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Why Hiring Working Mothers Benefits Your Business by @CorpNetNellie

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by Nellie Akalp

Being a working mom myself, I understand the highs and lows of trying to balance a career and a family. I have four children and own a business with my husband, so I know how hard it is to do your best at work and do your best at home and still have time left over for a little “me” time. I also know the rewards I get being able to have both family and work in my life and how being a mom actually benefits my business, so I have no problem offering the same opportunity to other working moms. Here’s why hiring mothers benefits your business:

Moms are Motivated

If a mom is applying for a position in your company, you can infer a few possible scenarios: 

  1. She is passionate about your company and/or her field of work.
  2. She wants to be part of a team.
  3. She prefers working to being a stay-at-home mom or is ready to go back to work after her stay-at-home phase has ended.
  4. She needs or wants the salary.
  5. She needs or wants the benefits.

It could be something completely different, but if she’s applying to work for your company you know she’s ready to add more to her plate—which brings me to my next point. 

Moms are Organized Multitaskers

Raising children is a challenge on its own. Add a job into the mix and you have a potential superwoman coming to work for you. Kids’ schedules vary, from school drop off and pickup to sports practices to homework help, not to mention household duties such as cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc. To get it all done, any mom—whether she works outside the home or not—has to be an efficient, well-organized master of multitasking. You can feel confident a mom can handle anything you throw at her.

Moms Have “Mom Brain”

Mom brain is real and according to a scientific study reported by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, that’s good news for your business. The study found pregnant women experience a loss of gray matter in the brain which causes the brain to become “more efficient and refined, in a process associated with healthy cognitive and emotional development.” In other words, a mother’s brain is especially adept at figuring out what other people need and feel. That makes moms a great fit for positions in sales, customer service, management or any role that requires people skills. 

What Working Moms Want

In case you’re worried about time restraints of hiring a working mom, you need to remember she will be concerned as well. More than anything else, the biggest benefit you can offer to a working mom employee is flex time. Flex time could mean flexible hours or flexible work environments (meaning the ability to work from home). Every working mother needs to balance caregiving and work responsibilities. Giving a mom some flexibility shows you trust her to get her work done—even if it’s on a different schedule than the standard 9-to-5. 

If the job has set deadlines or schedules that change, give working moms as much notice as you can so they can adjust accordingly. Does your company have childcare on site? If you don’t there are still ways you can ensure a working mother gets the help she needs. You can offer flex spending accounts for child care expenses, later start times for moms who need to make school drop offs, or early outs for school pickup. If you have other working moms on your staff, you can put together a list of other helpful resources in the area such as after-school daycare facilities.

Interviewing Mothers

Interviews are a two-way street. You want to know if being a mother will hamper the employee in doing their job; the potential employee wants to know if you’re running a family-friendly company. She may ask you about your company culture or how people get promoted. 

On your end, you are limited by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) laws on what you can and can’t ask during a job interview. This prohibits asking job candidates about their marital status, if they’re pregnant or plan to get pregnant, or how many children they have. Stay away from any questions about childcare or spouses, too. Instead, you can ask if the candidate has any time limitations (for example, “Would you be able to work weekends?”), whether she would be able to travel for work on short notice, and other questions that are relevant to the job duties.  

Most likely the job applicant will offer information about her family during the interview. You might even find out she’s looking forward to spending time in an office or the opportunity to travel for work. Most working moms I know (myself included) treasure any kid-free hours spent away from home. 

By making an effort to hire moms and make them happy working at your business, you’ll earn their gratitude and loyalty. Working mothers are motivated to succeed in everything they do, including making your company the best it can be.

3 Easy Steps to Getting Our Work Done When Our Kids Are Home for the Summer by @ChristyCareer

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by Christy Williams | Featured Contributor

Whether you are starting your business from scratch, working from home as a freelancer, or have a traditional, full-time job outside the home, there is one thing we all have in common – when the kids are home from school for the summer, we suddenly have much more on our plate to manage.

I have a dear friend who is an Executive Director of Meetings and Events for a national organization and she is one of the hardest working people I know. Not one of the hardest working moms – one of the hardest working people. We often comment to each other that we don’t know how the other one does it. And we always say it with love and affection.

Because while I can’t imagine juggling all we have to juggle as working moms from an office every day, she can’t imagine having to shift her focus between work and kids all day, every day, like I do since I work from home. But when it comes to summer, we are both in the same boat. We suddenly have twice as many people and seemingly an exponential number of activities to manage every day — while still getting our jobs done. And we each have our own way of doing it.

I will preface this by saying this much: We are both at the age where our children are old enough to stay home alone and believe me – that makes a world of difference. Gone are the days of finding back-up daycare or a shared nanny for the summer. Our oldest children are teenagers now (thank goodness and Lord help me), so even if our younger kids aren’t quite old enough to stay home for longer stretches of time, we do have coverage with built-in babysitters.

That said, we both commented last night that we should count the ridiculous number of texts that have already happened between all four parents in our families about who is taking which kids where for early morning swim practice, late morning swim practice, baseball, dance, and evening swim practice. It’s mind-boggling, the amount of coordination that has to happen for two neighboring families with a total of four children while there is an overlap in spring activities ending and summer activities beginning. And that doesn’t even include the social activities that happen in between sports.

Now, I’ve seen the cutesy Pinterest lists for parents to use this summer, in hopes that their kids will get things accomplished before complaining that they are bored or begging to be taken somewhere to meet up with friends. And they are, indeed, super cute. But I am no Pinterest mom.

And I think we can make it even easier.

Here are my three easy steps to getting your work done while your kids are home for the summer:

1. Make a list

By list, I mean one for your kids — not for you. And I don’t mean one of those beautiful, Pinterest-worthy ones that include reading an entire summer reading book for school, cleaning the house, and mowing a neighbor’s lawn every day before they get to do anything else. I mean a nice, simple summer To Do List that any parent can stand behind, even though all children in the house will still grumble and moan about it.

Perhaps one day, you include making their bed, reading a chapter of a book, and taking the dog for a walk. But the next day, it’s empty the dishwasher, do 15 minutes on a math app, and take a shower. (My kids are on summer swim team, so showers become less than a daily habit — and I’m okay with that.)

The secret is to keep it simple. Don’t overwhelm them – and don’t overwhelm yourself with all there is to do every day. Just pick a few things. Also, save the really horrible chores – scooping dog poop and cleaning toilets — for when they are acting especially whiny and bored.

2. Declare this their Summer of Self-Sufficiency!

Again, because my children are 10 and 15, this might work better for me than families with younger children, but maybe not! I swear on my life that if my 10-year-old son can watch a YouTube video while playing a video game and talking to his friends who are also playing the same video game, then he can most certainly make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Even if he “can’t spread the peanut butter as smoothly” as I do. Welcome to the real world, son. Some people are going to spread the peanut butter more smoothly than others. And that’s okay! It’s time to do it yourself. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even come to the realization that crusts don’t taste that bad after all! Or at least not bad enough to have to cut them off every time.

3. If you work from home, get a door with a lock on it.

This was my situation a few summers ago. I had a desk and a workspace that I loved, but it was in an open area of the house. I loved it when everyone else was at school and work all day during the week. But when they all came home – it didn’t work at all.

So I bought an emergency desk. Assembled it myself while they were all gone one evening, and put it in the bay window of my bedroom, overlooking the mountains.

My bedroom with a door.

And a lock.

A lock that works like a charm.

 

Photo credit: energepic.com from Pexels

Why you can (and can’t) have it all by @alleecreative

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Mother's Day 2014. For me, a reminder of what it's all for.

Mother’s Day 2014. For me, a reminder of what it’s all for.

by Melissa Harrison | Featured Contributor

I’ve been stressed out. It’s the good and the bad that is causing the stress–business is great, we’re in the midst of building a new home, all four of our kids have various activities and end-of-the-school-year celebrations, I’m trying hard to stay fit and healthy (that part isn’t working so well)–it’s nuts. I’ve always been pulled in 68 directions at once, but for whatever reason, this year is the worst.

And while it might not be a revelation of much magnitude, I’ve realized during the past year (and hugely during the past 3 months) that I cannot have it all. At least not all at once. I’m pretty sure Oprah said that same thing.

I didn’t believe her when I heard it.

When I set out to write this post, I thought it would be easy to break things out by category (my Type A personality is really apparent, isn’t it?). However, that added to my stress (it’s Friday…by the end of the week anything will stress me out). So instead of writing about each “hat” we could potentially wear (I think I counted at least 12 last time I truly thought about it) and how to be OK with letting go of those once in awhile, here’s my take on coming to terms with having it all in moderation and being OK with letting things go.

When I know it’s not working

The biggest consumers of my time are my family and my business. There is literally one day in the next 90 days that does not have something on the calendar. I feel guilty about not being able to plan things spur-of-the-moment because of all the things already scheduled.

This is a huge red flag that something isn’t working.

So, while I can’t un-schedule many of the things already on my calendar, I can stop being the “yes” girl and be firmer with my “no”s. It’s hard, but it’s oh-so-important. When I think about the days that are less stressful than others, they are the ones where I don’t check email every 2 seconds and where I fully engage with my kids. It’s not working if we can’t unglue ourselves from technology and constantly feel a state of impending doom if we don’t have our screens on all the time.

As business owners and entrepreneurs, part of the reason we built our companies was to have flexibility and enjoy our lives they way we wanted to live them, right? And while it’s hard to take a break, we all know something has to give the moment we start stressing ourselves out.

Letting go

I work 50+ hours each week and while I love what I do and I’ve built a wonderful company, I still get stressed out. But I have to work to support my family; and so the cycle begins. What good is a great business and wonderful kids if I can’t be around to enjoy it all? The cycle keeps going: My health. Either I’m “on it” or I’m not. It’s very difficult for me to eat healthy during uber-busy weeks. Even though I might get my workouts in (by default, really, since I moonlight as a group exercise instructor in the evenings) it doesn’t mean I’m feeling good about things. So what gives?

Pick something.

This is the hardest part for me because really, who doesn’t want to be great at everything? But you know what, it’s really OK to let go (I’ll remind myself to re-read this sentence next week when I’m stressed out). So I try to be OK with letting things go. It’s insanely difficult for me to do that, but when I do, I’m so much happier. I encourage others to do the same. It’s important for us to take care of ourselves and sometimes, that means cutting down the load of responsibilities and just enjoying life.

What it’s all for

And really, that’s what it’s all about. Whether you have kids or not, we all have special people in our lives that, if we had all the time in the world to hang out with, we would. Think about it: If money wasn’t a factor, what would you be doing right now? It’s easy to tell others to “live like there’s no tomorrow” but it’s harder to act on that philosophy. Give yourself room to go there; understand that many of the pressures we put on ourselves as women, as business owners, as mothers, as friends, as daughters–they can be self-inflicted.

You are great. We all are great. And if you feel like you can’t do it all, that’s OK. Because prioritizing and choosing the things that make you happy IS having it all.

————————————————————————————-

Melissa Harrison – Marketing and Small Business Executive from Allee Creative, Twin Cities, MN

MelissaMelissa Harrison , CEO and founder of Allee Creative, LLC , has more than 13 years of experience in content management, marketing strategy and branding, working with small to mid-sized businesses to build strategic online content and traditional marketing strategies.

Listed as one of the “Top 36 Content Marketers Who Rock” by TopRank and Content Marketing Institute, Melissa believes that businesses must adapt to what customers want, which includes using social media and creative online content to provide relevant, consistent information, in order to survive. It is no longer business as usual and only the companies that strive to embrace change will remain relevant.

Melissa is also a four-time recipient of the Hermes Creative Award and a national speaker on the topics of branding, content marketing, marketing strategy and social media. Melissa is also certified by Google Analytics Academy in Digital Analytics Fundamentals.

In addition to her professional life, Melissa is a mother of four, a certified fitness instructor an avid reader. If you look up “insane multi-tasker” in the dictionary you’ll most definitely find her picture. Melissa is forever pushing the envelope, starting her company when she was pregnant with her second child at the young age of 27 years old. Named a “Mover & Shaker” by the Star Tribune, she’s fought with the “big boys” for her spot at the table and continues to challenge herself each day.

For more information and to connect with Melissa, give her a shout on Twitter, LinkedIn;  or check out the Allee Facebook page.

Returning To Work After Baby [Infographic]

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The editors at Human Resources MBA Degree Guide decided to research the topic of:

Work After Baby

The editors at Human Resources MBA Degree Guide decided to research the topic of:

Work After Baby

62% of American women are employed after childbirth

– 65.9% of women report working through their pregnancy
– 70.6% take maternity leave
– 29.4% of women do not take any maternity leave at all.

Employers are not required to pay women on maternity leave

– This is 100% up to the employer and not mandated by the US government
– 33.1% do not have any portion of their leave paid
– only 24.9% report being paid for 2+ months

The US is one of three countries that does not offer paid maternity leave benefits.

– The other two countries are Papua New Guinea and Swaziland paid/compensated leave:
– Pakistan- up to 12 weeks
– France- up to 16 weeks
– Norway- up to 44 weeks
– Canada- up to 50 weeks
– US- 0 weeks

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, American mothers are offered 12 weeks of unpaid leave and only for companies with over 50 employees.

– 11% of private sector workers and
– 17% of public workers reported that they had access to paid maternity
– 42% of the population is not eligible for leave under FMLA
– http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/?mobile=nc

A 2011 study published by the Journal of Family Psychology looked at 1300 mothers in the US. Of the working moms

– fewer reported symptoms of depression
– working moms were more likely to rate their overall health “excellent”
– working mothers also reported being just as involved in their child’s schooling and development

Many stay-at-home moms who have left the workplace to care for their child report feeling

– trapped
– guilty or selfish for wanting to get back to work
– not cut out for motherhood
– resentment for spouse and/or baby for “taking their work from them”
– “I blamed myself for not instantly loving all the parts of motherhood.” -New stay-at-home mom after her first childThe choice for mothers to work or not should be up to the individual.

Onsite daycares
– Works like any other daycare, but on the office’s campus. During breaks, parents may come down and spend time with their children
– improves employee morale
– lowers absenteeism
– decreases turnover
– improves productivity and focus for parents, knowing their children are closeby
– women who take shorter maternity leaves can still breastfeed their babiesMore than 80 companies across the US now allow babies in their offices.

The T3 advertising firm in Austin actually allows new moms and dads to bring their babies to work.

– 50 babies have spent their infancy beside mom or dad in the office in 2008
– new parents are offered private offices
– allowed to bring them every day until the child is mobileThe number of companies allowing babies in the office has jumped from 22% to 29% between 2006 and 2009
– http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2008-03-30-babies-at-work_N.htm

However, many people are skeptical for obvious reasons

– for parents who just want to spend time with their baby rather than work
– for coworkers who would do the same
– and especially coworkers who are unhappy because of a gurgling baby in the background
– meetings and business trips can be compromised
– some people have no heart and don’t like babies

END FLOW

– http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/?mobile=nc
– http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2008-03-30-babies-at-work_N.htm
– http://www.workingmother.com/best-companies/patagonia
– http://smallbusiness.chron.com/day-care-workplace-11095.html
– http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/week-11/back-to-work-questions.aspx
– http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/why-go-back-to-work-after_b_3259258.html

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