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And finally…

How many women do you know who have left work to have a baby and returned to full-time work within two weeks? Probably most of us have at least one such experience. I have known one woman who came to work in the morning, left the office for lunch and returned eight days later after having given birth to her baby a few short hours after leaving work for lunch.

The tight labor market is forcing more and more women to remain at work after giving birth. One of the few successful women to take time out to raise her children and return to the top echelons of the corporate world was Brenda Barnes. Brenda was the President of PepsiCo for North America in 1977 when she left to raise her children. Six years after leaving the workforce, Barnes successfully returned to the workforce as second in command at the food giant Sarah Lee Corporation where she has thrived.

Barnes was clever and had thoroughly developed a strategy which enabled her to ease back to work after what could be considered a lengthy absence. Aside from being on the school parent committee, she also continued to serve on the boards of six corporations. She did not drop her memberships to any of her work-related associations and she read several newspapers every day. She also did not drop contact with her business associates, nor did she fall back on technological advances in general.

So the lesson for women who do not gallop back to work within days of giving birth is that in between the mayhem that a new baby can bring to a household, women must not allow their skills to become stale. Employers do not have the time, inclination, budget or people to totally retrain you when you are ready to return to work. Of particular importance, is that you continue to stay current with your skills, particularly in relation to technology and terminology, if you are out of the workforce for a considerable period of time.

Many women do not have the luxury of choosing between rearing their children and returning to work. Some women, fortunately very few, are forced to become stay-at-home moms because of a very sick child. Many women are forced to return to work because of financial need. All mothers become jugglers and all mothers wear many different hats. This, in most cases, makes them eminently suited to today’s work environment where change is the essence of success.

Change in the corporate sector comes slowly – too slowly for many women. If the corporate sector was more flexible in its approach to employee necessities it would lead to more fruitful and partnering arrangements. One example I recall vividly. A woman had two children and she successfully juggled her full-time high-powered job until her eldest child started school. Her husband’s job involved much foreign and domestic travel so he was not in a position to be of much assistance with young children and their schedules. If this woman’s company had agreed to her starting work at 9:00 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. every day, (she was in a position to have her children cared for in the afternoons) to facilitate her school and child-minding schedule, then she would still be an active and very productive member of their workforce today. They were not flexible. They don’t have her today. Another company was flexible and that flexibility is their gain. This woman, aside from being very happy and highly productive, also has a contented and financially secure family life. Research, particularly from Harvard Business School, shows that women who work and who have children have a high degree of emotional intelligence, are flexible, open to change and are phenomenal multi-taskers.

Most women would not leave the workforce if their employers were more flexible. The challenge is to marry the needs of the company to those of highly valued and productive employees who have family necessities. Babies in a home create life-altering experiences and women are very adept at creating workable and productive solutions instantly to instant problems. They are generally very creative at identifying potential hazards and crisis in most situations. Their valuable knowledge, insights and input in the work environment can, and should, have a profound effect on the short, medium and long-term problems of any company.
We need well balanced children in our society. We need well balanced women in our society. We need to balance the care of the child and the care of the mother in a workforce environment to lead to a balanced society. If we don’t make possible the return to work of women who have small children then we will surely have more disgruntled children, disgruntled parents, disgruntled families, disgruntled communities, disgruntled society and a more disgruntled nation. That means a whole lot of disgruntlement in the workplace and a whole lot less productivity.

There is a learning curve here for everyone. Women at Work Network indicate that there is 55% of women in the workforce with a child under age one. More women need, and indeed want, to be in the workforce. Their main problem is the inflexibility of employers.

As employers, let us make a New Year’s resolution to be more flexibility to families in our places of work. You probably know in advance those people who will take unethical advantage of your flexibility. They should be dealt with under different rules. With flexibility you’ll probably see an upturn in your productivity level in a short period of time.

And finally, to women who choose to leave the workforce to rear their children for whatever period of time, be warned that you are responsible for maintaining your professional credentials. You will be shown little flexibility by employers when you try to return to work if you are found lacking.

Ailish M. Nic Phaidin, MPRII ©
President & CEO
Access Link International, Inc., Public Relations & Marketing Counselors
Phone: 321-952-2978 Email: Ailish@AccessLinkInternational.com