Having a good balance between career and childcare means also that no parent has to make the choice. Women and men are facing different challenges within this topic. Today, we are interviewing Monika Keller, a Project Leader, Instructor, independent Trainer / Coach that found for herself the perfect balance.
Familizy: Monika, is it easier today for the parents to find a good balance between career and childcare?
If your understanding of career is to be 10 – 12 hours in the office onsite and you do not have home office, flexible working hours etc., it is indeed going to be difficult to equally share the childcare, so that both partners can do the next career step. Many women are not willing to leave the childcare in the responsibility of a nanny or to send their kids later to a boarding school, even tough that would be a solution for the men. Many (male) coachees prefer not to have kids, unless the woman is not taking over a major part of childcare. That is one of the reasons why women have to choose between childcare or career more often than men (based on the Global Gender Gap Report of WEF, it will take around 130 years to close the gender gap).
In the last couple of years, more men and especially fathers are working part-time, so they can have a better work-life-balance and more daddy-time. For many women, this can be the game-changer to progress in their career.
What are the benefits for the companies supporting their employees to have a better work-life-balance?
Companies are making a clear statement that they are taking corporate social responsibility seriously. It can be used also for internal marketing and communication. The statement could contain messages that they are taking care of the employees’ health, their different needs, job-sharing is always an option, their family situation, and they care and appreciate their workers. For those employers, it will be also easier to find and get new talents.
How did your clients (couples, parents), who were facing the difficulties “career or childcare”, approach it?
They made the decision to be equal partners, to share the childcare fairly and according to the flexibility of their jobs. You will find a few examples in my blog.
Many fathers are having personal difficulties to work part-time, since it also means to have a salary cut. To give the family as an employer more financial and planning security, it is recommended to talk about home office or flexible working hours.