How the Mother Half Lives : More Firms Realize That Accommodating the Needs of New Parents and Others Can Benefit the Bottom Line
After accountant Lori Husein gave birth more than 12 weeks prematurely to a 1 1/2-pound girl, she needed flexibility at work while her daughter was in the hospital.
For a time, she worked 30 hours a week on special projects. When Sarah, now 2 1/2, came home, Husein took 10 weeks’ leave, telecommuting a bit. Then she switched to an “85% schedule”--in her demanding profession, that means 40 hours a week instead of 55. Despite the reduced hours, she has stayed on track for advancement and was recently promoted to senior manager along with her peers in downtown Los Angeles.
The willingness of her firm, Deloitte & Touche, to arrange alternatives helped turn what could have been a stressful reentry into a smooth, upbeat affair.
“It is an extremely supportive environment,” said Husein, 36, who lives in San Gabriel.
Ever since women began plunging en masse into the work force 30 years ago, the issue of how to accommodate them after a maternity or adoption leave has been bubbling to the surface at countless companies. Female employees often feel reluctant to bring up the subject of leave, reduced hours or job sharing for fear of encountering stony resistance from supervisors. Rather than appear to be lacking in dedication, many simply suffer in silence, attempting to juggle a full workload with weighty family responsibilities, compounded by exhaustion.
Corporations that sought to ease the way back to work were often viewed as being altruistic or inclined to make special arrangements for particularly valuable workers.
Now, however, some companies are increasingly realizing that making adjustments--not only for new mothers but also for other employees with obligations outside work--can benefit the bottom line.
“We’re able to retain very capable individuals who would otherwise leave the firm,” said Sherry Berkman, Los Angeles-area human resources director for Deloitte & Touche. “And it’s an excellent recruiting tool.”
These days, anyone--male or female--can find the ability to work altered by such responsibilities as child or elder care, personal development or community work. Enlightened employers are often happy to accommodate the needs of such workers, but employees must also be willing to make some sacrifices. Compromise will occasionally be in order if employees want their bosses to accept their new realities, which might include occasional child-care emergencies or an inability to work extra hours or travel extensively.
Susan Moriconi, health benefits and work-life manager for Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto, recalled an employee’s request that she be allowed to return to work part time after a maternity leave. Moriconi told her that such a schedule would be fine for three months but that she would need the employee full time beginning the fourth month, when the company would be going through the annual ritual of benefit enrollment.
“She was willing to accommodate my business need,” Moriconi said. “Flexibility has to be a reciprocal thing, not just the employee going in and saying, ‘I need, I want.’ There may be some back-and-forth.”
At Southern California Bank, the human resources department is taking a role in a long-term education process to help managers become aware of the challenges of balancing work and family.
“At many organizations, managers aren’t uncaring,”said Ann McPartlin, executive vice president and director of human resources at the Anaheim-based bank. “It’s just that they don’t have that perspective.”
Among other policies, the bank allows workers to take vacation days in less than full-day increments, enabling them to attend school functions or take a parent to the doctor.
Her advice to workers wanting a flexible arrangement is to “pave the way beforehand by being a strong team player and developing strong relationships with colleagues.” If an employee has demonstrated a willingness to help co-workers on a regular basis, they, in turn, will be more likely to jump in if that employee has a family emergency.
As women rise through the ranks at accounting, consulting and law firms, employers are having to grapple more often with the flexibility issue. Women in these professions often find there is still a stigma attached to being a mom, especially if family is seen as interfering with work for clients.
Bankruptcy lawyer Elissa Miller, 40, of Los Feliz changed firms after her daughter, Mara, was born.
“I had worked for all men for seven years, and they had certain expectations,” she said of her previous employer. “I don’t think I would have been able to easily change those.”
She now works “three-quarters time” at Sulmeyer, Kupetz, Baumann & Rothman in Los Angeles, a firm with what she called a “brief history of employing women on a less-than- full-time basis.”
“I took more than a 30% cut in pay and benefits, and I don’t accrue vacation,” Miller said. Moreover, “it doesn’t appear that any of us [working part time] are on track for partnership.”
She understands the financial implications of that decision. But making partner, she said, “was something I just didn’t care about anymore” after the baby was born.
At Latham & Watkins’ 205-lawyer Los Angeles office, half a dozen attorneys--mostly women--at any given time are working some sort of flexible schedule, said Robert A. Long, managing partner.
The legal profession tends to attract workaholics who are tempted to truncate maternity leaves to get back to work, Long noted. In an effort to keep women home a bit longer, the firm provides a “mommy package” consisting of a Compaq desktop computer with a modem. The women have full access to e-mail and other resources so they can keep up with office mates. The firm also sponsored a downtown emergency child-care center that cares temporarily for workers’ children who are too ill to go to school or regular day-care.
“It’s very much in our interest, as an institution, to look for ways to ease the load,” Long said.
That was particularly the case with Patti Sinclair, whose unusual specialty is counseling private companies trying to arrange deals with public agencies. After her twins were born in 1991, she worked full time for a while but found that “I was stretched too thin.” With the help of some senior managers, she created an alternate track, taking advantage of the firm’s nascent “of counsel” program.
For several years, she has had a reduced load but still managed to be named a partner. Her husband, Bill Sinclair, whose consulting business is close to their Manhattan Beach home, shoulders much of the responsibility for the home and children, she said. That leaves her free to make early-morning calls when necessary. Business travel is generally limited to day trips.
“I thought very hard and very carefully about what I wanted and what I thought would be attractive to the firm,” she said. “I came up with a package I thought made sense.” But she added that one of the key reasons she has been able to pull it off is that she tries hard to make herself available to colleagues should emergencies arise, so that co-workers don’t feel burdened by extra work.
Sinclair knows it’s tough to try to be all things, from high-powered attorney to field trip bus mom.
“When it’s midnight and I’m making cookies for the preschool, I’m reminding myself that I want to be the one doing it,” she said. “But I also want my career.”
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Flexing Your Schedule
Enlightened employers know that offering flexible schedules can boost the bottom line along with employee morale. Here are a few tips for employees:
* Decide which arrangement makes sense for you.
* Seek advice from other individuals who have alternative work arrangements.
* Emphasize potential benefits to the company.
* If possible, work out details before your maternity or adoption leave and explain them to co-workers.
* Before your leave, demonstrate that you’re a team player.
* Evaluate the arrangement periodically.
* Remember that decisions you make because of short-term needs can later limit earning potential or job satisfaction.
* Develop a safety net of family or friends to help out if work emergencies arise.
* If possible, enlist others at the company who would also be interested in flexible work schedules.
Sources: Catalyst; “Balancing Act,” by Daphne Spain and Suzanne M. Bianchi; academicians and human resources executives
A Compendium of Books for Working Parents
The Working Parents Handbook
Straightforward advice on balancing home and work lives, including how to deal with separation anxiety (yours and your child’s), how to bring work home (and get it done) and how to set up a baby-sitting co-op. The authors have years of experience interacting with parents and children at UCLA Child Care Services.
By June Solnit Sale and Kit Kollenberg with Ellen Melinkoff (Fireside, 1996; 317 pages; $13, paper).
*
Balancing Act: How Managers Can Integrate Successful Careers and Fulfilling Personal Lives
A look at the cost of imbalance to individuals and organizations. Using text and exercises, the author outlines a step-by-step process for personal change that can lead to an improved quality of life.
By Joan Kofodimos (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993; 167 pages; $27, cloth; can be ordered through Jossey-Bass, [800] 956 7739).
*
Solving the Work/Family Puzzle
Case studies and practical how-to advice on managing work and family responsibilities.
By Bonnie Michaels and Elizabeth McCarty (Business One Irwin, 1992; 288 pages; $14.95, paper, plus shipping; can be ordered only through Managing Work & Family Inc. in Evanston, Ill., [847] 864-0916).
*
Having It All, Having Enough: How to Create a Career/Family Balance
A guidebook for working men and women that tells how to balance work and home lives by establishing priorities.
By Deborah Lee (due in November from Amacom, the publishing division of the American Management Assn. $21.95, cloth).
*
The Working Parents Help Book
Practical advice on how to negotiate a parental leave, find an au pair, deal with sick children, choose an after-school program, make the most of weekends and other topics.
By Susan Crites Price and Tom Price (Peterson’s, 1994; 285 pages; $12.95, paper; can be ordered through Peterson’s, Princeton, N.J., [800] 338-3282).
*
Balancing Act: Motherhood, Marriage and Employment Among American Women
A scholarly tome that draws on the U.S. Census and other surveys to detail the shifting conditions under which American women juggle their roles as mothers, wives and breadwinners. The United States, the authors note, is the only industrialized nation without policies to support working mothers. Particularly notable is the lack of subsidized child-care services.
By Daphne Spain and Suzanne M. Bianchi (Russell Sage Foundation, 1996; 256 pages; $39.95, cloth; $16.95, paper).
