Here’s the latest news from the world of work/life balance:
Caring day care: What cities have the most child-care programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children? It’s important to know because that accreditation also signifies that these programs are among the best in the nation.
According to the association, the winning cities are Chicago, Washington and Houston. In the United States, there are more than 700,000 children in 8,069 accredited programs, which have grown more than 45 percent since 1999.
“This growth is a clear sign of increasing demand for high-quality early education among families, employers and policymakers,” said Mark Ginsberg, executive director of the Washington-based association.
To find accredited programs, access the group’s Web site at www.naeyc .org/accreditation.
Flexible flexibility: “Roadblocks to achieving … work/life balance are as often on the worker’s side as on the employer’s,” observes Timothy R. Moore, director of human resources at The Northridge Group Inc., a management consulting and staffing firm based in Rosemont. “Any way you slice it, there still are two dimensions to be balanced … and there is an inherent give and take involved.”
Moore says he personally understands the need for flexibility because he’s part of a dual-career marriage. His wife, Melinda Moore, is a journalist. They have two young children, one enrolled in a preschool program, the other at a child-care center.
“Some harsh realities still exist,” said Moore, who has been in human resources since 1991. “Climbing the corporate ladder on a part-time basis probably won’t work. Contributing in a quantifiable and meaningful fashion for 20 or 30 hours a week can.”
And that’s why, the director says, you have to decide for yourself what’s most important in your professional as well as personal life.
“What truly satisfies you?” Moore asks. “The title or the work?”
After you know that, the issue of flexibility is much easier to resolve.
Voluntary volunteering: The connection between volunteering and employment is not an obvious one, according to a report in the Monthly Labor Review, a publication of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It may surprise you to learn that nearly 30 percent of all employed people studied did volunteer work, but only 25.3 percent of those were unemployed. In other words, people with jobs did more volunteering.
Another noteworthy finding: Part-time workers had a higher volunteer rate than full-time workers–35.5 percent and 28.5 percent respectively.
Volunteer work may not add anything to your bank account, but it sure feels good to give something back to your community.
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Advancing advancement: Asian women are a fast-growing part of the U.S. labor force, but they “remain one of the least represented groups in top positions at Fortune 500 companies,” according to a report by Catalyst, a New York-based non-profit group that works to advance women in business.
The study shows that in 2002, only 30 Asian women were corporate officers in the nation’s top businesses out of a total of 10,092 executives–despite the fact that Asian women are highly educated and 7.5 million are projected to be part of the U.S. workforce by 2010.
Networking the networks: Understanding that in “networking” not only do you get but you give is emphasized in “The Old Girls’ Network: Insider Advice for Women Building Businesses in a Man’s World” (Basic Books, $24.95).
The authors are Sharon Whiteley, Kathy Elliott and Connie Duckworth, and I believe their advice in this area applies both to women and men: “Understand the `rule of reciprocity’–networking is about forging relationships … [so] make yourself available when members of your network call on you,” they write. “Remember, it’s a two-way street.”
And when it is, that’s when networking works best.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Tuesday and Thursday’s Business sections. Hear her on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. each Monday and at 11:20 a.m. each Saturday. Watch her “Career Coach” segments on CLTV. Send e-mail to [email protected].