Jani’s Journal Issue 21: Moms Gets Sh*t Done!
5/14/2024
Moms in the Workplace
Mid way through our executive MBA’s year-long business planning group project, one of my 2 male group mates commented how much progress we had made with none of the pain typically involved in group projects. All 5 women (experienced working moms) in the group looked at each other unsurprised, one of us saying what we were all thinking, “Well, yeah…because moms get sh*t done!”
On May 12, many of us celebrated Mother’s Day. This special Mother’s Day edition of Jani’s Journal touts the contributions of working moms as leaders in the workplace regardless of title or position, as well as how organizations can better support women through the challenges working moms face to better leverage their talents. With their higher than average percentage of women in their workforce and leadership roles, nonprofit organizations are perfectly positioned to benefit from the working moms they employ. But first, they must create environments where they can thrive.
A special note to those who experience Mother’s Day as a difficult day: I see you and wish you comfort during this time of year. There are leadership lessons we can all learn from working moms, so I hope this edition is still helpful for you, too.
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🔗 The Marshall Plan for Moms 🔗
The Marshall Plan for Moms, created by Moms F1rst, emphasizes the dire need for systemic change to create a more supportive workplace for mothers in the post-pandemic era. The plan highlights important issues for working moms such as low workforce participation, systemic failures around paid family leave and affordable childcare, workplace policies around flexibility, and cultural shifts in how we perceive and value moms’ labor. Their Bill of Rights for Working Moms is a great blueprint for organizations to increase their engagement of this talent pool. With their higher-than-average female workforce, nonprofits especially should take note and develop initiatives to address the following focus areas outlined in the Bill of Rights:
Every mom should have maximum control over her schedule.
Every mom deserves support for childcare.
Every mom deserves workplace policies that promote gender equality at home.
Every mom deserves paid time off and an employer who supports her mental health and well-being.
Every mom should have fair pay and a living wage.
Every mom should be free from facing a motherhood penalty at work.
Every mom deserves adequate time to recover from childbirth and bond with her babies.
Every mom should have on-ramps back into the workforce.
Every mom should get time off to care for herself or her loved ones when they are sick.
Every mom deserves an employer that advocates for them publicly.
Strategies to Attract & Engage Working Moms
🔗 What We Do and Don't Know About the Effects of Remote Work 🔗
An organization’s support for working moms often involves remote work and flexible scheduling to help them balance their caregiving and professional roles. With the exponential increase in remote work since 2020, we are now learning more about potential ripple effects of remote work. This New York Times article highlights the impact of remote work on working moms. Research shows a positive correlation between remote work and increased employment rates for mothers in fields like computer science and marketing. However, women, particularly mothers, face career advancement penalties and are often perceived as less productive when working remotely. Studies indicate women are less comfortable seeking feedback and are more likely to be suspected of shirking work compared to their male counterparts when working remotely.
🔗 Invigorate Your Workforce: Why Returnships Benefit both Companies and Workers 🔗
Returnships are an emerging strategy addressing #8 in the Marshall Plan for Mom’s Bill of Rights. The Mom Project works closely with companies to implement innovative returnship programs and describes the basics in this article. Highlights to attract returnship candidates who have higher retention, organizational productivity, and contributions to corporate culture include:
One-on-one technical mentoring
Development workshops
Customized onboarding curriculum
Leadership engagements
Meaningful, impactful work
A supported network community
🔗 Managing Your Team’s Childcare Crisis 🔗
MIT Sloan’s Management Review hosts several experts in the caregiving space on this webinar that discusses #2 in the Marshall Plan for Mom’s Bill of Rights. The team of experts discuss “the challenges facing working parents and opportunities for employers to better support their workers, recasting childcare as essential infrastructure.” From on-site childcare to caregiving location services for children, aging parents, and sick spouses, there are lots of ways organizations can create benefits supporting working mothers and the research demonstrates it’s worth the investment to attract and retain talented moms.
🔗 Companies Need Working Moms. This is What Working Moms Need. 🔗
In her FastCompany article, Patrice Meagher emphasizes the necessity for employers to provide comprehensive support for working mothers throughout their parenthood journey to improve retention. Key strategies include:
Enable the Full Journey to Parenthood: Offer comprehensive fertility benefits, including supplemental insurance plans, health reimbursement accounts, and stipends for treatments like egg freezing.
Paid Parental Leave: Implement generous, gender-neutral parental leave policies beyond federal or state minimums to support both parents equally.
Return to Work Plans: Provide flexible hours, return-to-work programs, and daycare stipends to help parents transition back to full-time work.
Wellness Rooms: Upgrade facilities with comfortable seating, milk storage, and efficient, single-use pumps to support breastfeeding parents.
🔗 Working While Managing Your Child’s Mental Health 🔗
I’ve often described working motherhood as navigating the work-life seesaw; work-life balance for a working mom only exists in the aggregate of the ups and downs. That’s almost impossible to remember when your child is struggling with their mental health and that’s all you can think about. This Harvard Business Review Podcast in their Women at Work Series has some great insights into how moms, managers, and leaders can make work more manageable amid a child’s mental health challenges by offering flexibility, understanding, and paid leave to find and connect to mental health professionals.
Know a colleague or friend that would like at least one of the articles in this edition of Jani’s Journal? Sharing IS Caring!