 (M.O.M.鈩) report aimed to address. Commissioned by the 澳门天天彩开奖记录 Career Institute庐 and Motherly, it explores which barriers prevent career growth for working moms.
As the report underscores, moms have plenty to offer the workforce if only the workforce would facilitate the contribution. Specifically, working moms need more:
Ruth Veloria
Chief Strategy and Customer Officer, 澳门天天彩开奖记录
Here, Ruth Veloria,听the chief strategy and customer officer at 澳门天天彩开奖记录, explores which barriers keep moms from realizing their full professional potential and how everyone can play a part in removing them.
At a school where 70% of the students are women and 63.1% have dependents, the advantages and disadvantages of being a working mom feel particularly relevant.听
鈥淪ince we are really focused on careers and growth in people鈥檚 careers, we wondered what would be the barriers, particularly for women, that could stand between them and their careers,鈥 Veloria says, explaining the impetus behind the M.O.M. report.
The University had already recognized a certain level of inertia among students when it came to leveraging available career tools, she adds. Why might these students who鈥檇 already taken the first step toward owning their careers (by enrolling in a degree program) not take advantage of these resources?
鈥淵ou know, you鈥檙e doing this extra work on top of your regular work, so it can feel like the right thing to do is postpone all of that career engagement until later in the program,鈥 Veloria says. 鈥淚t felt like it would be important to understand a little bit more about what those struggles are so that we can provide better solutions.鈥
The results of the M.O.M. report revealed a landscape where 鈥済etting by鈥 gets the lion鈥檚 share of moms鈥 attention and energy.听
Consider the following:
Yet these same moms also have usable skills to offer the workforce.
Like what exactly? Organization for starters. As any mother can tell you, keeping multiple schedules aligned so that everyone gets where they need to be (and then picked up) is part and parcel of motherhood.
In Veloria鈥檚 own home, she says, they worked off of spreadsheets to ensure drop-offs and pickups were completed properly.
Moms also know how to negotiate, whether that鈥檚 to get the dishwasher unloaded and breakfast on the table or to get the playroom picked up.
鈥淩unning a family is very much about being able to calibrate what it is that鈥檚 going to make each person tick,鈥 Veloria observes. 鈥淎nd these are stories that we could probably do a better job of telling our employers. 鈥極K, this is what I鈥檓 doing on a daily basis that makes me a great team leader, that makes me better organized, that makes me a good project manager.鈥欌
If working moms, especially those in lower income brackets, think career growth is a luxury they don鈥檛 have time to pursue, Veloria and others would like to change that perception. Admittedly, that starts with the women themselves. 鈥淵ou have to envision your future self, and you have to say, 鈥業鈥檓 now committing to that future state of who I want to be,鈥欌 Veloria says.
Prioritizing that vision may mean a variety of things 鈥 an appointment with a career advisor, an updated resum茅, a professional development course or a degree program. But it also means the workplace needs to do a better job of helping mothers realize their full potential.
According to the M.O.M.鈩 report and Veloria, this starts with three key factors.听
鈥淔lexibility was the No. 1 thing that came out of the report,鈥 Veloria says. That will surprise exactly no parent. Being able to step away to pick up kids from school or to work from home when they鈥檙e sick can spell the difference between a job that is tenable and a job that is not.
Inflexible hours or structure take their toll on employer and employee alike. According to the M.O.M. report, one-third of lower-income mothers switched jobs in the past year because of inflexibility, poor management or inadequate compensation. 听
Veloria has personal experience with the advantages of flexibility. When her oldest daughter was young, she worked at a company that offered a four-day workweek at 80% of the salary.
鈥淥n Fridays I could invest in spending time with my daughter, and that helped with the bonding. That helped with feeling like I had a chance to go to the doctor and those kinds of things,鈥 Veloria explains. 鈥淪o, that鈥檚 where the flexibility in the report most resonated with me, because I was lucky enough to get a job that had built in a way to do that.鈥
If flexibility is offered at a company level, support is within the purview of managers to offer.
Veloria, for example, oversees a mom on her team whose 鈥渁ccountable and responsible鈥 work ethic makes it easy for Veloria to accommodate.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 start meetings before 9:30 a.m. because she has to drop off her kid at school,鈥 Veloria says. 鈥淲hen the kids are in bed, she might be replying to email and closing out some things.鈥
This is a benefit of virtual workplaces, Veloria adds, where scheduling tools and meeting platforms make it relatively easy to accommodate employees who have to pop out for school pickup or doctor appointments.
鈥淪o, underneath the HR leader, the manager or co-worker can just be sensitive to 鈥楬ow am I going to work around [this person鈥檚 parental needs]?鈥欌 Veloria says.
One of the key takeaways from the M.O.M. report is that, if moms are to make career growth a reality, they have to invest in skill development. In fact, 56% of lower-income moms surveyed say that further education or professional development could enhance their career prospects significantly.
This fact presents an opportunity for employers. HR leaders need to ask themselves how they鈥檙e investing in their employees, Veloria says.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what a lot of people want these days,鈥 she says, 鈥渋s to feel like they鈥檙e on a pathway to some kind of career success.鈥
While employees can鈥檛 determine a company鈥檚 commitment to flexibility or skills development programs, they can invest in themselves and work toward a career that offers those things.
鈥淲hen we begin with a goal and work with that end in mind, we don鈥檛 lose ourselves in the constant cycle of, 鈥楢m I making progress?鈥欌 Veloria says. 鈥淚f I begin with an end in mind, I鈥檓 more targeted with where I could go next.鈥
This is one reason why UOPX offers a skills dashboard to students. As students develop skills in each course, they can see their progress in real time. This not only gives them the ability to share their skills with prospective employers, but it can also inspire them to keep working toward their goal. Motivation, after all, can wane in between day care drop-off, deadlines and dinner for five.
Another source of motivation? Community. From social media groups to career advisors, from friends cheering you on to your own kids watching you achieve your goals, having people in your corner can help keep you going.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not alone,鈥 Veloria says. 鈥淛ust think about one action that you could do that could bring yourself closer to that goal. Just start.鈥
Elizabeth Exline has been telling stories ever since she won a writing contest in third grade. She's covered design and architecture, travel, lifestyle content and a host of other topics for national, regional, local and brand publications. Additionally, she's worked in content development for Marriott International and manuscript development for a variety of authors.
This article has been vetted by 澳门天天彩开奖记录's editorial advisory committee.听
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