Last week we heard from Scott Jones, a senior executive who is grappling with how to respond to an uneven recovery in his business. A year ago in the heat of the economic downturn, Jones’ company used organization wide salary cuts and furloughs to reduce operating and labor costs in order to minimize layoffs.  Now as the recession sputters, and the recovery struggles to begin, the company faces hard choices.

How does he reset the organization’s flexible downsizing strategy to reflect post-recession, pre-recovery realities? What’s the best approach when the recovery isn’t strong enough to return to “business as usual,” but the support for a shared sacrifice seems to be waning?

To answer these questions, I went to two of the best change and innovation experts I know, Joanne Spigner and Donna Miller, who also happen to be my WLF consulting partners.  Here are our tips for managers to begin charting next steps:

#1: Go back and assess where you are.  Know where you stand in the business.

What do you really know about the business?  How do people really feel about the specific adjustments in salary and/or schedule that were implemented?  Is the shared sacrifice being questioned by a majority in all businesses, or is it coming from pockets of loud voices?  Get the facts on paper.  You do this by:

• Not owning and solving the issue yourself.  Expand the circle of discovery.  Bring other leaders and high potentials across the organization along for the ride.  Compare notes and problem solve together.
• Going wide and deep—Interview all business leaders, talk to a random sample of front line managers and employees, and conduct a survey.

#2: Once you have the facts on paper, reset the organization’s flexible response to match today’s realities. (Click here for more)

This past June, after achieving certain academic goals, our 11 year old daughter got the privilege to text.  It’s limited texting–only 10 outgoing texts a day–but it is texting nonetheless.  I’d heard the horror stories of texting from other parents. The distraction, the inappropriate forwarding, the lack of verbal communication, and even bullying.  So prior to bestowing this honor, I discussed my concerns with parent and work/family Ph.D., Dr. Christine Murray.  She graciously shared the “Texting and Cell Phone” contract she developed and had her daughter sign.  Four months into our texting tenure, it’s been a godsend:

• Upfront, we were all on the same page–my daughter, her dad and I.
• Expectations and ramifications were clarified and understood.
• When an infraction occurs (they inevitably do!) we go back to the contract which is publicly posted in our kitchen.  Consequences are executed with a low drama level, which as any parent of a tween daughter knows is not always easy.

Now, Dr. Murray has generously agreed to share her contract with you!   Enjoy.  Hope it helps you tame the tween texting beast.  Let us know how it goes.

Texting and Cell Phone Rules

1.    Do not text in the following circumstances:

• at the table – at home or in a restaurant.
• while in a car with other people (unless it is a long car trip, or an emergency – in which case you should excuse yourself before sending the text…”sorry, I just need to send a quick text to my mom.”)
• at church, on a family outing, in the movies
• in other circumstances, use your common sense to decide if it is an appropriate time to text – is it rude to the people around you?

2.    You should not text one friend while you are with another friend.  It is rude and indicates that you don’t care enough about the person or people you are with.

3.    Text messaging should not take the place of interacting with your friends – getting together or calling.

4.    Be careful about what you text – do not spread gossip or say mean things via text.  It is too easily passed around and can cause hurt feelings.  It is also a permanent record. You are responsible for what you text

5.    Do not give bad news by text – don’t break up with someone by text or give other bad news.  Do it in person, ideally, or on the phone if you can’t do it in person.

6.    It is easy for a text message to be misunderstood because the recipient of the message can’t see the sender’s facial expressions or hear her tone of voice. Jokes and sarcastic comments may cause hard feelings if they’re passed along in a text message.

7.    Be very careful about sending pictures or videos.  Never send any inappropriate photos or videos.  Try to avoid sending photos or videos of yourself or other people at all.

8.    Your phone should be in the kitchen charging by 9:00pm on a school night and by 10:00 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.  Your phone may not be in your room overnight.

9.    Never-ever text while you are driving a car.  Never-ever read a text while you are driving a car.  Pull over to the side of the road.

10. Texting is a privilege and can be revoked for poor behavior.

11.  Parents reserve the right to check text messages at any time.

I have read and understand these rules.  I agree to follow these rules and realize that if I do not, my texting and/or cell phone privileges may be suspended or revoked.

_______________________________________
Name                    Date

I waited.  I knew it was coming.  As expected, shortly after the release of The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything the calls and emails began rolling in, “What do you think?”  Earlier this year, I’d dodged that question when Womenomics was released.  At the time, I thought I didn’t need to add my voice to the mix because of course by now most people understood that work+life flexibility was an issue for everyone.  Not just women.  Future efforts would certainly discuss the issue from an inclusive, gender neutral, business based perspective.  I was confident this would be the last high-profile, big media launch of a book or program that focused on work+life flexibility primarily in the context of women.

I was wrong.  The launch of A Woman’s Nation was even bigger and bolder.  So, for what it’s worth and because people keep asking me, it’s time to answer the question, “What do I think?”  First, let me say a couple of things.  Like Womenomics, The Shriver Report is well done and well intentioned.   In fact, two of my favorite thinkers, Brad Harrington of Boston College’s Center for Work and Family, and the writer/feminist, Courtney Martin, contributed excellent chapters.  Issues such as pay inequity, lack of representation in senior levels, and sharing of care responsibilities are all important issues to discuss specifically as they relate to women, but…

We really, seriously, once and for all, need to stop talking about the need for work+life flexibility solely in the context of women!

Why?  Four reasons:

It’s not true that women have the greatest need for flexibility in work and life

Both men and women do.  More flexibility for men means more flexibility for women.  And it doesn’t include the multiple ways businesses benefit from making flexibility in how, when and where work is done part of the day-to-day operating model including:

I fear it inadvertently reinforces the Motherhood Penalty

As Kanter award-winning researcher Shelley J. Correll of Stanford University found in two separate studies: Evaluators consistently rated mothers less competent and less committed to paid work than non-mothers, and childless women received 2.1 times as many callbacks as mothers with similar credentials.  There’s a deep, entrenched bias in the system that says if you hire a mother, it’s a problem.  So don’t hire her.  (Check out the work of Harvard’s Mahrazin Banaji for more on entrenched bias—hat tip: Maryella Gockel, of E&Y).

When a book, report or press conference is entitled Womenomics or A Woman’s Nation, no matter how much you say, “It’s not just about women,” it is about women.   By linking the need for greater work+life flexibility so directly and publicly to women and mothers, I’m afraid it perpetuates this inaccurate perception that mothers are the only ones who can’t make it work without extra accommodations.  It doesn’t challenge or change the prejudice.

It further isolates men, who want to be part of the conversation but won’t participate is something they perceive to be a “women’s thing.” (Really, you can’t blame them.)

Today, work+life strategies are ghettoized outside of the day-to-day operating model of business.  In many organizations work+life issues are discussed, if not solely, then primarily as part of the women’s initiative.  In the media, coverage of the topic is confined almost exclusively to women’s magazines or articles focused on women.  Even though research shows that men suffer from higher levels of work+life conflict than women, and are just as interested in work+life strategies.  But they are usually left out in the cold.

My experience is that if you make the discussion gender neutral, and get senior line leadership support, the men will flood in.  A couple of years ago, I conducted a series of work+life fit strategy seminars at an investment bank.   The first two sessions were sponsored by the company’s women’s leadership group.  Although men “are encouraged and welcome to attend,” not surprisingly, the majority of attendees were women.  A few brave men were scattered about the room.  Curious, I stopped one of the men at the end of the session and said, “If this wasn’t sponsored by the women’s group would more guys show up?”  Without hesitation, he responded with a smile, “Of course, most men don’t go to a chick event.”

I suggested to the HR leader in charge of the series, “Why don’t we get individual business unit leaders to sponsor the remaining three sessions, and ask the women’s leadership group if they would become a silent partner?  Maybe we’ll get more men to show up.”  The head of the women’s group thought it was a great idea, but the HR leader wasn’t so sure, “Well, okay, but don’t be surprised if only a few attend.”  P.S. the last three sessions were so popular that they added a fourth session.  And more than half of the attendees were men.  The HR leader and the male business leaders who sponsored the seminars now understood that work+life flexibility wasn’t just a woman’s issues, but an issue for everyone.

It allows us avoid the hard work we need to do to make flexibility part of the way business operates and individuals manage their lives.

Isolating work+life flexibility as a women’s issue is a feel-good, red herring.   What we really need to do is fundamentally rethink how we all work, manage our lives and run our businesses.   That’s going to require innovation and creativity which is not easy.  Today, rapid change and uncertainty are the norm, making flexibility and resilience imperative if we are to thrive.

Hopefully A Woman’s Nation is the last public, high-profile media event that so directly and publicly links work+life flexibility and women for all the reasons I listed above.  Going forward, let’s focus money, firepower, effort, and exposure on the truth that it’s about all of us, which, in turn, will help women more.  What do you think?

As follow-up to last week’s post, “One Year Later: Next Stage of Flexible Downsizing Post-Recession, Pre-Recovery,” I interviewed Scott Jones*, a senior executive at a national architecture, engineering and construction company (he asked not be identified since many of the issues we discussed are not yet public knowledge within his organization).

In the worst part of the crisis, Jones’ organization took a flexible approach to downsizing that reduced costs and minimized layoffs.  But a year later, the recovery across the firm’s businesses is uneven. And the pressure is building to restore salary and schedule concessions willingly made at the beginning of the downturn.  Here’s the story of how one company is navigating the next phase of its flexible response to the recession.

CY: Welcome. Talk more about your company’s flexible response to managing labor and operating costs since the downturn began.

SJ: When the recession began to really affect our business about a year ago, we started by cutting the pay of all of our principals.  When that wasn’t enough, we made pay cuts in specific offices and business units that were struggling the most.  Then, about eight months ago we reduced pay by an average of 5-10% firm-wide.  In slower units, the pay cuts were deeper than 10% and we instituted some temporary layoffs (or furloughs) of varying lengths, but generally more than 30 days.

When we started the process of making the cuts, we really weren’t sure how long the need for sacrifice was going to last.  But there was a real sense that we are all in this together.  Even the people within offices and business units that continued to be busy were willing to cover those that weren’t as active in order to limit our need to lay people off.

CY: What are you hearing and seeing now? (Click here for more)

Take a minute to slowly read the following statements, and pay attention to your reaction:

1. “I am a mother, and I sometimes put my career before my family.”
2. “I am a mother, and I sometimes put my family before my career.”
3. “I am a father, and I sometimes put my family before my career.”
4. “I am a father, and I sometimes put my career before my family.”

Chances are for 2 and 4 you were more likely to think “of course.”  But for 1 and 3, perhaps your answers were more along the lines of “I’m not sure that’s a good idea?”

Now consider the following:

• What is the impact of our collective judgments about women who admit that they sometimes put their career before their family?   Personally,  I’ve experienced it, and it’s painful.
• And if we don’t allow ambitious women to comfortably admit that, yes, sometimes they do put their career before their children (and aging parents) without the fear of being branded a bad mother (or daughter), will they ever ascend to the highest levels of business and government in representative numbers?
• Conversely, if we don’t let men comfortably admit that, yes, sometimes they put their children (and aging parents) ahead of their career without the fear of being seen as less committed, will women continue to have to make the major and minor care giving concessions? This includes not attending after-hours networking events, or volunteering for special assignments.  These compromises accumulate over time and impact pay and level.

A powerful post by CareerDiva.com’s Eve Tahminicioglu, entitled “Women need keys to executive bathrooms, not lactation rooms,” following the release of the Working Mother list of Top 100 Companies got me thinking.  She pointed out, “What I found was pretty pathetic.  Women leaders are few and far between at these so-called ‘best’ companies.  Among many of these ‘best’ companies, women represent anywhere from zero percent to 30 percent of top executives.”  In other words, the best of the best “family-friendly” programs aren’t translating into greater female representation in the upper ranks.

I agree with the Your (Wo)man in Washington blogger that this is due in large part to the low level of utilization of these corporate supports.  This is because most are feel good HR benefits and perks that aren’t part of the business operating model (a subject for many other posts).  But something more is going on.

I realized what it could be when I read two terrific articles in More Magazine about two high profile leaders in their fields who also happen to be mothers.  One of the many things I love about More, is the “been there, done that” wisdom of the over 40 year old women they profile.   Mika Brzezinski, of Morning Joe fame, and Vivian Schiller, CEO of NPR, didn’t disappoint.  In both cases, these high-ranking working mothers candidly admitted, directly and indirectly, that to get where they are today required making certain decisions that put their careers before their children.  Choices they were very comfortable with.

I was shocked to realize that as I read each of their stories I momentarily winced and ever-so-briefly thought, “Was that a good idea?”  I did this even though:

• I am someone who freely admits that there have been times I’ve put my career ahead of my family. (As well as times I’ve put my family ahead of my career.)
• I know that the best research says children are not negatively impacted by maternal employment.
• I’ve been a parent long enough to have met plenty of great kids with mothers who have all sorts of different work+life fit realities, and
• I have four close women friends who are very senior executives with huge jobs who have wonderful relationships with their terrific, well-adjusted kids. (Note: in all cases, they do have male partners who willingly sometimes put their family before career.)

Then I thought, if I’m having this reaction, how is everyone else responding?   (Read the comments under the Mika Brzezinski article to see the judgment her candor unleashed).   How does this collective recoil at the thought of a working mother ever placing the demands of her job before her kids affect the ability of women to compete for top, high-profile positions with men?  Because, let’s face it, men get the “of course” response when they sometimes put job before family.

Here’s the reality:  If you want to be a senior leader in a large corporation, or you want to be the co-host of a national morning show, then there are going to be times that your job has to come before your care giving.  I didn’t say all the time, but some times.   Sometimes an out of town client meeting falls on your son’s birthday.  (This actually happened to a member of my team two years in a row!  It just couldn’t be avoided).  Sometimes there’s an end of the day fire drill or breaking story and you need to stay late.  Sometimes you have to catch an early train for a meeting and you can’t kiss your child good morning.  Sometimes, like NPRs Schiller, you may even choose to commute to another city every week for two years so you don’t have to relocate your family.  It’s not that everyone is going to make these choices, but these are the compromises top people, men and women, make to get to where they are.

There are those who would argue that the solution is to make the workload required to ascend the ranks less demanding and time-consuming.  Unfortunately, in today’s 24/7, always on, global, competitive environment you will never be able to engineer all of the extra time and energy requirements of senior level work out of the system.  Therefore, how do we support, and not condemn, the women who do what they feel they need to do to for themselves and their families to achieve their professional goals?  Here are some thoughts:

1. Like me, consciously catch yourself when you start judging the work+life fit decisions of anyone (men and women), because we really don’t know anything about their lives and their work.
2. When talking to women and men with responsibilities at work and at home, ask them about both!   It shows that both aspects of their lives have value.   I find a tendency to ask women about their kids, and men about their jobs.
3. Ladies, let’s celebrate all of the unique work+life fit choices we all make!  Cheer on a sister who has ambitiously climbed to the top rung of their chosen profession while caring for their children and/or aging relatives in the best way that works for them.  Recent research proves that when women advance to top levels it makes it better for all women.   But we must stop the defensive judgment of each other!   It hurts and it keeps us stuck.

I applaud Brzezinski and Schiller for ascending to the highest ranks of their fields by making choices that worked for their circumstances and not letting the collective recoil get in the way.  However, I can’t help but wonder how many capable, ambitious women are held back, no matter how generous the work-life supports in their organizations, by the judgment that limits their ability to periodically and comfortably put their career before care giving.

Oh by the way, today I didn’t bring the gym clothes my 6th grader forgot to school because I had too much work to do (including writing this post).  Was she mad?  Yup.  Am I am bad mom?…careful how you answer that.

Note:  I’m submitting this post to the About.com Working Mom’s blog carnival, which is part of the Fem 2.0 campaign to highlight the workplace experiences of everyday Americans.

A year ago, the economic downturn was in full gear.   As layoffs gained momentum, I loudly promoted a more flexible approach to downsizing as an alternative to knee jerk job cuts.  If executed correctly and strategically, compressed workweeks, telecommuting, reduced schedules, furloughs and sabbaticals improve productivity and reduce costs in numerous areas (e.g labor costs, real estate overheads, operating costs), therefore, limiting or avoiding layoffs.  Additionally, this very same flexibility simultaneously achieves other business objectives, such as disaster preparedness in response to the H1N1 virus, or expanded global client coverage to generate new business.

Over the past 12 months many people have said, “Thank you.  You made me think of other options and as a result we were more creative and flexible in how we managed through the crisis.”   But about three months ago, I noticed a shift.

With glimmers of a recovery finally on the horizon, flexible downsizing entered a new post-crisis, pre-recovery phase.  In this gray zone, a flexible approach to managing productivity and costs in all areas remains critical but involves a new set of choices:

• What about businesses that did use flexible downsizing strategies, but a year later, aren’t starting to recover and may never recover?  Are more layoffs necessary?  If yes, how do you make those cuts without undoing the benefits realized from having taken a more flexible approach in the heat of the downturn?
• How do you compensate and retain top performers who were willing to sacrifice in the thick of the crisis, but now see a recovery and want to be rewarded at pre-recession levels, even if the business hasn’t recovered and the money isn’t there?

Before we address the “how to” in this next phase, let’s take stock of where we actually are a year later: (Click here for more)

It’s been a big two weeks for the term work+life “fit,” a more flexible and expansive way to think and talk about work and life.  For over ten years, in my consulting, speeches, blogging, and book, Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead, 2004), I’ve diligently explained the concept of “fit” to all who would listen.  So, imagine the sense of validation and excitement when recently:

• Families and Work Institute released The State of Health in the American Workforce report and used “work-life fit” to describe one of the primary factors that impact employee health and wellness, and ultimately, employee engagement, turnover and job satisfaction, and
• The Sloan Work and Family Research Network interviewed Phyllis Moen, one of the field’s revered academic researchers, who stated that “fit” is the way we need to think about what she calls “life course fit.”

With these two research powerhouses joining the effort to shift the way we think and talk about work and life toward “fit,” we may be approaching a critical tipping point.  To explain why this is so important, here are some key milestones, or “ah-has,” from my work with business leaders, managers and individuals that led me to understand the power behind this change in language and mindset:

Ah-Ha #1:  Business leaders can get behind work+life “fit,” whereas they glaze over when they hear “balance.” I found that whenever I explained the broad impacts of strategic work+life flexibility to a business leader, his or her eyes would physically glaze over at employee work-life balance.  Finally out of frustration, I began to ask what caused this reaction.  A few brave souls confessed, “All I hear when you say balance, is work less.  And we can’t afford to have everyone work less.”

While I knew I wasn’t saying, “Everyone will work less,” that’s what they were hearing.  So I began to consider different ways to articulate the impact of flexibility on employee work+life reality.   How could I explain that in some cases, yes, it’s about working less, but mostly it means working differently, more flexibly, smarter and better?

After numerous failed attempts, one day I heard myself say in a meeting, “It’s about helping everyone in this organization–including you—manage their unique work+life fit.  And doing it in a way that meets the needs of the individual and the business.”  Jackpot!  Instead of visibly shutting down, the business leader got it.  Not only did he get it, but he began to share what his work+life fit looked like.  And he acknowledged that indeed his work and personal realities were unique and very different from many people in his organization.  He began to see why greater flexibility in work and careers was a strategic imperative.

With the shift to “fit,” the innovation and problem-solving continue.  The conversation doesn’t shutdown.    Leaders can better understand that one of the goals of strategic work+life flexibility is for all of the different work+life “fit” realities to coexist in their organization as effectively and productively as possible in good times and bad…including their own.

Ah-Ha #2:  To most people, balance” was a deficit model, or that-thing-no-one-has.  This made it almost impossible to find solutions. Here’s a perfect illustration.  At the beginning of a speech, I asked those who had work-life balance to raise their hands.  Approximately 10% of the group held their hands up. Then I said, “Keep your hand up if you’ve maintained that balance for an extended period of time.”  About 1% of the hands remained in the air.  By the end of the speech after I’d introduced the work+life fit process, I asked “How many of you now think it’s feasible to find a better work+life fit?”  Almost every hand in the room went up.  Shifting to “fit” unearths the possibilities.

Ah-Ha #3:  If there’s no right answer then there’s no judgment, only the “fit” that meets the needs of the individual and the business.  The result is more flexible innovation that works for all parties. One of the roadblocks I consistently ran into was people thinking there was a “right way” to manage their work and life. That there was a specific answer or “balance.”  Not only did this rigid, all-or-nothing thinking limit possibilities, but it resulted in unhelpful, often harsh, judgment of themselves and others (a la, the mommy wars.)

With “fit” there is less judgment and more creative problem solving because there is no right way to do it.  Everyone’s individual work+life fit changes daily along with personal and business circumstances.  It also resets at key milestones like finding a partner, having a child, caring for a sick parent, starting a business, getting laid off, accepting a promotion and/or retiring.  I have never heard the same work+life fit reality twice.  The focus becomes how do we flexibly adjust work, life and business to find a “fit” that is mutually-beneficial to the individual and the employer.   Not who’s right, and who’s wrong.  But what works.

Those are just a few of countless “ah-has” I’ve experienced over the years that reaffirm the need to shift our language and mindset.  We need to account for the flexible, ever-changing “fit” between work and life, especially in the new work+life flex normal.  Yes, a decade later, the work+life “fit” tipping point may have arrived.    Thanks to FWI and Phyllis Moen for adding their influential voices and unique perspectives of “fit.”  What about you?

Striking out on your own, either voluntarily or involuntarily, is becoming a more common experience along an increasingly flexible career path.  And, it turns out entrepreneurship is especially appealing for members of Generation Y.   In her terrific new book, Upstarts – How Gen Y Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success (McGraw/Hill), Donna Fenn says we all need to pay attention,

“They were born between 1977 and 1997, and you can call them what you like; I call them entrepreneur generation.  There are approximately 77 million of them, and their sheer numbers, combined with the rate at which they’re starting businesses, will make them a force to be reckoned with…these “Upstarts” are destined to have a profound effect on the economy and specifically on the small-business landscape.”

In a recent interview, I asked Fenn to talk about some of the ways Gen Y entrepreneurs were transforming the future of work, life and career… for all of us:

CY: Welcome, Donna Fenn!  One of the reasons I love your book is that I want business leaders to expand their understanding of work+life flexibility, or flexibility in how, when and where work is done and life is managed.  Flexibility, in all of its forms, is a strategic lever that has broad application as a way to run your business.  The Gen Y entrepreneurs in your book seem to fundamentally see flexibility as a way of operating.  Here are some examples from the stories in the book:

• Cost Saving: Having all or part of your workforce work remotely to save overhead costs, such as real estate.
• Talent Resourcing: Using a combination of full-time, part-time, and “as needed” employees.
• Productivity/Engagement: Letting people flexibly manage their lives and work as long as they produce.  This boosts morale and productivity.
• Marketing/Brand Development: Devoting a certain number of hours a month to community service to promote their brand and motivate employees.

Do you think these Gen Y entrepreneurs are applying strategic work+life flexibility consciously or intuitively?  What do they “get” that many business leaders over 30 years old struggle to understand?

DF: This generation is going to have enormous impact on the future of work for all of us, as employers of their own business but also as employees.  They are hardwired for this more flexible and innovative way of operating we know is very important.

They want to work with their friends. They want to have relationships at work, and they want to play and have fun.  People might shake their heads, “What a spoiled bunch of kids,” but think about it.  What’s it like when you play games in the middle of the day?  You find out a whole lot about people that you otherwise might not know.  Like who’s trustworthy, or super competitive.   There is value to game playing and it’s a stress reliever at a time when we are working really hard.  To the older generations, there is still this dividing line, “When I am working I’m working.  When I’m playing, I’m playing.”  This generation doesn’t see it that way.

CY: From the book, it is clear that Gen Y entrepreneurs aren’t rigid about where they work. (Click here for more)