Tag: #covid
Businesses Are Neglecting to Rebuild Trust with Workforce & Preach False Narrative
By Stephanie Diana Eubank
There is a consistent leadership-focused narrative being repeated falsely in the media. The false narrative is that “People don’t want to work anymore”. To those who keep repeating this narrative and truly believe it the answer is, “no they just don’t want to work for you”.
In the past concepts like quiet quitting would have been viewed in a leadership paradigm as what is called disengagement. However, post-COVID that’s not what is truly happening. There is a quote in the Disney movie, “Remember the Titans”, that always comes to mind when talking about leadership in business. “Attitudes Reflect Leadership”. So, when employees rage quit or quiet quit these are reflections of a hostile work environment as COVID has taught the workforce that works should not become a person’s whole life.
Unfortunately, the media narrative has been that management is tightening the ropes and trying to force everyone back to the office to keep the abusive behavior going. This has caused a lot of companies to feel like there is a talent shortage. Which is just not true. The issue is that companies need to work on their goodwill or their reputation within the workforce. No one wants to work for companies that are continuing to do the following remotely or in person. So, let’s stop doing the following four things.
- Stop promoting abusive people into leadership!
- Unfortunately, there is a type that is consistently promoted in leadership as people who can push employees to do more. This recruiting method gives upfront success with long-term failure. We need to develop leaders who lead with empathy and have more of the teacher personality, not a bulldozer. This is even more the case in remote workplaces.
- Stop hiring leadership that thinks their job is just to lead.
- Especially in remote work the phenomenon of shared leadership develops. So, if companies want to keep to a traditional ladder method of design having managers that just manage is not doable anymore. We need leaders that are willing to roll up their sleeves and be in the trenches.
- Stop hiring Leadership that doesn’t understand business and leadership is a science.
- I have had my fill of colleagues, students, and managers who don’t understand developing quotes involves math and project management methodologies. Also, leadership that does not understand leadership science people are only statistically productive for 3-4 hours in an 8-hour business workday. The rest of the time is administrative and collaborative. So, when people take breaks that are part of work. People in the workforce cannot reasonably be expected to do the productive side of labor all day long. Having this attitude stifles creative problem-solving and increases burnout in the workforce.
- Stop perpetuating the attitude of overtime being a good thing.
- Wanting employees to want and do overtime work all the time is a bad thing. Let’s ignore the glaring fact that overtime consistently or as if it is expected is a big contributor to burnout. Baring that constant over time needed says two things to employees. One the company doesn’t value you enough to hire enough people to get the job done during normal hours. Two it tells employees that you see them as cheap labor and do not respect their time. Three it tells them that the company expects that the employee has got to give up having a life for the company. The days when the concept of workplace families and overall hustle culture is gone past COVID. They have been proven through research and experience to foster toxic work environments and kill company culture both in-person and remotely.
Now that we have talked about what businesses need to stop doing. Let’s talk about what they need to start doing. Aside from my usual advice on issuing a remote first workplace methodology to help promote a work-life balance the following 4 things we need to be started by companies to repair their brand with the workforce.
- Start developing more comprehensive leadership and followership training programs.
- This will help make the whole workforce feel supported and when there is layoffs or redistribution of talent companies and hire more from within. This also allows companies to not make it so only leadership gets salary bumps and feels appreciated.
- Start hiring leadership with a teacher/coordinator personality instead of bulldozers.
- Again subject matter experts and those who are more of coordinators or prefer support roles are the new type of leaders that the post-COVID world is demanding. Leaders let their team shine rather than use their team to reflect how they are as leaders. Teams are not power objects.
- Start developing a positive corporate culture of work/ life balance.
- Investing in an organizational culture that supports work/ life balance helps cultivate a happy workforce that doesn’t make a revolving door for new hires. It helps keep your organization together and have a more complex team. It also helps prevent burnout, workplace PTSD, and workplace violence.
- Star is upfront and honest with employees and helps cultivate the workforce.
- Often in businesses if someone complains about leadership companies try to find ways to get that person out of the company. Rather than asking why this person is complaining and looking at the behavior companies try to protect leadership. Instead, companies need to work to cultivate both leadership and workforce and investigate additional training needed. Otherwise bad work culture keeps being spread and the trust the workforce has for companies will continue to erode.
As business leaders, we need to remember that our teams are our greatest resource. And if we don’t work to strengthen the trust employees have in the companies they work at we will have no workforce. Trust needs to be earned and focusing on rebuilding workforce trust will help re-energize the workforce in this post-COVID world.
STOP PUSHING: Why Companies are Hurting Themselves Pushing for Hybrid and In-Person Work/ RTO
By Stephanie Diana Eubank
There is a lot in the media about companies pushing for remote workers to return to the office. Companies demanding remote workers who were remote initially in their contract and those who are applying for remote work come in person, even in a hybrid capacity. When employees push back the toxic leadership narrative is, “People don’t want to work anymore”. This is only partly true. The truth is workers especially after COVID have learned about this method of toxic leadership and are just not willing to work for companies like that. This constant pushing is going to give leaders the business management equivalent of a hemorrhoid.
There are three main reasons why companies are trying to force people back into the office:
- Real Estate. The real estate side was a big issue at the start of the Pandemic. However, now in 2023, there are numerous articles of companies making moves in physical locations and scaling back office space. Yes, this can create a growing pain for big cities but once things level out it will be an opportunity for change to have a more socio-economic diverse community and housing affordability neighborhoods in bigger cities and encourage similar changes in smaller ones.
- Companies either need a change in talent focus (hiring more IT specialists versus physical laborers or salespeople), a reorganization (reorg), or need a layoff. So, to avoid not paying unemployment many companies choose to force people back into the office. This way people who don’t want to work in person have to quit and thus won’t get unemployment benefits. This also allows companies to not look as bad in the media and to board members. An early example of this behavior was in 2013 when Yahoo did the same thing in an effort to, “Improve collaboration”. Which has been statistically disproven then and since COVID. But, it later showed evidence of the above-noted reason and the company dwindled from there.
- The last reason is just insidious. Since most companies promote people who are good at their job but may not have specific leadership training and the company doesn’t provide said training these leaders scare away talent. The reason these leaders scare away talent is that they don’t know how to lead and mix up fear with respect. Because of this many of these leaders develop toxic leadership skills that are in many cases downright illegal and cultivate a hostile work environment. Yes, you can have a hostile work environment in a remote workplace. And because remote workplaces provide more transparency and the ability to document bad behavior HR and Companies want to protect themselves and exploit workers and toxic leaders by dragging everyone back into the office where the narrative can be controlled. And where legal proof can be dispelled.
These reasons are not reasonable and limiting remote work hurts companies more than it hurts anyone else. Companies lose out on savings on overhead, commercial space, energy costs, among other expenses. Also, many cities like San Francisco have additional fees and taxes so remote workplaces allow for a lot of business savings.
The issue isn’t if people want to work or not. The issue is that companies are being narrow
minded and doing things they shouldn’t.
And rather than change positively, many companies are trying to turn back
the clock. This insistence on pushing for Return
to Office or RTO is the equivalent of pushing too hard, and you won’t like the
after-effects.
Work Cited
Han, S. J., & Hazard, N. (2022). Shared leadership in virtual teams at
work: Practical strategies and research suggestions for human resource
development. Human Resource Development Review, 153448432210933.
https://doi.org/10.1177/15344843221093376
Website https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/15344843221093376
Heskett, J. (2021, March 1). What does remote work mean for middle
managers? HBS Working Knowledge. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-does-remote-work-mean-for-middle-managers
Jordan, R. (2022, April 20). Mastering digital leadership in the remote
work environment. Smarter Business Review. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/services/2022/03/08/mastering-digital-leadership-in-the-remote-work-environment/
Kelly, J. (2021, March 19). How CEOS and workers feel about working
remotely or returning to the Office. Forbes. Retrieved August 27, 2022,
from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/03/19/how-ceos-and-workers-feel-about-working-remotely-or-returning-to-the-office/?sh=51bbd9a29d99
McGregor, J. (2021, December 5). The income gap between bosses and
workers is getting even bigger. The Washington Post. Retrieved August 27,
2022, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015/03/13/the-income-gap-between-bosses-and-workers-is-getting-even-bigger-worldwide/
Pullan, P. (2022). Virtual leadership practical strategies for success
with remote or hybrid work and teams. Kogan Page.
Rosemarie, W. (2021). Microsoft Teams for dummies. John Wiley Sons
Inc.
Tsipursky, G. (2022, August 23). Commentary: Here’s what JP Morgan CEO
Jamie Dimon got wrong–and Meta got right–about remote work. Fortune.
Retrieved August 27, 2022, from
https://fortune.com/2022/08/23/what-jp-morgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-got-wronga-meta-remote-work-diversity-careers-gleb-tsipursky/
Laker, B. (2022, February 21). From the great resignation to the Great
Return: Bringing Back the workforce. Forbes. Retrieved April 19, 2022,
from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2022/02/17/from-the-great-resignation-to-the-great-return-bringing-back-the-workforce/?sh=11bdc91025e5
Licina, S. (2022, January 28). Council post: Why leaders musmust reevaluate how they manage their workforce today. Forbes. Retrieved April
19, 2022, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/01/27/why-leaders-need-to-reevaluate-how-they-manage-their-workforce-today/?sh=71191ef6118e
Lodewick, C. (2022, April 5). Good riddance working from home, former
Google CEO says. Fortune. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from
https://fortune.com/2022/04/05/google-work-from-home-hybrid-return-to-office-eric-schmidt/
The Video On The Three Reasons Companies Are Pushing Return To Office
By: Stephanie Diana Eubank
We have heard many terms like Quiet Quitting, Acting Our Wage, and major pushes for Return To Office, otherwise referred to as RTO. However, what hasn’t really been discussed is why companies are pushing RTO. Well, as discussed in this video, there are several reasons, but the top three reasons for this push and the reasons are pretty cringy.
I will have a more detailed article posted up on this topic later in the week. Remember sharing is caring and to like and subscribe. As always remember Remote Is Here To Stay.
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What’s your Astronaut Story?
My husband and I are big fans of “The Big Bang Theory,” and we joke around that my astronaut story is me finishing my dissertation this term. I am super excited about it, and I do understand with my ADHD, my hard work in academia has been all I want to talk about lately. However, I invite everyone to share what they are excited about and passionate about. So, what’s your Astronaut story?
Remember sharing is caring, especially since Remote is here to stay.
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•Research Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org
Bossware misuse is eroding business culture.
Happy Holidays!
We should be working year-round to help our fellows during this time of the year. So, to help, I am talking in this youtube post about how women still struggle to rise in the business world and in family planning and are becoming the breadwinners regardless. So, to keep this resource of strong women, let’s help businesses get on board with offering more remote work. Christmas is about a mother bringing life into the world. Let’s help support women’s ability to keep doing that. Happy Holidays.
Remember Sharing is Caring.
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It’s The Holiday Season… So, Let’s Talk About Women and Family Planning in Remote Work
By Stephanie Diana Eubank
As we come into the Holiday Season where one of the holidays is Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of birth, and now is an excellent time to talk about how women are not supported in the onsite workplace based on their ability to bring life into the world. However, to avoid getting too political about it, I will focus on how remote work can be a band-aid to help companies support women in the workplace.
First, let’s acknowledge that women tend to be significantly affected career and money-wise by having a child. According to the 2019 data Knop (2021); shows growth in the labor force based on the number of women entering the workforce. The US Census data details that women gain more education and stay in the workforce even after having children. Further, the US Census data shows that 4 out of 5 moms with higher education degrees who gave birth in 2019 demographics 71.2% were still working in the labor force. Within that demographic, only 9.2% took leave, and 1.5% were unemployed. The findings from the US Census data also showed those of women with just a bachelor’s degree that gave birth the same year, over 60.9% remained employed. Although interestingly, of those in the workforce with only a bachelor’s degree, 26.6% were not in the labor force.
COVID created chaos in many respects but according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Scopelliti (2021); showed women left the workforce due to childcare issues during COVID. This is further discussed by the US Census Bureau article by Heggeness et al. (2021), which notes the data showed at the height of the lockdowns, over one-third of the working mothers in the US were not able to work due to COVID lockdowns and the effects it had on childcare and health care. However, according to the US Census Bureau, by January 2021, over 18.5 million working moms were actively part of the labor force as the pandemic raged. It should be noted that this number is still short, with over 1.6 million moms in the workforce at the same time the year before.
The exciting thing is that by 2021 the hit to workplace gender demographics leveled out for working mothers and fathers. The pandemic hurt most people’s income and careers. Although the stats show that the pandemic has continued to break working mothers more than working fathers. It should be factored in that many women hold jobs in career paths that have been heavily affected by COVID, and many are considered essential workers.
All these stats being said, we cannot ignore that paid family leave, and other maternity benefits are still subpar for women in the US. Worse yet, as detailed in the Stanford University News article (De Witte, 2022), even if a company or state has a good maternity leave program, women’s jobs and career paths are still challenging to maintain because of our roles as mothers. Not having well-formed Paid Family Leave programs for men and women and lack of childcare have added to the slow return of women to the workplace. This fuels the untrue adage held by business professionals that once women have kids, they no longer focus on work. Thus, making it harder for women to move up in organizations and statistically making it harder for women to take leadership roles.
With all this being said, remote work leaves an exciting opportunity for working parents and women about to be mothers. I speak from experience when I say remote position afforded me the luxury of being with my children, which was great for my and their physical and emotional health. All while allowing me the room to grow and thrive in a Subject Matter Expert or SME type of leadership role in the remote workplace. Due to health complications, I had to transition to a remote workplace while pregnant with my oldest son. After giving birth, I was asked to return to the workplace rather than work primarily from home. I had my son in daycare for about four months when he was just a few weeks old. Although our local childcare giver was excellent and well-practiced (shout out to Gina), I was miserable. She had also commented on how my son was so clingy and cuddly, which in her experience, wasn’t typical for a young infant. Also, childcare was near my home, making it easy to pick up and drop off, but I was an hour away from where I worked (a relatively average commute for the San Francisco Bay Area). So, I constantly worried if there was an accident, I couldn’t get there quickly to my baby. I cried in the bathroom at work, continually missing my baby.
I was lucky when one of my mentors called me up and told me about a department she was developing and helped me get hired to work remotely full-time. I was able to spend more time with my son and really bond with him in a way that I couldn’t during maternity leave. Especially with all my complications, maternity leave was chaotic and didn’t leave much room to bond. Also, like many women, I was the primary breadwinner, so maternity leave pay was minuscule. Working remotely gave me the flexibility to get the job done and done right while having time to help care for my son and take breaks to mentally unwind and spend time with him.
When I had my second son, my oldest and I could all bond together and balance my work and academic work while working full time, all because of the ability to work from home. Remote work has fueled my research and has helped give me the bandwidth to support my children, spend time with them, and invest in myself and my earning potential for my boys’ long-term care. After finishing my Doctorate program at Concordia University Chicago, my family and I have the bandwidth for long-term family planning with remote and hybrid work for both my husband and me.
I am by no means saying remote work is a way to fix the disparage between how women are affected in the workplace and laws that don’t support their ability to bring life into the world while providing for that life. I am saying that while society and business laws work to fix the issues and learn to support fellow women and people who care give for children, remote work has room for flexibility. The flexibility of remote work allows people to develop a work-life balance. With all everyone has seen and dealt with during and post-COVID, expanding remote work to give people the room to balance life and family will remind workers why they do it all. Family is important. Especially at this time of the year, let us all honor the caregivers of the world and workforce and remember to work to support them. Even if the best support is remote work.
If you liked this article and found it informative, remember sharing is caring. Also, please like, subscribe, and check out some of my other media outlets. My consulting firm also offers training for companies to help develop more effective remote leadership.
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Work Cited
De Witte, M. (2022, March 9). The real benefits of paid Family leave. Stanford News. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://news.stanford.edu/2022/03/09/real-benefits-paid-family-leave/
Heggeness, M. L., Fields, J., García Trejo, Y. A., & Schulzetenberg, A. (2021, October 8). Tracking job losses for mothers of school-age children during a health crisis. Census.gov. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/moms-work-and-the-pandemic.html
Knop, B. (2021, October 28). Among recent moms, more educated most likely to work. Census.gov. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/08/are-women-really-opting-out-of-work-after-they-have-babies.html
Scopelliti, D. (2021, April). Has covid-19 affected mothers’ labor market outcomes? : Monthly Labor Review. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/beyond-bls/has-covid-19-affected-mothers-labor-market-outcomes.htm
Where Have All the Workers Gone?
By Stephanie Diana Eubank
So, there are a lot of articles on companies pushing for remote workers to come back to the office. Inversely we see a rise in demand for Remote Work positions. This rise in remote work has made the concept of constant turnover a norm in business as companies and management within companies push employees to come back to the office when they don’t want to. As it was pre-pandemic, the office is a thing of the past. While companies cling to the past, one concept must be asked. Where have all the workers gone?
The common narrative among leadership is that “People just don’t want to work anymore.” Extensive research on this is extremely untrue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the jobs report shows the US unemployment rate is at 3.7%. The BLS details how remote work jobs are growing and companies that embrace it value flexibility in scheduling. Remote work post-pandemic has also come with rises in pay on average by 8% across the US, per the BLS findings. This kind of sweetens the deal for employees. Based on the math, employees work smarter, not harder, and remotely. Which is great news for the economy and for diversity in the workplace. Along with family dynamics, that’s a different post.
Then why are companies pulling back remote workers, you ask? Before COVID, companies used to do away with remote workers and teams up front as a cost-cutting method. They disguised it as a maneuver to increase (yuck) “synergy,” creativity, and productivity. Although all the stats since 2020 squash that idea. But in truth, this was done so that companies didn’t have to lay these people off as if it were a financial issue. Basically, having a layoff without having a layoff. The most notable person to do this was the CEO of Yahoo back in 2013. She was ridiculed because this adversely affected the company’s women the most. Considering Yahoo’s hardships since then, it is probably wise to tread with caution on companies that ban remote work, as that is not usually a good historical sign of healthy growth.
Another similar tactic companies have used in the past is to relocate the main office and require everyone to move to that new location and come into the office. This was for the same reasons, but with remote work, if this is done and remote work is not welcomed, I would also tread lightly like a cute fluffy animal that doesn’t look so good.
The next straw man argument given to support the idea that employees don’t want to work is always, “Well, what about Quiet Quitting?” or “Acting Your Wage”? What about it? Quiet Quitting and Acting Your Wage are both moves by employees to set healthy boundaries in the workplace. For decades we have had toxic workplaces having toxic philosophies that increase burnout and workplace PTSD that we have all had a hand in normalizing. Such as “We’re a workplace family,” which manipulates employees to work longer and harder hours, often without additional pay. Cause the things we do for family. All the while losing out on rest and time with our actual families. Which is not good for building a stable workplace. Or demanding meetings during off time and not paying for those times and the work done in those meetings. Another I dislike in a remote workplace is when leaders call at 3am your time and can’t figure out why you aren’t working on the email question they sent one minute ago. This is fine when it is legitimately an “Oops, I forgot you are in another time zone; sorry to wake you.” But, when it is followed by, “No excuse if I email you should respond immediately, I don’t care what time or time zone,” that’s not acceptable.
Also, in remote work, everything is more transparent and documented. So, toxic leaders or toxic culture gets spotted sooner in remote work. This does more work for Human Resources because no one trains leaders how to lead unless they went to college and got experience from good leaders and remote leaders are different. Remote workers need a different type of leader. You can’t be that unfeeling distant leader in a remote workplace because it is harder to bond.
We need leadership that is like a teacher. And what I mean by this is having the grace to command your classroom like a teacher. Put up with no BS and yet still be caring and sensitive. Empathetic to things remote workers miss from the onsite concept. Like bonding with coworkers and open communication. Simple acts of caring. Like calling to say “Hi.” Just to make sure everything on their end is OK. Once we remember we, as leaders, are people just like our team members, we can all spare some kindness. That doesn’t mean we need to be pushovers. It just means that leadership’s ruthless, scarcity attitudes don’t work in a remote workplace. We have all survived and seen too much during COVID.
So, Acting Your Wage and Quiet Quitting is setting boundaries to prevent burnout and workplace PTSD while demanding better from leadership.
Ultimately, employees go remotely or in-person to companies with better leadership skills. Remember, people don’t quit companies. They quit leaders.
If you found this article interesting, follow me on my social media outlets. My consulting firm also offers training for companies to help develop more effective remote leadership.
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Work Cited
Arthur, C. (2013, February 25). Yahoo chief bans working from home. The Guardian. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/25/yahoo-chief-bans-working-home
Liu, J. (2022, October 7). Remote work could keep fueling high turnover: ‘the map is open for job seekers’. CNBC. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/07/remote-work-could-keep-fueling-high-turnover.html
KISLIUK, B. I. L. L. (2010, July 23). Staff changes for Bank of America. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2010-07-23-tn-gnp-bank-20100723-story.html
Bureau of Labor and Statistics. (2022, March 1). Telework during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Estimates Using the 2021 Business Response Survey. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2022/article/telework-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.htm#:~:text=At%20the%20time%20of%20the,involving%20teleworking%20rarely%20or%20never.
Eckstein, J. (2022, December 7). How yahoo makes money. Investopedia. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/121015/how-yahoo-makes-money-yhoo.asp#:~:text=Today%2C%20Yahoo%20exists%20as%20a,for%20Yahoo’s%20real%20clients%2C%20advertisers.
Women Raise Both Families and Economies
By Stephanie Diana Eubank
So, I have written about the fact that I am a working mom of two here in California, and I have been blessed to work remotely as a Subject Matter Expert or SME in the financial industry for over ten years. And no, I don’t mean I have worked remotely during COVID, and it felt like 10 years. I have worked remotely as a Subject Matter Expert in the financial sector for over 10 years. Remote work gave me the luxury of having a work/ life balance that many women have not been granted.
It struck me today when I was reading an article from The Verge.com, and they were talking about the best gifts for work-from-home employees. And the first few lines of the work read something to the effect that when Dolly Parton wrote the song “9-5,” she did not contemplate remote work. The author isn’t wrong, but I think Dolly would have liked the freedom of remote work. And to be fair remote work has been a concept that we have had the tools to do on a large scale without suffering productivity since the 80s, so maybe she did. I know I need my cup of ambition to work from home.
I am ADHD and Dyslexic, so what my husband and I call Squirrel moments…I love Dolly Parton she wrote one of my favorite Whitney Huston sons, “I Will Always Love You.” I also love her movies. Ha-ha, I joke with my hairdresser that I have never done my hair because it just isn’t natural, as a paraphrase from one of my favorite lines from “Steel Magnolias.”
Back to the topic, remote work is a crucial tool for women to get back into and stay in the workforce. Part of the inspiration for my research and advocacy of remote work is that it brings more diversity into the workplace. One group is a particular woman.
According to the MIT Sloan School of Management article published in April of 2022 (and I will paste it in the comments.), women are less likely, statistically speaking, to be promoted. According to the research of Prof Danielle Li, women in the workplace receive consistently higher performance ratings than men but are 14% less likely to be promoted.
Unfortunately, a big part of the problem is that there is still the old belief that if women get pregnant, they will leave their job. Or that women are less reliable in the workplace because they have kids or are traditionally otherwise primary caregivers. Now where women are, according to Caregiver.org, 75% of the US are caregivers to children, the elderly, or disabled persons. However, the PEWs report of October 2022 reads that women are more likely than men to adjust their careers for their family it is not because they are less devoted to their job or less capable but because there is no infrastructure to help them balance work and family. In 2012 PEWs published a report that showed 79% of Americans said women should return to a “more traditional role,” but when the same people were surveyed about what to do about kids with working moms, only 16% said that having a mom that works full time is good for kids?
This is stressed even more when we think about how over 1.1 million women had to leave the workforce during COVID to address the loss of childcare. And don’t get me started on the topic of maternity leave.
As a working mom, I have worked remotely for over 10 years. And no, I don’t mean I have worked remotely during COVID, and it felt like 10 years. I have worked remotely as a Subject Matter Expert in the financial sector for over 10 years. Remote work gave me the luxury of having a work/ life balance that many women have not been granted.
Remote work is not a fix for all the infrastructure issues to support women in the labor force. Still, it creates opportunities for women to balance and provide those tools and leadership perspectives that the economy needs while supporting their families. It also lowers stress for remote workers. As leaders, we must remember a basic economic concept that women raise families and economies.
But if you want real items that are good gift ideas this Holiday season for the Remote Working Mom or Woman in your life, I suggest the following:
- https://amzn.to/3ujd9cf, especially if they have a micro-managing boss or their company doesn’t use Boss Ware ethically.
- https://amzn.to/3HanBu3
- https://amzn.to/3iAXG4n
- https://amzn.to/3OUOgNs
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0798LJDV3/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_apa_gl_i_PYS1YWJDZFCY7DPD8N39?linkCode=ml2&tag=drbear2023-20
- https://amzn.to/3EZEAwm
- https://amzn.to/3Vr0pMD
- https://amzn.to/3UmyThO
- https://amzn.to/3FkzWui
- https://amzn.to/3H30OjS
- This is my personal favorite is the pink one https://amzn.to/3H30OjS
That’s it for this post. If you want more info on the research behind this post, check out the links below and my Consulting firm’s website. And remember sharing is caring, so like and subscribe. Also, references are below on the research cited in this article.
I made a post on my Youtube Channel @wickedbofthewest on this topic check me out at the links below.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest
Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting
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Twitter: @SDEubank
Work Cited
Johnson, S. K., Hekman, D. R., & Chan, E. T. (2019, February 7). If there’s only one woman in your candidate pool, there’s statistically no chance she’ll be hired. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2016/04/if-theres-only-one-woman-in-your-candidate-pool-theres-statistically-no-chance-shell-be-hired
Somers, M. (2022, April 12). Women are less likely than men to be promoted. here’s one reason why. MIT Sloan. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/women-are-less-likely-men-to-be-promoted-heres-one-reason-why
Parker, K. (2020, August 14). Women more than men adjust their careers for family life. Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/01/women-more-than-men-adjust-their-careers-for-family-life/
Gonzales, M. (2022, July 7). Nearly 2 million fewer women in Labor Force. SHRM. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/over-1-million-fewer-women-in-labor-force.aspx#:~:text=However%2C%201.1%20million%20women%20left,jobs%20lost%20since%20February%202020.
Fry, R. (2022, February 1). Some gender disparities widened in the U.S. workforce during the pandemic. Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/01/14/some-gender-disparities-widened-in-the-u-s-workforce-during-the-pandemic/
Dr. Stephanie Diana Eubank DBA Remote Team Research (AKA Dr. Bear) 