Work-Life Quotes Employers Must Read

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: May 17, 2013

Families and Work Institute is honoring ten work-life trailblazers with our 2013 Work Life Legacy Awards.

Here are some words of wisdom offered by the honorees over the years, words that have helped shaped the work-life movement and the workplace:

“We have to come up with a model that says all workers have caregiving responsibilities, if not to kids, then aging parents, relatives. And all caregivers have something to contribute to society. That’s a cultural model we need to incorporate, and it needs structural, political and economic change.”
~ Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education, Council on Contemporary Families, University of Miami and Professor, The Evergreen State College (Via Sage magazine)

“Work/life is not only a social movement to benefit the next generation of children in our society, it’s a field with powerful ideas for cultural transformation that compels businesses to make more intelligent and humane use of people and technology.”
~ Stewart D. Friedman, PhD, Practice Professor of Management, Director of the Work/Life Integration Project, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Via the Baltimore Sun)

“We now know our competition is all over the world. The pace and the reaction time, the speed at which people are trying to process things has really increased. We’re burning up the resilience of our work force. I think we are on the verge of starting to say, ‘OK, we need to relook at how work is done.’”
~ Arlene A. Johnson, recently Mayor of Livingston, NJ, former Vice President at WFD Consulting, former Catalyst and The Conference Board leader (Via The Boston Globe)

“People who work from home tend to have less stress and are more productive, partly because they don’t invest time and money in commuting. When employees have family or other personal issues they need to take care of, the feeling is that by being able to work from home you can take care of those in a much shorter period of time than commuting.”
~ Brad Harrington, EdD, Executive Director, Center for Work & Family or Center for Work and Family and Associate Research Professor, Carroll School of Management, Boston College (Via Bloomberg News)

“More people are looking for meaning in their jobs. The most important stakeholder for any company is itsown employees. The best companies recognize that a positive social and environmental impact will be critical in recruiting and retaining outstanding talent.”
~ Bradley Googins, PhD, Professor, Carroll School of Management and Founder of Boston College Center for Work & Family (Via the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire)

“I think [Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg]’s had a golden path herself, and perhaps does not morereadily understand that the real struggles are not having children or ambition. Women are, in fact, fierce in their ambition, but they find that they’re actually derailed by other things, like they don’t have a sponsor in their life that helps them go for it.”
~ Sylvia Ann Hewlett, PhD President and CEO, Center for Talent Innovation, author of Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution (Via The New York Times)

“If employees are distracted by care for a child or elderly relative, it will interfere with their ability to serve our customers. The more we can help, the more focused they will be.’”
~ Deborah Stahl, Deborah Stahl Consulting, former Director of the AT&T Family Care Development Fund (Via the Associated Press)

“A nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates its female talent to maximize its competitiveness and development potential, each country should strive for gender equality.”
~ Rosalind Chait Barnett, PhD, Research Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College Senior Scientist, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. (Via Harvard.com’s Graduate School of Education)

“What others see as the future of the workplace, and what parents see as a most important tool for juggling home and work, [Yahoo's] Marissa Mayer apparently sees as disposable. Putting employees back into a box is not good for Yahoo!. It is not good for workers. And it is very bad business.”
~ Lisa Belkin, former New York Times Motherlode blogger and now Huffington Post’s Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family (Via Hufflington Post)

“Here’s the thing. If what we really care about is what’s good for kids, instead of being mad at each other we need to be mad at the lack of flexibility to care for kids.”
~ Ellen Bravo, Executive Director of Family Values @ Work (Via MothersMovement.org)

(All ten honorees will be part of an Immersion Learning Experience during the afternoon on June 3 where they’ll share their vision of the workplace and provide marching orders to attendees on what still needs to be done. They will be officially honored that evening at a dinner to be held at Cipriani’s 42nd Street. For more information on how to get tickets to either event click here. Media are invited to attend the afternoon’s Immersion Learning Experience.)

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Apprenticeships smooth veteran work transition

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: May 8, 2013

Employers have implemented a variety of newfangled ways to help veterans transition from military life to the civilian work world, but it’s an old training strategy that could offer the most promise — apprenticeships.

“Entering a new field can be difficult, especially when you possess all the core skills but lack some of the lingo, perspectives, and specific task training used in a new field. For such employees returning to school full-time is too great an investment for the amount of learning needed and may conflict with economic demands such as supporting a family,” explained Ken Matos, director of research for Families and Work Institute and co-author of a just released veteran report titled “Employer Support for the Military Community.”

Apprenticeships, he continued, “can be an ideal alternative to degree programs for experienced employees who just need to round out their skill set, not start from scratch. Paid apprenticeships are best because they provide greater economic stability during the learning period, removing the frustrating choice between earning a living today and earning a better living tomorrow.”

Several companies that offer such apprenticeship programs are featured in the new report, in addition to a host of programs to help veterans find and keep careers, and also those that support military families.

Here are some examples of apprenticeship and other on-the-job learning offerings from top employers:

* General Electric offers apprenticeships in many of its businesses, but the Get Skills to Work program is specifically designed to train veterans in the basic manufacturing skills needed in their facilities and those of their partners and suppliers. The program was designed to close the gap in manufacturing employers’ needs while also offering a career in the manufacturing industry for veterans leaving the service.
* Goldman Sachs’ launched the Veterans Integration Program (VIP) in 2012, an eight-week program that provides transitioning service men and women exiting the military an opportunity for professional skills training and education in financial services. Veterans receive two rounds of 360º feedback from peers and managers, participate in weekly team meetings, and present deliverables to senior managers. In addition to their day-to-day roles, participants take advantage of training and networking opportunities with senior management.
* Merck has established Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS), a work-study program, that helps integrate veterans into the corporate workforce. As a service member’s tour of duty concludes, the WOS program readies these individuals through an intensive 13-week continuing education program. During the training period, veterans attend classes at a local university and work part-time at a sponsoring corporation.
* Lockheed Martin established a Department of Labor certified apprenticeship program targeted at severely wounded veterans for sub-contract management certification in 2006. It is a 2-year program, complete with on-the-job training, mentoring and monitoring, testing and progressive level certification. After successfully completing the 2-year program the employee is certified as a Sub-Contract Administrator able to work as an exempt employee at Lockheed Martin or anywhere in the defense industry. This program is also available for IT certification.
* Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSKCC) Veteran to Research Study Assistants (RSA) Program focuses on newly transitioned service men and women who are interested in a career in research and healthcare. These veterans are trained to become RSAs who perform data collection and data entry and participate in data analysis for research projects, databases, and research protocols within MSKCC. This position develops research skills and creates the building blocks for a career at the center

Many of the initiatives these employers have taken make a lot of business sense, beyond just fostering the hiring of ex military employees, Matos pointed out.

“Other employee groups making a transition between fields and life stages (e.g., people with disabilities, retirees switching careers, caregivers returning to a new field after a leave, prisoners starting over) can benefit from apprenticeships,” he said. “Organizations that have large numbers of unfilled positions should consider whether devoting resources to a few weeks of intense training of new entrants to the field is less costly and more effective than trying to poach employees from competitors.”

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Workflex Love For Some, Not All

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: April 30, 2013


Yahoo’s making workflex news again with an announcement today that it’s beefing up paid parental leave for men and women.

It’s heartening news from the tech company whose CEO Marissa Mayer came under fire recently for announcing a telecommuting ban.

As you can imagine, social media was all a twitter with Yahoo’s leave decision today with some employees seeing the move as further proof that working parents get special treatment when it comes to flexible work arrangements.

Here’s a tweet from @DickTracyOrlndo, who retweeted my tweet about Yahoo’s announcement:

Kidless people hosed again. MT @careerdiva: Yahoo expands maternity leave after banning telecommuting

The feeling of being hosed at work in this regard haunts not only employees but employers, who often wonder if these types of workflex programs can ever truly be seen as equitable. No good supervisors wants to be perceived as caring more about one group of employees than another. And no worker wants to think they’re not getting the same treatment as other works, especially if they work just as hard.

But creating an effective and flexible workplace doesn’t happen by divvying up equal pieces of the work pie for each employee. Employees are very different and so are circumstances of an employee’s personal life and even workload; and that can change monthly, weekly, even daily.

“The key to equity is you are addressing the needs of the people, not necessarily giving them equality,” explained Ken Matos, Families and Work Institute’s director of research. “We want to warn against getting into the debate of who’s getting what because then people with children and people without become enemies. It should be about what people need, period.”

Alas, that can be easier said than done.

Employees and employers can address this in different ways.

For employers, here are some tips from Workflex: The Essential Guide to Flexible and Effective Workplace, coauthored by Matos:

Be concerned about equity. Supervisors worry about being fair to employees when they know everyone can’t have flexibility. The key is making sure that the PROCESS is equitable (the same)—that every employee’s request is fairly considered—even though the
outcome may vary.

Promote flexibility as a management tool. When used as management tools, rather than favors given to specific employees, there are many more options available to employees and supervisors for getting the job done.

Create a format and process so that employees requesting workflex can make a “business case” to you. Employees requesting flexibility should state how this arrangement will help the organization and themselves. They should be prepared to come to a meeting with you with a series of suggested options for how their work will be done best and what business outcomes they believe will ensue because they are working flexibly. It is most helpful if you create a form to help employees think through and present this business case.

For employees, Matos stressed that “rather than frustration against someone getting materinity or partnerity leave, perhaps you should be asking your organization what you need. If telecommuting is not an option, are there other options that would get you through the day?”

He pointed to the many forms of workflex the Institute has identified that are included in a free downloadable toolkit for employees who want to know how to ask for flexible work arrangements.

Here’s an overview of the types of workflex available:

• Flex Time and Flex Place: adjustments to start and stop times and the ability to work in alternative locations (e.g., regular or short-notice schedule changes, compressed workweeks and telecommuting).
• Choices in Managing Time: influence employees have over work schedule and shift assignments (e.g., self-scheduling and shift trading initiated shift trades)
• Reduced Time: the ability to shift between full/part-time or part-year work while remaining in the same position (e.g., full-time during busy seasons and part-time the rest of the year)
• Time Off: includes easily accessed options for taking time for personal or family matters without incurring financial hardships or disciplinary action;
o paid days off for illness (personal or family members), vacation, volunteer work or community service and holidays
o job protected leaves for birth, adoption and care of seriously ill family members
• Flex Careers enable employees to control their career progression by adjusting workloads in collaboration with coworkers, time off for sabbaticals or education, and opportunities to phase into retirement or phase back into the workforce after an extended leave or military service.
• Task Flexibility includes efforts to create reasonable work demands, reasonable options for adjusting job descriptions to match employee strengths, reducing unnecessary work and creating boundaries between life on and off the job (e.g., reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, cross-training, options for discussing and managing overwork).
• Culture of Flexibility includes openly discussing alternative ways of working more effectively with supportive supervisors without fear of retaliation or having to choose between advancement and devoting attention to family life when work-life issues arise.

Creating workflex equity is possible, Matos maintained. But it’s important to rise above the finger pointing and, he added, “not turn this into a battle of who’s loved more.”

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Families, Flexible work, Men/Fathers, Productivity, Uncategorized, Workforce/Workplace, parenting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Top Employers Supporting Veterans

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: April 25, 2013

The jobless rate for veterans who have served since 9/11 is more than 9 percent, and even higher for younger and wounded vets, compared to 7.6 percent for the overall population, according to the most recent unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We as a nation need to do more! That’s why Families and Work Institute’s board of directors created the Work Life Legacy Military Awards, an annual, national competition to recognize the top employers in hiring and supporting service men and women and their families.

“There’s a tremendous upside for hiring a vet,” said Admiral Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Families and Work Institute board member. “From a business case, it’s there. It’s there because of the discipline they have, the life experiences, the cultural exposure, the team mentality, the mission before self, their loyalty to an organization, their adaptability. They care about each other and care about people!”

There are employers who get this reality, and today the Institute revealed the names of the winners of the 2013 Work Life Legacy Military Awards competition – Cornell, JPMorgan Chase, Merck, and Verizon Communications.

These employers collectively hired and helped support the hiring of tens of thousands of veterans thanks to their innovative programs and focused efforts to help military transition to civilian life, and in turn help their own bottom lines by employing these skilled and dedicated employees.

“Veterans make excellent employees and they add tremendous value to our company,” maintained Maureen Casey, Managing Director of Military and Veterans Affairs at JPMorgan Chase. “If history tells us anything, our service members and veterans are the next greatest generation of leaders.”

By sharing best practices and success stories from employers, FWI is expanding the options for the 2 million former military members expected to transition into the civilian workforce by 2016. These best practices also help support the efforts of members of the National Guard and Reserves and the families of those who have and continue to serve.

The four winners provided a host of programs and initiatives focused on helping veterans and their families including everything from mentoring programs to in-house dedicated military recruiting teams:

* Cornell’s on campus Veterans Affairs office provides private professional counseling for their employees and the local community; a website dedicated to information specifically addressing the interests of the military community; and extensive support services for military families, including maintaining a family helper list with contact information and profiles of potential helpers to help veterans and their families with family care, education and household maintenance tasks and a guide to finding, hiring, and keeping informal care providers.

“We at Cornell University are extremely proud of this recognition, as we’ve been working hard to recruit and retain veterans in our workforce,” said Lynette Chappell Williams, University Title IX Coordinator and Associate Vice President, Department of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity Cornell University, where 5 percent of hires last year were veterans. (Only 1 percent of the U.S. population serves in the military.) “We recognize the talent and leadership that veterans offer to our campus, and in turn we offer a number of programs and assistance to further the professional and educational goals of our veterans and their families.”

* JPMorgan Chase has a dedicated military recruiting team and internal military training program for hiring managers and employees; they co-founded the Institute for Veterans and Military Families with Syracuse University to conduct and publish actionable research and share best practices, facilitate and strengthen relationships between individuals and organizations committed to making a difference for the military and veteran community and make a concerted effort to use veteran owned suppliers.

“Our nation’s military, veterans and their families have made tremendous sacrifices for our nation. We owe them more than our gratitude as they transition from military to civilian life. We owe them the opportunity for successful, healthy and happy lives, which is why we have a comprehensive strategy focused on employment, homeownership and education,” said Maureen Casey, Managing Director of Military and Veterans Affairs at JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan Chase has hired more than 5,300 veterans in two years and actively recruits transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses.

The company also leads the 100,000 Jobs Mission, a coalition of private sector companies committed to hiring 100,000 veterans by 2020. In two years, the 100,000 Jobs Mission has grown from 11 companies to 101 companies that have collectively hired 64,628 veterans through the first quarter of 2013.

* Merck’s leadership team focused on leveraging the great talents veteran employees bring the table; established a veteran employee affinity group to help vets network and find mentors; and have a well-developed phase-in/transitional assistance program giving veterans employment opportunities that are compatible with the process for readjusting to civilian life.
“The Work Life Legacy Award underscores the importance of programs and policies that support veterans in their return to civilian life. Merck has a long history of supporting veterans, and we are honored to receive this recognition,” said Dottie Brienza, Chief Diversity Officer and Executive Talent Leader for Merck. Last year, 5% of the company’s total U.S. external hires were veterans.

* Verizon has a military spouse partnership to help spouses find jobs; and an Emergency Military Leave policy (EML) that provides employees on active duty with benefits for an additional year beyond the provisions of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

“We believe that recruiting military veterans is a crucial part of hiring the best talent in the industry. With their unique leadership experience, technical skills, superb training and mission-driven attitudes, our veterans are a natural fit at Verizon,” said Raymond McConville, a spokesman for Verizon. The company currently employs 12,000 veterans.

In addition to these four Honorees, eight Honorable Mention Awards went to these companies for their exemplary work in hiring and advancing members of the military community: Bon Secours, Citi, Deloitte, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Sodexo, and The Walt Disney Company.

See Families and Work Institute’s website for more details on the honoree programs and initiatives.

For more information on why hiring veterans and supporting their families is so important watch Families and Work Institute board members Admiral Michael Mullen and Deborah Mullen, a military advocate, discuss the importance of hiring veterans and supporting their families during Families and Work Institute’s Immersion Learning Experience:

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Boston Bombing: Working after tragedy

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: April 16, 2013

The bombings at the Boston Marathon has shuttered businesses in the area, and also spooked employees who work in Boston.

This from the Business Journal:

Following the horrific explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line that killed three and injured two dozen, a number of businesses in the area will remain closed.

Affected businesses include the Prudential retail mall, Copley Place and Crate & Barrel, among others. In fact, Boston police have said that businesses in the crime scene area will remain closed “for the forseeable future.”

Clearly, the City will resume business as usual soon, but in the aftermath of tragedies like this, many employers have ways of keeping operations up and running.

One example is a Boston firm with offices overlooking where a bomb went off. The company has been able to keep business going by having employees work from home.

This from a Boston Business Journal article:

“We’re not a business that relies on foot traffic,” said Ann Webster, Aquent’s president.. “Most of our work can be done at home. We choose to work in an office. We had to cancel meetings, and we might have some rotting food, but these are all minor inconveniences.”

We saw this after Hurricane Sandy, with companies using a variety of flexible work options so employees could keep working.

Here are some great examples Families and Work Institute put together following Sandy:

The expected types of workflex arrangements were prevalent, with telecommuting at the top of the list. But employers also thought outside the box offering everything from so-called “hoteling” options for employees who didn’t have power at home to bring-your-kids-to-work alternatives.

When the decision was made to close KPMG offices, people were encouraged to try to work from home. But with widespread power outages, that was impossible for many. Employees and partners were encouraged to take advantage of “hoteling,” temporarily working out of another nearby KPMG office.

During the emergency, KPMG also utilized multiple mechanisms, including email and voice mail, to keep people informed as to the status of the offices and their options for working. Updates were sent out on an almost-daily basis, and many employees expressed their appreciation for the constant stream of information they received.

At Linde North American, the first priority was safety, which was demonstrated as they took precautions on day one of the storm by limiting customer-facing facilities to essential personnel only and closing other major NJ facilities.

Additionally, due to the extent of loss of power, heat, and/or school closures, employees were permitted to bring their children to work with parent supervision. They offered a common area where children could color, watch TV, read and play their video games.

The weekend of the storm, employees without heat or power were also invited to use the office facilities. Entertainment for children was made available in the form of movies, and cartoons. They also expanded alternative work arrangements in an effort to manage the gas shortage issues, road closures, and/or child care issues with employees telecommuting where possible, compressing the work week, and departments utilizing essential personnel models where feasible.

Many companies, including General Motors, used telework as a way to ensure business continuity, and the use of alternative sites, not just working from home, was also an option. GM’s Asset Management (GMAM) and Treasurer’s Office (GMTO) offices in Mid-town Manhattan were impacted by the storm. “We asked four team members to work from a facility in Carlstadt, New Jersey,” said Jason Glass, vice president, operations at GMAM. “We reserved hotel rooms for the team near the Carlstadt office, but were told a levee broke and the streets between that office and the hotel were flooded, making travel conditions unsafe. The team remained in the facility overnight and slept where they could. Conditions improved the following day, allowing the team to travel safely home.” The work continued through the day and night to help meet announcement deadlines.

For those firms that could not just move operations to alternative locations, such as retailers, the challenge of conducting business as usual was tough.

Saks Inc. had 30 locations impacted by the storm in some form. Eleven Saks Fifth Avenue stores were closed between one and seven days, and 15 Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th stores were closed for up to five days. In addition, their primary distribution facility in Maryland and three of their corporate office locations in NYC were closed for several days.

Saks provided for flexible work arrangements allowing those impacted to work from home if needed, arranged for pay continuation during the week of the storm and adjusted open and close times for their NY Flagship Store for associates to commute. They also provided routine updated communications via their Associate Information Line and their internal communication vehicles around closings, local news, and relief efforts.

Clearly, many employers saw operations impacted, but the key to minimizing the hit to business was planning.

Nearly 10,000 PricewaterhouseCoppers’ employees were directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The storm affected over 15 of their offices, causing closures and limiting operations.

To continue operations, PwC’s National Crisis Assessment Team monitored the storm, prepared for its arrival, and communicated with their people via email and intranet throughout. They encouraged preparatory steps like:

• “Please take your laptop home with you in the event you will need to work from home on Monday or Tuesday.
• Secure all confidential information in a locked filing cabinet or with the Records Center before departing from the office.
• Plan to check your email and voicemail on Sunday evening to learn the status of the office and other guidance from the crisis teams; PwC Facebook & Twitter accounts will also post office closings.
• If you have travel plans on Monday or Tuesday, please monitor your flight status and work with your coach or event planners when considering flight changes to avoid the storm.
• Your safety is our primary concern and we would encourage you to monitor local weather reports. Please take precautions at home, and if possible, limit your travel over the weekend.”

Aside from maintaining business as usual, many of the employers in the areas impacted by Sandy did what they could to help make their employees lives a bit better during the tragic storm.

A leading premium drinks company, Diageo’s offices in Norwalk and their New York-New Jersey were affected. On the weekend after the storm, Diageo kept their offices open and their cafeteria served breakfast, lunch and dinner to employees and their families. Their gym was also open and available to employees who needed to take warm showers. There were games and TVs for the children, as well.

It’s all about looking after the well being of all employees, and in return workers end up going above and beyond for their employers. That approach can be a smart business strategy and may have been what helped many employers keep the doors open after Sandy.

Employees at GM stepped up. To help ensure pension and revolving credit facility transactions would close on time, some of the GMAM and GMTO employees chose to fight the conditions and come into Manhattan (a few after braving 30 flights of stairs with no elevator service in their buildings) to work in the office. With travel in the region severely hampered, some faced three-hour commutes or walked several miles to reach the office.

If you have examples from Boston, or other locations following tragedies, let us know.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

If Only a Big Apple a Day Kept Sick Days Away

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: March 29, 2013

New York City’s Council members struck a deal last night that could pave the way for mandated paid sick days for employees. Mayor Michael Bloomberg — the mayor who spearheaded a failed initiative to force New Yorkers to drink less soda in order to help the health of the city’s citizens — has threatened to veto the plan.

If you’re thinking, ‘hey, most people get paid sick days’, think again.

Among the U.S. workforce overall, only 59 percent of wage and salary workers have access to paid leave at all. That means about 40 percent of U.S. workers don’t get any money when they have to take time off to care for themselves or family members.

“Too often, many workers, particularly those who are struggling to make ends meet, have to choose between taking time off to care for a sick child or losing desperately needed wages,” said former U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a study on access to paid leave.

No matter which side you fall in this debate, it’s difficult to argue that paid sick says wouldn’t be beneficial for employees who don’t have such a perk, not to mention the benefits for employers when it comes to more engaged workers.

Our report titled “The State of Health in The American Workforce: Does Having an Effective Workplace Matter?” shows a relationship between providing paid sick days and better outcomes when it comes to everything from turnover to better employee health:

The “State of Health” study found some differences among employees when looking at their socio-economic level:

“Sick days have a greater positive effect on the engagement of low-wage/low-income employees—36% of these employees who receive at least five paid sick days per year are highly engaged in their jobs compared with 27% of those who do not receive paid sickdays, a statistically significant difference.”

I supposed the question may be, which is worse — no paid sick days or a Big Gulp?

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Not Strange Bedfellows: Collaboration & Telecommuting

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: March 25, 2013

You don’t always need to be face to face in order to encourage collaboration or creativity in the workplace, maintains Ellen Galinsky, co founder of Families and Work Institute, during a recent interview with the BigThink:

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Baby and Telecommuting Mom Save Pixar Movie

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: March 21, 2013

We’re hoping executives at Best Buy, Yahoo and Bank of America watch this video of a how a Pixar employee who telecommuted saved the day:

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

FWI Goes to the White House

By Eve Tahmincioglu | Published: March 19, 2013

President Obama and the First Lady hosted a Women’s History Month celebration in the East Room of the White House yesterday, and the focus was on how far women have come.

From his speech:

When I look around this room, it is hard to believe that 100 years ago this month, thousands of women were marching right outside this house demanding one of our most fundamental right:  the right to vote, to have a say in our democracy.  And today, a century later, its rooms are full of accomplished women who have overcome discrimination, shattered glass ceilings, and become outstanding role models for all of our sons and daughters. And that means we’ve come a long way, and that’s thanks to the efforts of so many people like you.

Women from all walks of life were in attendance, including Lilly Ledbetter, astronaut Sunita Williams, and introducing Obama was Amanda McMillan, who recently won a gender discrimination suit against a Mississippi company. On a lighter note, there were also some star sightings, including Blythe Danner, Marlo Thomas, and model Christy Turlington.

Ellen Galinsky, co founder of Families and Work Institute, was invited to the event and I was lucky enough to be able to tag along. (The dude behind us was already there.)

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Women's History Month, Women/Mothers | Leave a comment

Are Women the Only Imposters?

By Kenneth Matos | Published: March 18, 2013

On the Diane Rehm Show, Sheryl Sandberg discussed the concept of imposter syndrome:

Sandberg said:

The imposter syndrome is when we feel like frauds. We don’t feel we’ve earned our success. We’ll do well on a test and we got lucky. Or we did something well and it’s because someone helped us.

Men and women feel the imposter syndrome, but women feel it more and it holds us back.

People with imposter syndrome either work twice as hard to prove they belong or withdraw and downplay their skills lest their inadequacies be discovered. Sandberg believe women are more likely to experience imposter syndrome than men, questioning their ability to work and lead, especially while caring for a family. She posits that this is part of the reason why women “lean out” of the workforce and don’t advance to leadership positions.

Her comments strongly imply that imposter syndrome is a woman’s issue.

That isn’t quite accurate. Imposter syndrome is a diversity issue. Any person can experience imposter syndrome whenever they are in a position for which they have been led to be believe they are inherently unqualified, even if they meet the actual qualifications for the position.

This is usually because of some demographic quality like race, gender, sexual orientation, education, or income level that is stereotypically associated with a lack of qualifications.

Contrary to Sandberg’s comments, while researchers originally thought imposter syndrome was more common among women, research from as far back as the 1980’s has shown that men and women experience the phenomenon at comparable rates and gender is not a factor.

That means men can experience it as well as women. In addition, imposter syndrome isn’t conceptually restricted to the workplace. It should be possible to experience imposter syndrome in other settings where one is afraid of having their perceived inadequacies exposed. Could some of men’s absence from the home sphere be a manifestation of imposter syndrome?

As noted in an article in AdWeek, fathers are often portrayed as incompetent when it comes to their children and a report by “PR firm Edelman and The Parenting Group, publisher of Parenting and Babytalk, found that 66 percent of fathers think there is an “anti-dad societal bias.” Among dads with children under the age of 2, that number spikes to 82 percent.”

The incompetent father meme on T.V. commercials is an example of the signals that tell men they should get out of the house and leave it to the real parents… women. A message that is both insulting to men and burdensome to women who have to do double duty when the men lean out of the home.

So how do we deal with imposter syndrome and leaning out? The traditional business solution was to make room at the table and pull in diverse employees… who promptly left. As the diversity field has noted, dealing with underrepresentation is about more than just hiring, it is also about inclusion, making people feel welcome and able to bring their whole-self to the table.

For leaders looking to include more women at the business table it may be valuable to take a moment and imagine leaning out. Reflecting on their own and employees’ fears may help them understand why someone at their organization would withhold their best, most productive self. Then leaders can better communicate about those fears and implement programs and policies like workplace flexibility, mentoring, or simply enhanced communication and recognition that make those fears less intense and encourage women and other so-called imposters to take a chance at success.

On the other hand, a society looking to include more men at the kitchen table may want to examine the images of fatherhood portrayed in media and the way we discuss men as members of families.

For example, the Pew Research Center study released last week and mentioned by Sandberg during her interview asked about what work arrangements for mothers (full-time/part-time/no work) was best for children. No equivalent question was asked about fathers, as though the only variable worth considering in terms of child outcomes was motherhood, yet we wonder why men tend to invest more in employment than at home. As noted in a Wall Street Journal article this past January many fathers are pushing against these low expectations and building their own communities, similar to the lean in circles that Sandberg seeks to create for women in business.

The task of inclusion and overcoming imposter syndrome is bigger than just adding a chair to the business or the kitchen table; we need to set up systems of work and discourse that help every talented person believe that they belong in those seats.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment