The joy of flex

October 11th, 2006

Three mainstream media articles on women’s work/life balance that made me cheer (had I not been suffering from my own work/life imbalance last week I would have posted them sooner):

Miami Herald columnist Cindy Krischer Goodman (no relation) and blogger examines how more workers are jumping on the temping bandwagon, not because they can’t find anyone else to pay them but because they want or need the flexibility to pursue other avenues of their life (elder care, child care, small businesses, creative endeavors). As Goodman writes, “More people see the appeal of staffing agencies, and they’re not just the unemployed trying make ends meet. The Bureau of Labor says the U.S. staffing industry will grow faster than any other industry over the next decade, adding nearly 1.6 million jobs.” (Published September 27, 2006; registration required)

Reuters recently reported that most businesses owned by women are home-based. Also of note: Forty-nine percent of U.S. businesses are run from the home, and 75 percent of U.S. businesses are one-person ventures with no employees (you know, independent writers, accountants, programmers, craftswomen, and other kitchen-table entrepreneurs). But I have to disagree with Robert Drago, professor of labor studies and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University, who says in the article, “Home-based businesses tend to be uncertain sources of income…” I know and have interviewed many women whose home-based business earns them (and their family) a fine living. Drago also blathers on that “…working at home is difficult with small children and married women’s home-based work tends to be taken less seriously than their husbands’ jobs outside the home.” First of all, many women have told me that working outside the home when you have small children is equally if not more difficult than working inside it. It all depends on your kids’ age/temperament, your support system, and your personal preferences (or chaos threshold). Second, I spoke with many female business owners who work from home and pull in their family’s main or — gasp! — sole source of income, while their partner tends to the house and kids. And yes, Prof Drago, many of these women are in heterosexual relationships. (Published September 27, 2006)

And finally, ABC news covered how more companies are helping high-powered working moms who want to leave the fast track keep a toe in the corporate pool so (a) these megacorps don’t lose their superstar “talent,” and (b) these moms can pick up reasonably close to where they left off, after they’ve taken their (on average) 2.2-year leave to devote time to family. All well and good, but I’m left a bit cold by the last anedcote in the piece, where Anne Erni, chief diversity officer at Lehman Brothers, sings the praises of her company’s program and one satisfied mom who was happy to come back to a less-senior part-time role in the company. (”How often can you get someone with great maturity and judgment to step into a more junior role and be really happy with it?” Erni says.) It would be nice if (a) these options were even available to employees on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, especially lower-income wage slaves, and (b) a woman could work part-time for her employer without having to take a demotion in title and pay. (Published October 2, 2006)

Entry Filed under: Overworked and underpaid