Prioritize

Personal priorities: Determine what’s important

Gen-Xers learning the realities of the workplace

By Dawn Sagario — The Des Moines RegisterAmy Ward is 32 and married, with four cats and one dog.But no kids.In former jobs, being sans child meant her commitments outside of work were often considered less important than those of co-workers who had kids.When deciding who would be available to work a weekend, Ward said children’s baseball games, school conferences or doctors appointments trumped having dinner with her husband.She said it was those kinds of judgment calls that fostered work environments that squelched her desire to express what was important to her.A special date night with her husband would not be respected as much as a child’s baseball game, Ward said.”It’s really hard to object because you remember how important it was for your parents to go to your baseball game. And you think, ‘Well, I guess I could reschedule my date night with my husband.’ It’s hard to speak up.”In contrast, her current employer has been supportive of her personal priorities, Ward said. That’s included her employer making arrangements so she could observe Jewish holidays.”The thing that impressed me with this company so much is that no one judges what is important to you,” said Ward, human resource manager at Sogeti USA in Des Moines, Iowa. “Whether it’s some people have a husband or wife, some people are taking care of parents, some people are living on their own — it’s all what matters to you.”Experts say more employers are establishing work-life initiatives to address the broadening scope of needs for an increasingly diverse work force. For some, that may not involve parenting, but does include caring for elder parents or relatives, going to school or participating in church and community activities.The common thread heard among experts and workers was that regardless of an individual’s lifestyle, it’s imperative to acknowledge his or her personal priorities. When that’s lacking, resentment and conflict can build up at work among co-workers and toward management.Recent statistics suggest that 40 percent of America’s full-time work force is composed of single adults.Mary Young, a workplace researcher in Boston, said work-life programs will need to be redefined as the work force ages. People are delaying marriage and having children, and living and working longer.”A shrinking percentage of one’s adulthood will be spent being a parent, or married or partnered,” said Young, who in the late 1990s analyzed the quickly growing number of single and nonparent workers.Young said she foresees elder care benefits in workplaces as the new hot topic on the horizon.Experts also agree that bosses and workers still clash daily over what are considered “legitimate” reasons for taking off work, for example.One study from the University of Tulsa found that a majority of single workers without children — 62 percent — felt they were treated differently at work than married people or parents.That double standard included: Single workers were expected to put in longer hours, volunteer for additional work and do work not expected of those with spouses and children, the survey showed. Single people also felt their personal concerns were under-appreciated and free-time undervalued. They were also perceived as not having important responsibilities outside of work.There was no real strong backlash against family-friendly policies, like on-site child care or flex schedules for parents, explained Wendy Casper, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa, and researcher involved in the survey of 37 singles.”There’s more of a subtle phenomenon — like ‘What about me?’” Casper said. None of the singles reported overt types of discrimination in pay or promotion.”Changing attitudes at the manager level would trickle down to how flexible schedules and other policies would be implemented,” she said.Experts say employers are implementing a variety of other resources and referral services, in addition to child or elder care issues — everything from legal and financial services, to information on boarding for pets and pet insurance and party planning.”Those companies realize that everybody — regardless of where they are in their cycle of life — are struggling with quality time in their life,” said Linda Roundtree, co-president of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress, based in Scottsdale, Ariz.Roundtree said 57 percent of business school graduates said that attaining a balance between personal life and career was their primary career goal, according to a study in 2000 by PricewaterhouseCoopers.Experts also say the interaction between bosses and underlings is shaped by similar experience: The boss who has kids is more likely to be empathetic to an employee-parent who needs to leave to take care of a sick child.”For people who are child-free, I think having a supervisor who understands those issues — when that person asks to leave early to watch a baseball game, or go to a class for school or participate in a community activity or meet some friends — that this is just as important as a parent seeing their child’s play,” Roundtree said.The company culture and managers are integral in recognizing that everyone’s life is important, she said. Having a bid or rotation for who works on certain holidays, discussing time off and personal priorities with the work team, having floating holidays and expressing your feelings to your supervisor are ways that everyone’s needs can be met.Rob Beeston uses his vacation and sick time when he’s had to tend to his 5- and 7-year-old kids.In a past job, and before he had his own children, Beeston remembers being irritated at seeing his boss take off to pick up his kids when they were sick.Beeston said now that as inconvenient as it may be — for himself and others at work — there are times when emergencies pop up or things just need to get done.”As far as the time works out, it works out pretty evenly,” said Beeston of his work hours. The 36-year-old is married and a Web developer for Polk County, Iowa.Attorney Jennifer Jaskolka-Brown said having a child hasn’t afforded her additional consideration in her job, but has allowed her more flexibility. She comes into work at 5:30 a.m. and leaves at 3:30 p.m. to pick up her 11-month-old son. Having a computer at home lets her get additional work done on Sunday mornings and during her child’s nap time. Her workload increases when it’s a trial week.”I’m very cognizant of the demands of my profession,” said Jaskolka-Brown, 30, who practices in areas of litigation with Sullivan and Ward PC in Des Moines. “But I’ve been fortunate that my employers have been supportive to the demands of my family life. I do believe that everyone should be afforded the opportunity to have a flexible work schedule, regardless of whether they have children or are caring for an elderly or disabled relative.”

Career Alternatives

It is an unfortunate fact that the best-paying jobs typically are anything but 40-hours per week. Management jobs tend to be the most demanding on one’s time. Once you earn a salary, the expectation is not normally that you will be in the office eight hours and then go home. Nights and weekends often get sacrificed.If your personal life is more important to you than climbing the ladder to the top, but you want more income than what you bring in now, what is the answer? The Professional Bookkeeper (PB) program shows you how to work a few extra hours per week to increase your spending cash significantly. What’s more important, you set your own hours and can even work from home. If earning $30 to $60 per hour with a source of additional income that you work around your schedule (rather than the other way around) is appealing, click on the link below to learn more.Learn How to Make Great Hourly Income Part-Time