“Single parents are one of the fastest growing [population] groups in the world, so the way employers view them–working mothers in particular–has to change: They’re not only employees, they’re also raising the next generation.”
That’s the observation of Carolyn J. Gable, founder and president of New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc., which has offices in Lake Zurich and a warehouse in Elk Grove Village.
The company, which Gable started with two employees from her home in l989, now has 46 employees and had sales of $15.2 million last year. New Age specializes in managing inbound and outbound freight transportation.
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Gable, who is divorced and has seven children ranging in age from 5 to 30 years, identifies with other single mothers. Both personally and professionally, she has enormous respect for them–and for all her employees.
“I can’t do enough for them and they can’t do enough for me,” she said. “I’ve had great, wonderful success with single worker mothers. They’ve learned they have to be resilient and run with the ball. They have a lot of responsibility already and know how to take on more. They’ve gone through the school of hard knocks and have a lot of common sense. And they need the job–and the money.”
Gable’s take on the growth of single parents is backed up by a study recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics titled “Family and Work in Transition in 12 Countries, 1980 to 2001.” It was written by Gary Martin and Vladimir Kats, economists in the bureau’s division of foreign labor statistics, and was published in the Monthly Labor Review.
The study of 12 developed countries–the United States, Canada, Japan, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom–shows that “all of the countries examined experienced significant increases in the number of single-parent households during the last 20 years. [But] the United States continued to have the highest proportion of single-parent households with children under the age of 18. …”
Employers have to realize that “there’s more to working mothers than the work they do from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.–they also have a life,” said Gable, who gives her employees not only understanding but also flexibility for such things as teacher conferences, school programs and other activities.
And she walks the talk in a very special way: Last April, when she began the expansion of her facilities, then in Elk Grove Village, by building new offices and a warehouse in Lake Zurich–the warehouse will be completed in October–she designated 10 percent of the 20,000-square-foot office for an indoor playroom for children of employees.
She also created a fenced outdoor park with swings and slides for employees’ children. Seven children play there each week.
“I had a much smaller version of the playroom in Elk Grove Village,” said Gable. “At first, I allowed parents to bring their kids and assumed they could continue to do their work, but it was a disaster. The kids could see their mothers and wanted to be with them.
“After a year I learned that each employee had to hire a babysitter to supervise the children so that the parent could work. Now it’s working much better: The new playroom is in an entirely separate area, and the parents can see their kids at lunchtime.”
Being a single working parent often is a struggle, Gable remembers.
“I was a waitress for 15 years and worked at night,” she said. “If I didn’t go to work, I didn’t make any money. Then I transitioned and was a newcomer to the freight industry, where you also always have to serve the customer first–and I always have.”
That’s why Gable sees helping single parents to be able to fulfill both family and professional responsibilities as a two-way street.
“Companies have to work with single moms, but moms have to do their part too,” she said.
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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. Mondays and at 11:20 a.m. Saturdays. Watch her “Career Coach” segments on CLTV. Send e-mail to [email protected].