Entrepreneurs & Work-Life Balance

Entrepreneurs are a potent element that drives economies but should it be success at all costs? According to a global study on entrepreneurship from Babson College, almost 15% of the US population is working for startup companies that are less than 3.5 years old. About half of these companies will fail within five years. To successfully get these companies off the ground, founders face tremendous challenges; attracting customers, raising capital, hiring employees and fending off the competition — while theoretically trying to maintain a work-life balance for themselves and their teams.

Recently, Jason Calcanis, serial entrepreneur and founder of the new search engine Mahalo, wrote about his best 17 tips for entrepreneurs starting up their own company. Number 11 on his list ignited a firestorm of protest, “Fire people who are not workaholics. don’t love their work… come on folks, this is startup life, it’s not a game. don’t work at a startup if you’re not into it–go work at the post office or starbucks if you’re not into it you want balance in your life. For realz.” Jason went on to amend his original post, softening his original statement but his message is still the same, starting up a company comes with many sacrifices. David from 37 Signals countered with it is better to fire the workaholics for a number of reasons, including they tend to burn out.

Family Friendly Employers

Family Friendly Employers

Everyone’s talking about family friendly employers.  Our recent Network poll found that “family friendly employers” was the work and family topic of greatest interest.  Fifty-six percent of respondents asked the Network to develop work-family resources on family friendly employers, followed by resilience, stress and coping (39%) and return on investment or the business case (34%).

You may be wondering, what exactly are family friendly employers doing? Well, a lot of amazing things that benefit employees, employers and their work organizations – a triple win. And it’s not only behaviors that are changing, but the realization that attitudes and values about the world of work and the role of employees can be recrafted to better meet business and personal needs.

This evolution is described in a recent report from the Families and Work Institute (www.familiesandwork.org) called the 2008 Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work (http://familiesandwork.org/3w/boldideas.pdf). The report illustrates how 24 varied communities representing all types of organizations can make work work for both employees and employers.

Perhaps there are practices detailed in the report which could be implemented in your organization. What is your workplace doing to make work work? What could they be doing? What would be the most helpful to you?

Getting Gen Y to talk about work and family issues

Is Gen Y talking about work and family issues? I recently learned about an organization called the Lattice Group, ” a grassroots campaign that aims to engage as many young people as possible in the Unites States and Europe in a dialogue about work-life issues.” This idea really strikes a cord for me. I have taught a number of undergraduate work family classes at BC, and I always ask the students how they see their work-life future. I ask them if they think they will be in a committed relationship, have a job and have children. Typically, the overwhelming majority say that they will have a committed partner, a family and a job. When I ask them how that is going to work, they get a little stuck and it is clear that they have not really thought through all the possibilities, trade-offs and challenges. Are you a Gen Y professional? How do you see your future? Not a Gen Y worker, but observe today’s Gen Yer trying to figure out how to have a family and a job? Any suggestions for them? Didn’t Cervantes say, ” Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.“

“Too much work, and no vacation . . . .”

Earlier this month, Experience Life Magazine published, “No Vacation Nation,” by John De Graaf, President of Take Back Your Time.  This article discusses how Americans “get the shortest vacations in the industrial world – when they get them at all.”  This article also cites studies supporting the critical need for vacation – for “improved physical and mental health, family life, productivity, creativity and personal well-being.”  In fact, De Graaf states, “Americans may be materially richer than almost anyone else, but we have the poorest health in the industrial world. . . . In 1980, we ranked 11^th in the world in longevity; now we’re 42^nd.  We are twice as likely as Europeans to suffer from anxiety and depression.  In large part, these deficits are caused by lack of time.”   

While many Americans are promised an average of 2 weeks vacation a year by their employer, most employees do not take the entire amount for fear of being considered a slacker or falling behind in their work.  Moreover, studies show that at least one third of workers who opt to take vacation, bring their work with them. 

When looking at other industrial nations and their vacation policies (as well as the overall health of their citizens), the contrast is stark.  According to the Center for Economic Policy Research, while in America, there is no government mandate for even 1 paid vacation day, 137 countries (including all industrial nations) around the world guarantee their citizens at least 30 paid vacation days.   

How many vacation days do you get?  How important is vacation to you?  Do you think our government should provide vacation days? 

Motherhood Penalty

Does being a mother negatively affect career advancement and opportunity? We recently interviewed Joan Williams about family responsibility discrimination. In the interview, Joan mentioned that a “recent and influential study showed that mothers are 79% less likely to be hired, 100% less likely to be promoted, and also are assumed to be less competent and committed than women without children. (Correll, S.J., Bernard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297-1338.)“

Some employers have made women’s advancement and the retention of women a priority issue. Joan’s comment made me wonder if organizations should be focused on women’s advancement or mothers advancement and the retention of mothers or other caregivers. What do you think? Is women too broad as it may be that it is a certain group of women who experience difficulty or more challenges than other women?

New Jersey Senate Passes Paid Leave

Yesterday, New Jersey took one step further to becoming the third state in the country to allow employees paid leave to care for a sick relative or a new baby. 

The legislation would allow for 6 weeks of paid leave, up to $524 per week.  Supporters of the legislation are crossing their fingers that the Senate, who will review the bill again early next week, passes it forward for the Governor’s signature.  Opponents feel that this “new glass ceiling” will hurt small businesses, create burdensome taxes for residents, and create discrimination practices in hiring of women of child-bearing ages. 

The Sloan Network would love to hear your thoughts on this legislation - would you like to see this is your state?  Why, or why not? 

New from the Network - June 21, 2007

Updated Topic Page:
Shift Work

New from the Network - June 11, 2007

Updated Topic Page:
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 

Updated What’s New in Work and Family? 

New from the Network - June 6, 2007

Updated Topic Page:
Afterschool Care

New from the Network - June 4, 2007

The May issue of the Network News, featuring an interview on breastfeeding and workplace supports with Alison Stuebe, MD, a clinical fellow in maternal-fetal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a member of the board of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition.

Issue 9 of the Policy Leadership Series, in PDF format:
Supporting Working Families with Children and Elderly Dependents

A new Work-Family Encyclopedia entry:
Heterosexism in the Workplace by Shaun Pichler

Two new Fact Sheets have been added to the Statistics section of the site in PDF format:
Gender and Use of Workplace Policies and Employer-Sponsored Child Care

Many new terms are defined in the Work-Family Glossary.