MBA Moms 3.0: Bye-Bye Helicopter Moms

Monday, June 01, 2009

MBAs 3.0 —

GEN Y WOMEN, NOW YOUNG MOMS, PUTTING CAREER FIRST

Many won’t even consider not working,
but say flexible work arrangements are key

Unlike the previous two generations of working mom executives – first the Baby Boomers, who blazed the trail in the workplace for work-family balance, then Gen Xers, who often put careers on hold while raising young children, Gen Y women are different – they aren’t even considering slowing down or not working as they are now experiencing motherhood for the first time.

 

Gen Y women, having graduated from college in the late 90s and finished graduate school in the first years of the 21^st century, are now married and starting families. But many are saying while they are seeking flexible work arrangements, they would not even consider not working. Here’s what they are telling us at Flexible Resources, Inc.: 

• The current economic situation has made it imperative that they accumulate as much wealth as possible for their futures, having experienced a major economic meltdown very early in their careers;
• Fear that taking even one year off will cause their skills to erode, because technology changes the workplace almost daily;
• Being a fairly driven group, many of these women are telling us that they fear ‘losing their edge’ – that the workplace will not want them if they step off the career track for any length of time.

“They tend to be very driven young women,” says Nadine Mockler, who, along with her partner Laurie Young, founded Flexible Resources Inc., 20 years ago to help Baby Boomer moms like themselves find a way to balance career and family, and often faced a work environment hostile to their needs. Their company was a direct outgrowth of their inability to secure flexible work for themselves. Flexible Resources is a staffing and consulting firm that specializes in creating all types of non-traditional work arrangements at the professional level. Based in Stamford, CT, with offices in Hartford, and Fairfield, NJ, they work with small and large companies to structure work arrangements that enable companies to staff effectively and efficiently using flexible work arrangements.

“We are interviewing more and more women, now in their early 30s, some fully employed, others who took a brief time off to have a child, tell us they want to get back to work ASAP. They ‘project manage’ their lives, making time for family but always keeping career on the front burner. Not working is not even an option.”

“These women have much to offer companies. They are super efficient and focused, and can pack 10 hours of work into a five-hour day. We are having no problem finding places for them, even now, on a contract basis, or in permanent part-time positions. They make the case for flexibility – it creates focus, commitment, motivation, which translate well to the bottom line.”

 

CONTACT: Joyce Fredo, Redbird Communications, 203-968-0786

< Prev		Next >