US News and World Report’s article, New Mommy Track Blends Home and Work, just depresses me. They interviewed women with husbands and nannies and high-tracked careers to prove that women are making their own rules and finding new ways to make a balance of career and family work.
For the average wage slave, single mom, this is all a wet dream that isn’t going to come true when we wake up and smell the coffee we have to make ourselves. Because let’s be honest, here. The woman who can afford a flexible, or part-time, schedule? Most of them have backup.
I’m with Mommy Track’d on this one. The article pulls out one big byte to highlight: “Only 3% of companies let most employees work part of the week at home sometimes.” Even in a relatively family/work-life balance firm like mine, it’s hard to come by that sort of flexibility.
Do any of you have jobs that let you work from home?
I have a contract that lets me work at home when I need to, upon approval from my supervisor (which, I’m glad to say, is not difficult to obtain). We have a non-written agreement that I won’t abuse it, or take more than a “couple of days” a month. I am a language translator (in the automotive industry), so it’s something that is definitely “doable” from home, and since I have a high-speed internet connection at home, it really doesn’t matter to my in-house clients whether I am at my desk in the office or at home.
At the moment I’m not using it much, but when my elderly mom lived with us before her death AND my kids were little, it was a Godsend (another single mom). My kids are teens now, so they can stay home by themselves…in fact, they prefer it.
i have a job that in theory allows me to work at home… but i must be honest- even though i work essentially regular office hours, my boss doesn’t hesitate to let me go early if i need to!
Thank you all for these insightful comments. Now I have to ponder…
First of all, my hat is off to you. Single parents deserve their own Hallmark Card day at least, but some cold hard cash and a live-in nanny would be better.
The best work-from-home jobs I know of are those you create yourself by starting your own business. Unfortunately unless you’ve received an inheritance or won the lottery, you have to a) save up a lot of money to quit your job and start a company or b) moonlight to build up a business before quitting, which is crazy when you don’t already have any time anyway! If you live in an expensive area of the country, consider moving where it is less expensive, but then you may lose what little family help you might have.
It absolutely can be done, though it isn’t easy. Being able to drive your own schedule, though: priceless (as Rachel said). Just like being a parent, it can be the toughest job you’ll ever love.
I agree, the work from home, and, “flexible” jobs just aren’t common or feasible in some industries.
I work in health care, we usually have to be around.
I get to work from home whenever I need to – it was something that got built into my job when I first signed on, and was always supported by my old boss.
When my job morphed & I became part of a larger team, I made a point of getting explicit buy-in from the president of the company that my ‘work from home when needed’ arrangement would stick (even though my new boss wasn’t much in favor of people working from home as a regular part of their schedule.)
The only caveat I now have is to make sure I stay accessible by phone, IM or email, and to make sure I still have internal visibility. And the only downside? Work has this insidious ability to seep into non-work time (in other words, I no longer have the luxury to be the Fred Flintstone ‘out at 5 pm’ employee…)
Rachel, I don’t have the courage to do what you do. I wish I could make a living as an independent contractor, but it’s just too risky, especially here where the cost of living is so high…
I really admire your ability to do it!
Ike, I’m afraid if I work from home, I’ll lose the momentum I’ve built up at work, and become marginalized. It’s a horrible feeling. Not being in the office still is seen as not being serious about work. But no one complains when I go into work on Sunday, or work from home at ten at night. What a double standard. My child suffers, I suffer, but we all have to feed the corporate machine, no?
Erin, it’s rough no matter how you slice it.
I work from home, running my own writing/editing business. I’ve come close to giving up many times, especially those months when I had to ask my family to help me out so that I could pay for health insurance…. I juggle so much, and I know that I could be making more $$ — with benefits — at a f/t office job. But at this point, it still feels all worth it… Because of the extra Mama-time I have, especially being able to pick my girl up at school early sometimes (and then, of course, I’m catching up on work post 9 p.m…..)
I am just now leaving a job that was almost exclusively at home. It was a management position with a consulting firm. From a flexibility standpoint, it was wonderful. From a socialization standpoint, not so great. And from a career perspective, it was tough – very easy to be forgotten when you are at home. I do believe that more companies need to look at how they allow employees to balance their lives.
I used to but I have to admit that it was a senior management position. Unfortunately, our management frowned on the idea of allowing “non-senior” managers to work remotely…however, we did work with people on flex time and a few people worked 4 days per week 10 hours per day.
A small compromise but they did offer some options…but…the employee had to ask for the accommodation.
Erin
http://www.ExpectingExecutive.com