How to discuss work-life balance with your employer
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - COVID is rough for working parents. Navigating homeschooling, working from home, possibly furlough or unemployment, worrying about providing for your family, staying safe - we’re STRESSED! And unfortunately, things probably won’t go back to normal for a while, if ever. We’ve given you some tools on how to chat with your partner and how to get creative with childcare resources, so now it’s time to talk to your boss.
In today’s article, we’re addressing how to talk to work about this fall semester. Chances are, you’ve had to change how you work since lockdown first happened and have had to forcibly adapt to a new way of interacting with your colleagues and even your family. A member of our community, Dola, worked every morning from 2-6am. But now that we know this isn’t temporary, it’s time to discuss what work will look like for you during this new school year with your boss and with your team.
Set expectations
Be up-front with your manager and proactively suggest a schedule that works best for your family. Can you commit to the same three hours every day where you can be available for meetings? Set that in stone now, and acknowledge that you will get your additional work done outside of those hours; you may just not be on the same schedule as everyone else.
Contextualizing the current situation and reaffirming your commitment to your job and company are key when you have this conversation, says Muse’s career coach Melody Godfred. It really is important to adapt and head with the mindset that we really, truly are in this together. It's not just a slogan anymore!
Be open with your team. Telling attendees at the beginning of a Zoom call that you may need to help your child connect to their remote learning program, or that your toddler hasn’t yet gone down for their nap, will make any interruptions less jarring for others. Nothing like communicating and being transparent - even vulnerable because we’re all vulnerable and opening or spearheading a conversation around feeling vulnerable with your team could break the ice and help all of you take conversations to a more empowered level.
If you are going to be working “abnormal” hours moving forward, include them in your email signature so that your colleagues and clients know the best times to reach you.
Talk to your employer about childcare
With many childcare providers unable to open in the pandemic, many parents are struggling to find help for their children. If you’ve been working from home, chances are your employer may be a bit more lenient with your schedule. If you’re an essential worker, however, or unable to work from home, a flexible schedule may be harder to work out. Some employers are now offering back-up childcare options as employee benefits in case your plan for the day falls through at the last minute.
As a way to cut down on the costs of childcare, ask your employer about DCFSA accounts and other tax-credit programs that may be available to you through your benefits package.
Know your time off
There may be times when you simply need to take a break that you otherwise might not have needed. We’re all facing an unknown future, and with that, significant added pressure. This makes it harder to plan, especially with many schools operating on hybrid models or facing the possibility of working remotely at a moment’s notice.
Many companies, such as IBM, are offering their employees emergency paid leave that can be used on an hourly basis or for up to a month at a time. Besides citing them as an example, talk to your boss about what your options are and what changes your company is making to help accommodate parents.
If worse comes to worse, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) offers American families 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year, during which all of your employee benefits must be maintained.
Leverage some stats
While making the case for why your employer should be more lenient or understanding to individual cases, use some numbers. A recent survey by PwC found that 69% of employers found employees were just as or more productive working at home than they were before the pandemic.
Among companies, 59% have offered flexible hours to support the caregiving responsibilities of their employees and another 29% are planning or considering that option, according to Willis Towers Watson.
In addition to IBM, Workday, a California-based IT firm, announced it would “provide the majority of its workers the equivalent of two-weeks’ pay to cover costs resulting from having to work from home.”
It’s time to normalize being a parent
In a really informative article in Business Insider, Alla Zarifyan talks about the normalization of having children in the office. The pandemic has highlighted just how many employees are also parents. We’ve just been asked to wear those different identities in different spaces. And rather than keep our identities separate, Zarifyan says that it’s time to start talking about it out in the open.
“Men need to do this more than women, so caring for children stops being a women's issue and becomes a general human issue. Parents in management and other senior positions need to vocalize that children are a crucial part of their lives. Maybe then children will stop being viewed as a somewhat shameful impediment to a successful career. Perhaps next time someone is considering a school- or childcare-related policy, parents will start getting the support that they deserve.”
We wholeheartedly agree.
