Finding a family-friendly employer is a major reason many moms make a career change. The support provided by these employers helps moms find work-life integration. And in return, moms are proven to be valuable employees in the workplace and foster greater collaboration and retention across their teams.
Keep in mind though, that the option is always there to work to make your current company more family-friendly rather than just searching for new opportunities. In fact, you may find this choice to be more rewarding in the long run, both for you personally and for the company.
Defining family-friendly as flexible
While family-friendly means a wide variety of things to different people, flexibility is one of the top benefits moms are looking for when considering family-friendly companies. According to a study by WerkLabs, the research division of The Mom Project, 42% of women ranked flexibility as their top motivation when picking an employer. It’s also one of the easier aspects to advocate for in a workplace.
If you don’t have workplace flexibility, consider asking if there are small ways to get more. Perhaps staggered start and end times or the option to work from home one day each week might be a good way to ease into a more flexible schedule.
With that said, if you are granted a trial you have to take steps to ensure the trial is a success. Here are some suggestions:
🗓️ Keep your calendar up to date
Misunderstandings happen easily when other employees are uncertain about your availability. Even if your schedule is flexible, set a routine and stick with it. You can block out time on your calendar when you’ll be unavailable, such as school drop-off and pickup. This ensures your team can easily plan important meetings that include you. If there are one-off commitments you need to honor for your family, like doctor’s appointments or a school program, be sure to add those to your calendar as quickly as possible.
If your company uses a messaging platform like Slack or Skype, be sure to set your status to inactive when you’re unavailable, too. This gives people an indication that your response may be delayed because you’re currently away.
When your schedule changes, say when your kids are home for summer break, be sure to communicate this clearly to your team. Update your calendar. When possible, keep your recurring meetings at the same times so you don’t disrupt other people’s schedules.
🧘 Be flexible yourself
Flexibility works best when it’s offered on both sides. There will undoubtedly be times when a meeting or project comes up that needs to be handled on your “off” hours. When possible, make yourself available. This flexibility on your part makes it easier for others to work around your flexible schedule.
👶 Create a childcare plan
It’s possible that you’ll need to rely on childcare occasionally when important work responsibilities come up. If you work remotely and have an important meeting, for example, you can be more present and participate more easily if you know your kids won’t interrupt. It’s a good idea to have a few options you can reach out to for childcare in case something comes up at the last minute. Consider setting up a childcare swap with another working mom. You can cover the childcare duties for each other when work calls.
📞 Over communicate
Since there may be times during the standard work day where you’re unavailable, it’s important that everyone you’re working with knows what they need to do. Similarly, you may be working off-hours and need additional information.
Clearly communicating your expectations to your team, and on the flip side, ensuring you’re clear on their expectations of you, helps avoid any down time. Set clear priorities, action items and timelines so everyone is able to work through their roles independently.
📖 Read more: Need More Job Flexibility? Don't Request It, Advocate For It
Other family-friendly factors
Scheduling is one area where there is a lot of leeway. Other family-friendly factors that are are important include:
- Parental leave
- Child care assistance
- Lactation support
- Concierge services
- Family-focused activities
Some of these, such as family-focused activities, might be easier to advocate for versus others (like parental leave changes), but in any of these areas you can advocate for better policies even if they won’t directly impact you. Remember every advance for family-friendly environments will make a lasting impact on the general company policies embracing this culture.
Other ways to contribute to a family-friendly workplace
While plenty of companies don’t think twice about perks such as free lunches, game rooms or happy hours, it isn’t always as obvious what efforts can ease a parent’s work and so, as a parent it may be up to you to advocate for these changes.
🍻 Rethink team activities
If your company often socializes over happy hours or hosts team-building activities after 5 pm, see if you can suggest a different option that works better for a family’s schedule. Perhaps happy hours can be switched for lunches or the activity start time can be bumped up to 3 pm.
🛡️ Protect boundaries
Every person has different priorities in their lives and even if a company offers flexibility in theory it can be hard to not feel guilty or have to explain themselves if they have varied working hours. Try to communicate your own boundaries confidently and stick to them to lead by example.
👭 Create a community
Find the other working parents at the company and find ways for you all to connect. Whether it’s a Slack channel dedicated to parents, an employee resource group or something more, find ways to celebrate parents as a whole and connect with them.
💼 Maintain professionalism
When given flexibility in your role make sure you are still striving to deliver excellent work. Communicate any changes as soon as you can, set expectations early on and deliver on your promises. It’s important to note that for a family-friendly workplace to be successful, both the employer and moms must understand the nuances of working parenthood. Although you may be given flexibility and benefits, it’s your responsibility to ensure that you still actively show up for your professional responsibilities, too.
Working together to make it work
Family-friendly employers recognize the value of employing moms and offer schedules and benefits that are supportive of moms. Moms can do their part in the workplace to encourage even more family-friendly behaviors in the workplace by doing their part to communicate clearly, maintain a consistent schedule (even if it’s not within the traditional 9-to-5 framework) and set clear expectations. When moms and employers work together, it raises the standard for employers across the board. And that benefits moms in the workplace everywhere.
The resources you need for the career you want
The Mom Project is here for you at every step of your career journey with job opportunities, resources, events and a Community of like-minded professionals. 
Recommended Articles
