WRK/360

PSA for leaders of employees with school aged children. Next week is officially the start of the Holiday Season here in the U.S. There are 27 business days from next Monday, Nov 25th through January 3rd. Do you know how many days my kids are in school? 14. Yup just 14 days (51%). #WorkingParents are juggling work while caregiving. Paying 💰💰💰for extra camps & paid caregivers to cover the days out of school all while keeping #familytraditions and #holidaymagic alive. #Managers, please 🙏 lead with grace, empathy and above all flexibility. #workingparents WILL get it done at work and at home but patience is key! #workingparents #workingmoms #affordablechildcare #flexibility #careoutloud #parentoutloud

Managing the Mental Load in High-Achieving Households 👇 Join our founder Mary Beth Ferrante, PCC and Caren Cioffi founder of Agenda Hero on 10/22 at 9 a.m. PT/ 12 p.m. ET right here for a LinkedIn Live session. Details below

One of the biggest differentiators in our work is that we not only work with the caregiving employee but their manager as well. Managers are the key and here's why 👇

73% of employees are caregivers. Care is normal, not radical. But that's the thing about supporting caregivers. It isn't just one day, or one week, or one benefit. There is no one size fits all solution for working parents and caregivers. This is why it is so CRITICAL to focus on a simple solution often overlooked by corporate and organizational leaders: Managers. ▶ Managers are often woefully unprepared to support their caregiving employees through key transitions (parental leave, elder care, grief & death, and even the smaller ones like the beginning of a new school year) Yet, managers CAN be the key ▶ To unlocking and RETAINING talent during these huge personal shifts. ▶ To ensuring employees feel seen and are given empathy and flexibility during transitional moments (e.g. going to what feels like 587 school meetings). ▶ To "re-onboard" employees after parental, caregiving, bereavement leaves improving loyalty, engagement, and productivity. ▶ To be the champions for benefits and programs specifically designed for your caregiving employees. #Managers are the missing link. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 👋 We are WRK/360 - bringing coaching, training and resources to working parents, caregivers AND their managers at leading organizations. Send us a DM or a note at [email protected] to explore ways to bring more support to caregivers at your organization.

It is fitting that #NationalWorkingParentsDay is a Monday, because Monday morning is always chaos at my house. My husband volunteers at our elementary school running the parent-led valet drop off line every Monday morning. The girls are ALWAYS slow to get out of bed on a Monday morning. ☕ And my coffee is always cold by the time I settle in at my desk for work. Yet, I regularly choose this coffee cup, especially on Monday mornings, because it reminds me that we keep going. That #workingparents and especially the #defaultparents (e.g., mostly #workingmoms) keep going each and every week. We battle the subtle and not-so subtle bias against #workingmoms, we navigate the endless saga of finding and keeping #affordablechildcare, we manage days off, and early releases, and getting kids to activities, even though none of that matches up with the #workday. We are doing this without much, if any support, from employers and from the government. #WorkingParents and Caregivers are #persisting but that doesn't mean we aren't struggling. As a reminder, the U.S. Surgeon General recently released the report that parenting is hazardous to our health. Not because of our kids, but because of the significant toll, stress, and overwhelm that we put on parents today while they try to manage their careers in a society that is making it increasingly hard to do so. So today, on #nationalworkingparents day, I applaud every single working parent and caregiver. 👏 👏 👏 You are doing enough. And to every leader and manager, I challenge you to ask a #workingparent how they are REALLY doing today and to actually listen and lead with empathy. ~~~~~ 👋🏼 Hi, I'm Mary Beth, founder of WRK/360. Our coaching, trainings, and programs support and retain your working parents and caregiving employees from #parentalleave through #eldercare. ☝🏼 Hit the button at the top to subscribe to our newsletter or DM me to learn more! Like this post? Want to see more? 🔔Follow me and click the bell on my profile.

Why are parents and caregivers so resistant to being in the office full-time? Here are just a few examples from our clients: **"My husband has early onset Alzheimers. Going to an office means I'm constantly worried and would likely need to pay for help. Working from home allows me to be productive AND available when he needs me!" **"My kids are little and I only have a couple of hours to spend with them in the evenings. When I add in my commute time, it cuts directly into that family time. Plus, that extra commute time also means extra childcare hours which add up quickly!" **"I simply can't understand the benefit since I work on a distributed team and we are all on zoom with each other or with our clients. I'm all for going in for important meetings, but when I sit all day in virtual meetings from an office, it just makes me angry." What's your why for being frustrated with RTO? Or why are you happy to be there? ** "We know that what employers mandate is not aligning with what employees want when it comes to in-office work (66% in-office is the employer-mandated working style vs. 22% employee’s preferred working style). What happens when these numbers don’t match? 1 in 3 workers (31%) said they would start to look for a new job, with 6% saying they would quit." - Owl Lab's State of Hybrid Work 2023 cc Adam Grant ~~~~~ 👋 I'm Mary Beth, founder of WRK/360. Our coaching, trainings, and programs support and retain your working parents and caregiving employees from #parentalleave through #eldercare. Learn more! Click the link in my profile or DM me I CARE. 🔔 Like this post? Want to see more? Follow me and click the bell on my profile.

"Some men I’ve spoken to have said Caregiving Loudly comes with a tax. A tax that women pay all the time." Lee Chambers 👆 This part. One of the most incredible parts of WRK/360's Parental Leave at WRK program is that we continue to support more and more #workingdads each year. And this is the very theme that continues to come up. ▶ If I take all of my parental leave, I'm nervous I won't get the same opportunities as others (namely, men) on my team. ▶ I've heard you talk about maternal bias, but I feel like now there is paternal bias, too. ▶ The older men in my organization don't get it. They keep asking me what I am going to do all day. ▶ I stayed home with my sick kid and someone on my team asked why my wife didn't stay home. These are all quotes I've heard from the men I've worked with. Part of me wants to just scream "Finally!! You get what women/moms have been dealing with FOREVER!" But that's not the point is it? The point is that caregiving and parenting are an integral part of our lives and MEN are shifting culture right now. The more men normalize caregiving, the more opportunity there is to recognize that care responsibilities ebb and flow throughout our careers. Yes, women have been dealing with these issues in the workplace forever and women are still getting pushed out of the workforce for caregiving all the time. When more and more men speak out about their role as a parent, when they take their full leave, when they pause to care for a sick parent, we have the opportunity TOGETHER to challenge what it means to be a dedicated employee. We have the opportunity to challenge success from time in the office or time on the job, to defining success based on the quality of the work, productivity, and innovation. Let's shift and challenge benevolent bias to improve our workplace policies to support care - care for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our teams. Thank you Lee Chambers for #caringoutloud. ~~~~~ 👋 I'm Mary Beth, founder of WRK/360. Our coaching, trainings, and programs support and retain your working parents and caregiving employees from #parentalleave through #eldercare. Hit the button at the top👆 to subscribe to our newsletter or DM me to learn more! 🔔 Like this post? Want to see more? Follow me and click the bell on my profile.

Isn't it interesting how so many of us as caregivers and working parents move mountains to continue to grow in our careers, yet the bias persists that parents and caregivers are less committed? That we are less ambitious. Yet… We are the ones calling in favors, paying for additional care support, and navigating complex schedules. We add in hours of work to coordinate (and re-coordinate) care to be there for our teams and clients. THAT is commitment and ambition. Every time you pay for those extra care hours to finish a project, juggle care to make that client dinner, or figure out a week of care so you can travel for a conference, you are demonstrating your commitment and your ambition. So keep parenting out loud. Keep caring out loud. Your commitment and ambition needs to be recognized and acknowledged. *I share insights around the collision of career and caregiving in the WRK/360 newsletter. Sign-up here https://lnkd.in/gafuVsGA

Parents and caregivers planning and returning from leave deserve career support. Don't leave it up to the #bosslottery and whether or not a manager "gets it." Integrating career and care and supporting employees and managers through key transitions in their journey is what we are all about! Whether planning for and returning to work after parental leave, navigating new care responsibilities for a family member or elder parent, or managing career growth opportunities while growing and caring for your family, our WRK/360 leadership coaches are here to support your employees!