Join a community of people who care about making work and life fit together. Learn how you, your employees, managers, and business can benefit from the custom-fit workplace. Sign-up and we'll send you updates about news, resources, articles, blogs, and events.

mom

Working Moms Just Blamed (Again)!?

Submitted by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner on Thu, 2013-06-06 04:00

Deep breath. Count to 10. Can’t. Believe. He. Really. Said. That.

Yesterday at a Washington Post event, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (R) said that America is so “mediocre” in educational outcomes because “mom is in the workplace.”

… oh REALLY?!

There is steam coming out of the ears of moms across America.

Governor Bryant deserves a Hall of Shame trophy for blaming moms (moms!) for the failure of our nation’s leaders to step up. But before that Hall of Shame of shame is built, the moms of America need an apology from him.

The problem in our nation isn’t that moms are working, it’s that our nation isn’t working for moms.

And Governor Bryant isn’t insulting a small number of people here: Most women (over 80 percent!) become moms at some point in their lives.

Celebrating Mother’s Day, Networked Moms & Powerful Writing

Submitted by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner on Thu, 2012-05-10 04:00

This Mother’s Day we’re celebrating the fact that moms are now networked and engaged in ways unimaginable just a decade ago. More than 36 million women are now active in the blogosphere, either publishing or reading blogs. And, by the end of this year, more than 90 percent of moms with kids under age eighteen in our nation are expected to be online.

We are powerfully, substantially, fully “Networked Moms.”

Increased Internet access, coupled with new communication technologies–like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and even emails– allows women to reach dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions of other women at one time with a quick press of a button. It’s an unbelievably fast moving tool that significantly accelerates communication, education, organizing, and impact.

Workplace Culture Wins Every Time

Submitted by Kristin Maschka on Tue, 2011-09-27 04:00

Last week reading a few new articles on worklife fit, brought to mind a mantra I have about organizational change.

In the battle between well-intentioned policies and the unwritten rules of any workplace, unwritten rules win every time.

From the Sloan Center on Aging and Work came this Fact of the Week, Few Employers Provide Training on Workplace Flexibility. Specifically only 21% of employers train managers, and only 17% train workers.

In the Wall Street Journal, Penalized for Balancing Work and Family highlighted a new study showing once again that even in companies that offer worklife fit programs and policies, employees don’t feel comfortable using them. Why? The workplace culture – the unwritten rules – discourage it.