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Flexing their mommy muscles; New mothers find flexible schedules well suited to family life

By Emily Hughey Quinn, Source: Tribune Media Services

It’s no surprise that becoming a mom changes everything. Yet what some career-focused new moms don’t expect is to want to scale back at work after baby arrives.

“When I went back, I had flashbacks to when I was there till 2 o’clock in the morning,” says Emily DeSanto, who was a manager at the Chicago office of a national PR agency.

“I thought, ‘That’s not me anymore. I hope everybody’s OK with that.’ What I found was I still got everything done. You realize how much energy you wasted before just over-thinking all the details.”

DeSanto cut back to a four-day workweek to spend more time with her son and, although the agency and her co-workers were supportive of her schedule, she found the hours were always longer than she wanted them to be, so she’s now doing freelance PR projects Monday through Thursday and is relishing the newfound flexibility.

“Obviously a child puts everything into perspective,” DeSanto says. “I can sit here and market a cleaning product till 2 in the morning, or I could go home and be with my child and sing a song with him and read him a book before bed.”

Downturn good for flex time

For most moms, it’s all about flexibility.

“I just couldn’t handle the consistent work week,” Allison O’Kelly says of her full-time corporate job, which she quit after her first of two sons was born. “And it wasn’t about hours for me. I needed flexibility.”

O’Kelly started Mom Corps, a staffing company that finds full-time, part-time and contract jobs for moms looking to keep their careers going while spending more time with their kids. She says there’s a definite increase in the willingness of companies to allow flexibility for their mom employees.

“So many people in our generation have gone and gotten their law degrees or their MBAs or whatever, and now they’re having kids so they don’t want work the traditional schedule,” O’Kelly says. “If the companies don’t want to work with these flexible schedules, they’re going to miss out on the talent.”

Allowing moms this kind of flexibility isn’t new—companies used to do it for their top employees — but O’Kelly has seen a recent increase in corporate flexibility, thanks to the economic downturn.

“Companies are finding it’s a good thing to only have to pay employees for 30 hours a week,” O’Kelly says. “It’s a really good business decision for them to offer flexibility because they’re getting better talent and they’re not having to hire someone on a full-time basis that they can’t afford right now.”

Successful time management

Nonetheless, even if her kids are top priority, some women fear being disregarded at work and, worse yet, losing their career entirely.

“The hardest thing for people who have been very successful is that you’re taking yourself off the career track,” O’Kelly says. “For now, you’re going to see people getting promoted ahead of you, and maybe you’re going to see people who worked for you becoming your boss.”

Robin Ryan, a career counselor and author of “Over 40 & You’re Hired!” (Penguin, $15), believes companies do take women seriously when they cut back work to be with their kids, but there are consequences.

“It’s the quality of your contribution that matters. But mothers working less than full-time may find they are not in the running for promotions that require a 40-hour workweek,” Ryan says. “It’s usually a temporary compromise, though, that can last for anywhere from five to 10 years, depending on the woman.”

In some cases, becoming a mom may actually make you better at your job. DeSanto feels she became a more empowering manager.

“I would have staff that were single or didn’t have kids and they would say to me, ‘you have to go home. You have your baby boy,’ ” DeSanto says. “Kid or no kid, everybody should have some balance.”

Re-starting a career

The news for moms who hop off the career fast track to focus on motherhood is bright.

“You can always get back on,” O’Kelly says. “Even if you’re out altogether and don’t take that flexible job. At some point you could do volunteer work or get an internship; there are so many ways to freshen up your skills. It’s a lot easier if you stay in, but you can do it even if you’ve been out for a while.”

At the same time, for moms who really want to keep a foot in their career, O’Kelly encourages them to explore their options before quitting.

“I think that if people really think that they want to be back in the workforce at some point, not just to quit, but to talk to your employer about options,” she says. “I hate when people quit because they feel that’s their only choice. If people want to quit, more power to them, but people need to know they have options and they don’t just have to quit.”

Sidebar: So you want to work a four-day workweek?

Robin Ryan, career counselor and author of several books, including “Over 40 & You’re Hired!”, offers the following tips for moms who want to take their workweek down a day.

You will be most successful in asking for a four-day work week if your boss is not strict about face-time. Consider your office culture when approaching your boss with such a proposal. Many companies these days are looking to conserve cash, so try to approach your boss with a win-win proposition.

-Draw up a one-page proposal that details the benefits of a 32-hour work week; look at your options carefully. Spell out what duties you will no longer perform. Explain how the company will benefit; if work has slowed down and your workload is conducive to fewer hours, that’s a good reason. Detail how you will communicate with other staff when you are out of the office.

-Make sure you are not offering to do 40 hours of work in 32 hours. And avoid the “four 10s” workweek. It’s not helpful. Four ten-hour days will just exhaust you. It’s a killer schedule. Obviously, you will make less money if you cut back on hours. But, if you are a mom with children under five, part-time work (three to four days per week) is really ideal. It’s what a mom with young children can handle more easily while still managing a family.

© 2010, Tribune Media Services