Professional women don’t have one job—they have as many as three. Even in these more enlightened times, studies show that women still spend the most time caring for children (job #2) and managing up to four aging parents and in-laws (job #3).
With the stress of three jobs many career-minded women often wrestle with the idea of leaving the workforce. Many do…for a very costly average of 12 years. Every year out they forfeit up to 4 times their salary. And the cost to employers is huge, too—they lose recruiting and training investments that are equivalent to about six to nine months of a woman’s salary.
My six-month “Make Work Fit Life” coaching program helps corporations retain high-potential women—including group and individual coaching and discussions with women’s employee resource groups. Many seemingly hard-driving women are silent about their work-life struggles. They often reach a breaking point, and you can’t get women to the top without helping them blend work and life.
I can help women reduce stress, get flexibility that works for employers & employees and always keep moving in the direction of financial security when they’re…
- Considering a work hiatus and need “look before you leap” guidance
- Looking for ways to better blend work and family
- Feeling out of step with corporate leadership “get women to the top” mantras
- Trying to create their own definitions of ambition and success
- Unsure of how to make a professional pitch for flexibility…and get it
I’ve lived it. As a mother of two daughters (and also navigating the needs of elderly parents), I know all the work+life conflicts women face.
For nearly two decades, I’ve coached hundreds of smart, capable women looking for ways
to blend work and life at every age and stage.
I’ve calmed the fears of new mothers who mistakenly say it’s just not possible to work and raise a family. I show them it actually costs more to stay home than pay for childcare.
I’ve encouraged professional women who have never stopped running up that corporate ladder to give themselves permission to jump off and find ways to “grow in place” and keep their professional stature intact.
I’ve helped women understand there’s no perfect time to work: cautioning them not to forego a paycheck until kids are off to college (because that’s just the time they’ll be needed by one or more aging parents).
I’ve tossed a flexwork lifeline to women who are blindsided by divorce, a husband’s lingering illness or unemployment—or the need to support an elderly parent or adult child.
For a corporations or individuals, I move conversations away from “can women can have it all” to “why you should do it all”
I have empowering, motivational discussions with lots and lots of women who want to work, but want time for life, too.
I am a pragmatic voice for women (even in affluent communities) who often need a gentle reminder that they can’t yet bank on a comfortable retirement and need to keep working or jump back in to get finances on track.
When it comes to less traditional work structures, I tell women what’s reasonable, what’s a pipe dream and how to have a productive conversation with an interviewer or a boss.
They hear the loud and clear message that they can be leaders at any level. They breathe a sigh of relief when they hear they’re not letting down the sisterhood if they don’t want a 24/7 C-Suite role. They are happy to hear that there’s no edict to “lean in”, and it’s OK of they only have the personal or family bandwidth to lean “in-between”—viewing the glass ceiling from afar.