Women Finding Balance Between Work And Home
Who says women can't have it both ways?
First, our feminist foremothers elbowed their way into the
workforce, insisting that women had the right to work
outside the home. Now feminists are declaring the right to
have a life outside of work.
The trick is to find balance. Without it, women can either run themselves ragged at work and have little left for home, or stretch themselves too thin at home and have little left for work. "Work-life balance is critical for women in terms of their health and well-being," said Marcie Brooke, director of the Working Family Resource Center (WFRC), a business education partnership with St. Paul Public Schools. WFRC contracts with more than 100 local companies to promote work-life skills by offering classes at various work sites.
"Women have been programmed by society and nature to
be nurturing, caretaking and responsible," Brooke
continued. "We do a lot of dovetailing and multi-tasking.
We do so many things and take care of so many issues, and
we don't complain about it. We make it look easy. One
thing that's happened to us is that over time, with the
high-stress demands of the world, we sell ourselves short.
(Work-life balance) is not about whether we can do it all,
it's about what we are choosing to do."
They will also look for that balance elsewhere, Cushman
cautioned. "With a 2 percent unemployment rate in the Twin
Cities, companies have to recruit their employees every
day. They must offer challenging work, good pay and the
flexibility people need to find that balanced life."
Some businesses, especially larger ones, offer employees a
host of work-life benefits. At St. Paul Companies, named
one of the top 100 employers in the country by Working
Mother magazine for the past nine years, those benefits
include: on-site child care and exercise equipment, paid
parental leave for birth and adoptive parents, tuition
reimbursement, time off for community service, a lactation
program for nursing mothers and a flex time plan that pools
days off for vacation, illness and holidays so that employees
can take time off for whatever they need to.
Not every company has the resources to offer such
benefits, however. Nor do they need to, said Kathy
Honerman, program coordinator at WFRC. "It's more
about feeling valued at what we do and who we are,"
Honerman said. "Any (employer) can be a nice person."
That's the example followed by Reell Precision
Manufacturing in Vadnais Heights, Minn., whose mission is to
provide employees with opportunities to grow, develop and
reach their full potential while earning a livelihood.
"When people come to work here, they are whole people,"
said Jim Grubs, director of co-worker services. "They have
lives here and outside of here, and we need to take that into
consideration. ... If we treat people as individuals and
regard their dignity, then they really respond."
And who better to define that delicate work-life balance
than women? Throughout the ages women have played the
part of master juggler. They care for children, partners,
aging parents and their own selves. They oversee household
budgets, go grocery shopping, scrub toilet bowls and most
likely do windows, too.
Women deserve to have work-life balance. The Minnesota
Women's Press has these recommendations for employers
on how to provide it.
More important than any programmatic benefit is an
inherent ethic of work-life balance in the workplace. No
matter how progressive a company might be, it is
impossible to develop policies that are broad enough to
anticipate all of their employees' needs. But if the company's
mission, policies and interactions with employees personify
value and respect, companies will create a culture of
balance that is more accommodating than any benefits
package. Said Cushman, "There is one thing above all
others women need, and that is respect as human beings. If
you respect women as whole people, treat them fairly and
do what is right, that translates. It guides the way
(companies) treat them on a day-to-day basis. ... Anything
that undermines the success of employees, anything that
inadvertently sabotages their effortsall the programs in the
world can't make up for that."
Despite the fact that many companies haven't figured it out,
this one really is a no-brainer. If you want women to excel,
pay them as you would pay any man in that same position.
Today women earn an average of 73 cents for every dollar
men earn. And employers wonder why women don't feel
valued.
While companies are at it, they might as well make that
wage a living one. Colleen Van Heel, president of the Twin
Cities chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women,
figures that comes to about $13 an hour these days, given
housing, child care and other costs.
"Nowadays, with so many women supporting families by
themselves, anything less just can't go on," Van Heel
maintained. She said that equal pay for equal work and
minimum-wage increases rank high on the agendas of union
women today, just as they did years ago. "I don't think
workplaces have come to grips yet with the amount of
women in the workforce," Van Heel said.
Well, here we are. Deal with it.
Medical and dental insurance is a must. Women should
have the option to insure not only themselves through their
employers, but also their domestic partners and children.
Coverage for prescriptions like birth control and other
reproductive health-care costs should be included in all
plans, whether you work for the Vatican or Planned
Parenthood.
And it's time to up the ante on those
preventative dental plans. The only thing worse than getting
a cavity filled is paying for all of it, too. Our mouths are just
as much a part of our bodies as the rest of us, and should
be treated accordingly.
We don't care what you call it: 401(k), 403(b) or IRA. Offer
women some sort of retirement plan with matching funds
provided by the company. Doing so allows women to plan
for their own economic future and security.
What better way to recognize women as whole human
beings than to support them as they take care of all those
other parts? It's not enough to earn .6 paid sick days every
month. In addition to their physical health, women need to
care for their mental health. Using personal days allows
women to do this without lying. All new parents, male and
female, need paid leave, just as they need time off to care
for children when they are sick. Staying home with sick kids
is generally punishment enough without docking paychecks,
too.
The bottom line here is that as long as women are getting
their work done, they should be able to do it with a fair
amount of flexibility. Maybe they work four long days a
week. Maybe they skip lunch. Maybe they work from
home, or share their jobs with someone else who wants to
work part-time. If expectations are handed out with the
freedom to make choices within those expectations, the
bottom line often becomes the bare minimum of what
women can do.
The glass ceiling will quickly become a concrete one if
women are not given opportunities to advance. One way
companies can support women's climb up the elusive ladder
is to offer funding for professional development, including
tuition reimbursement to those who pursue education as a
way to gain more knowledge and skills. Whether it's a
computer course, a stress management seminar or a
business degree, the insight women gain will have a direct
and positive effect on their job performance. If the company
will gain from this education, then the company should help
pay for it.
Certainly, most women would relish the availability of
on-site child-care centers. But there are other creative ways
companies can meet child-care needs. Some purchase slots
at nearby centers and offer them to employees. Others
provide vouchers women can use to pay for child-care
services, or allow for payroll deductions. Companies can
also subscribe to Internet databases that connect families to
child-care centers near their homes and work.
The research
women must do to locate quality child care is
time-consuming, Cushman explained, and most of those
phone calls must be done during daytime working hours.
"The more quickly companies can help people answer their
questions, we are saving them time and are therefore saving
the company time."
Mothers need comfortable, private places where they can
either nurse their children or use a breast pump to express
milk if their children are not with them. Doing so while
perched on a bathroom counter is not ideal. If mothers are
to work outside the home as well as in it, then we need to
equip those workplaces to meet the unique needs of
mothers.
Dress codes are as irritating as say, nylons. Enough said.
Respond to this story at thaney@womenspress.com.
1. Ethic Of Work-Life Balance
2. Equal Pay For Equal Work
3. Health Benefits
4. Retirement Benefits
5. Paid Family Leave
6. Schedule Flexibility
7. Professional development money
8. Child-Care Support
9. Lactation/Nursing Room
10. Fashion Freedom
? 2000 Minnesota Women's Press, Inc.
Minnesota Women's Press, Inc., is an independent, woman-owned and operated business.
