A Working Mom's Choice: Better Pay or Flexibility

Posted by Charlene Prince Birkeland

I stumbled across the blog of author Marcy Sheiner; it's called Dirty Laundry. In a recent post she muses, "Working Mother: Is There Any Other Kind?" (Easy answer. Nope.) Her post was fueled by a radio interview where conservative talk show host Michael Medvid interviewed Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of Moms Rising and asked: “Why shouldn’t an employer have the choice not to hire a single mother?”

Sheiner says Finkbeiner responded by repeatedly challenging [Medvid's] assumption that a single mother is more likely to take time off than other employees. Sheiner went on to say she was "frustrated with Finkbeiner for denying the obvious: a single mother—any mother—actually does require job flexibility."

Working Moms Require Job Flexibility

Sheiner is spot on in her assessment. Flexibility is a necessity for every working mom. For every working parent.

You get hit with the unexpected at inconvenient moments. As I write this post, my 20-month old is curled up on my chest sleeping between bouts of vomiting from a new episode of the stomach flu. There are kids to be picked up at daycare, from school, from playdates. You have to leave work at the drop of a dime in a family emergency. Or to watch your teenage daughter's championship soccer game. Or your son's acting debut.

Job Flexibility at the Expense of Less Compensation?

Everything comes with a price, right? And for having job flexibility, the price working moms usually pay comes in the form of less compensation than they deserve.

It's almost comical. Working moms require job flexibility. Yet working moms, especially those returning to the job force after a new baby, often work even harder to prove their worth. To show they are still at the top of their game. Yet many will never be compensated for their efforts. Their ability to consistently outperform other employees, to set examples of how to be a successful working moms, will go unrecognized in their salaries. Even at the friendliest of family friendly companies.

And guess what? Most moms will make that compromise. According to Moms Rising, Harvard Business Review published a survey of working women where 64 percent of respondents reported flexible work arrangements as “either extremely or very important to them.” Only 42 percent said that ‘earning a lot of money’ is an important motivator.”

Flexible Work, Equal Work for Equal Pay

In the corporate world, I had an incredibly flexible job. I worked a 24-hour week in a visible position, was in the office three days a week, and non-reachable on my days off. I put in overtime when necessary, no questions asked. But I also had to teach myself not to feel guilty about the time I had to spend away from the office. I was one of those outperforming working moms. Review after review, I was told I completed more in 24 hours than my colleagues who worked 40+ hours a week. Managers would send their newly pregnant employees or new moms returning to work to me for advice on how to create a flexible schedule...how to achieve work-life balance. And still,promotion after promotion seemed to miss me. Raise after raise, never to land in my bank account. Why? I chose job flexibility by going part time and missing opportunities to make myself even more "visible" within the company.

I don't regret it for a second. My job flexibility allowed me to spend time at home with my first son. But I do believe that all employees deserve equal pay for equal work. Working moms shouldn't be penalized for job flexibility. If you get the job done, and done well, you deserve salary compensation as does any other employee peforming at the same caliber.

At Moms Rising, their Motherhood Manifesto calls for Open Flexible Work with Equal Pay for Equal Work. You should too. You've earned it.

What's most important to you - job flexibility or earning a high salary? Do you have to make a trade between job flexibility and pay?

 

Comments

[WorkingMom]

Thank you SO MUCH for writing this wonderful post! I can't tell you what a relief it is to read a story like this from another parent. What I've found, since re-entering the workforce, is that I lacked confidence in myself after being out of the *game* for so long. It took a lot for me to be able to step-up and ask for more money, but I am glad I did it! What a huge confidence booster, to say the least!

[Jenny]

I think this is such an important topic. I recently quit my job because the pace of keeping up and excelling at a high-paying career job was wearing me down. There has to be a better way... Given the current state of corporate America, my latest theory is that the "ideal job" is going into business for yourself. At least that's what I'm hoping, anyhow!

[Arizona]

All people require & deserve workplace flexibility because we all have personal lives! I think it's so great that your previous work arrangement fit your personal life. Only a few large corporations are catching on! I read about a concept called ROWE: Results-Only Work Environment in BusinessWeek a couple months ago. It sounds like a perfect solution for ANYONE. It's all about accountability. You do your job, you can have flexibility. I hope CultureRx - www.culturerx.com, the creators of ROWE, roll this out to other companies. I definitely see it as the future of the workplace. I can't wait for it to catch on in my organization!