As the White House convened a day-long summit on working families with a heavy focus on work-life balance, I remembered a major survey last year that took issue with the prevailing notion that juggling work and home life is mainly a woman's issue.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 56% of working mothers said it was very or somewhat difficult to balance the responsibilities of their jobs and their families; 50% of working fathers, nearly as many as working mothers, said the very same thing.
And when it comes to who is doing more of the telecommuting, another survey also challenges the longstanding belief that it's mainly working moms.
By a wide margin, more men than women are working not from the office, butfrom home, a business center or another location, according to the national survey by Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit Inc., which works with organizations and individuals to create flexible workplaces.
CNN moms talk work-life balance
Do men really have it all?
Are perceptions of dads changing?
Nearly one-third of the 556 full-time employed adults who were surveyed said they do most of their work remotely, and nearly three out of four of those telecommuters were men.
Why do these findings matter? Because too often, when work-life balance is discussed among policymakers, in the media, even online, the general sense is that it's primarily a concern of women, especially working mothers.
Financial Finesse Releases Annual Study on the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy Reportfinds women are making significant strides and closing the gender gap in financial wellness, but face a long and challenging road to achieving ultimate financial security.
The study found the gender gap is narrowing as women continue to improve their financial wellness in all key areas of financial planning—a reversal of the trend the firm saw in 2012 when the gap actually widened. That said, there is still a significant gap between men and women in nearly every key area of financial planning.
Significant findings from the report were:
Women are approaching their finances more proactively and using financial wellness programs more often, and more regularly, than men. In 2013, women made up 63 percent of financial wellness program users, while men made up only 37 percent. The percentage of women using financial wellness programs has steadily increased year over year since 2011 when the firm began measuring this data through aggregated results from its financial wellness assessment tool.
The gap remains most significant in investing and cash management despite women’s improvements in these areas. One-third of women feel confident about their investment allocation compared to one-half of men, and only 66 percent report a general knowledge of investing compared to 85 percent of men.
Likewise, 63 percent of women report having a handle on cash flow, and only 47 percent indicate having an emergency fund, whereas men reported 78 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Surprisingly, making more money does not mean a smaller gap in financial wellness. The gap actually widened between men and women who had annual household incomes over $150,000. At the same time, it closed most between men and women with annual household incomes over $60,000 and under $100,000. Those with annual household incomes between $20,000 and $35,000 also saw an increase in the disparity between the genders.
Liz Davidson, CEO and founder of Financial Finesse, says it is encouraging to see women closing the gap and participating more regularly in financial wellness programs, but notes that there is more to be done. “I think society is beginning to realize the severity of the challenges women face in achieving long-term financial security, but they are still so significant that women have to do even more in order to overcome them,” says Davidson, citing the fact that women earn less on average than men and have to make their savings last longer due to longer life spans.
Greg Ward, Director of Financial Finesse’s Think Tank of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals who compile the firm’s research reports, notes the irony of the gender gap. According to Ward, “Women need to save considerably more and invest more wisely and more aggressively than men because of these challenges, so the fact that they lag behind men in these areas is concerning.”
Ward adds that the economic implications of the gender gap are significant. “While I’m not aware of any specific research on the cost of the gender gap in financial literacy,” says Ward, “when you consider that a woman with a college degree will make on average $1.2 million less than a man over her career, we’re looking at a $28 trillion problem over the next 35 years.”
The good news, according to Ward, is that employers are especially doing more to reach women with financial and retirement education to help them overcome these challenges—taking a more holistic approach to their benefits and how they communicate them to women and employees overall.
A recent AON Hewitt study found that more than three-quarters of companies plan to implement or expand their focus on financial wellness in 2014. Similarly, Financial Finesse has experienced a 360% increase in inquiries about its services among both companies and financial services firms looking to address this issue.
Financial Finesse does not sell products nor manage assets. For more information, visit www.financialfinesse.com.
Ever think about what your great-grandmother faced when interviewing for a job years before you were born?
Here are some women hiring guidelines for transit company officers published in a 1943 issue of the national magazine Transportation in the article, “Job Standards and Rules for Hiring Women:”
“Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they will have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
“When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It’s always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
“Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination, one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.
“Stress at the outset the importance of time—the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
“Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they’ll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
“Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
“Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
“Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive, they can’t shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman—it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
“Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl’s husband or father may swear vociferously, she’ll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
“Get enough size variety in operator’s uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can’t be stressed too much in keeping women happy.”
Talk about lawsuits! Can you imagine anyone, male or female, following any of these 71 year-old workforce tips today?
Source: The Lamplighter newsletter of the Broadalbin Kennyetto Historical Society, June 2007
5. Are you keenly aware ofwhatmotivates you? (Motivation proceeds from meaning, and meaning, in turn, is an expression in context. Thus, achievement is bounded by context, which, when correspondingly aligned with motivation, determines the individual's relative power.)
7. Do you have thenecessary supportsin place that will allow you to succeed? (We all need a support system in life to handle: help to manage the home, hurdles we become involved with at work, convincing your partner of the need to help, understanding the need for reallocating finances, etc.)
For help in answering these questions, purchase the Workbook Edition of:
As the number of dual-earner couples grows and more men make sacrifices to support their wives' careers, some fathers are asking employers for guidance and action or tapping flexible-workplace policies originally designed for working mothers. Others are curbing their career goals to spend more time at home.
The shift comes at a time when more women are out-earning their husbands--a percentage that has risen from 3.5% of families in 1960 to 15% of families in 2011, according to the Pew Research Center--and men are redefining what it means to be a dad.
As our world grows increasingly complex, competitive and confusing, life becomes less about the luxury of doing what we want and more about the necessity of doing what we must.
Positive results don't happen all by themselves. If anything, there has to be an action or event that propels things in motion to produce winning results. Think of this as a spark. It's what creates the heat that warms things up and ignites that raging fire in your belly.
Having relied on this spark for many years to help her succeed in the professional sports world, author Eve Wright now wishes to teach others how to do the same. Helping others understand how they can ignite their passion for living so they can empower their own opportunities for success is her new modus operandi.
A national survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from February 10 to March 4, 2014, and included a representative sample of 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals, and a representative sample of 3,022 full-time, private sector workers across industries and company sizes.
Not surprisingly, personal use of technology is one of the leading culprits behind unproductive activity at work. One in four workers (24 percent) admitted that, during a typical workday, they will spend at least one hour a day on personal calls, emails or texts. Twenty-one percent estimate that they spend one hour or more during a typical workday searching the Internet for non-work-related information, photos, etc.
Behaviors of co-workers, meetings and other factors are also creating obstacles to maximizing performance. When asked what they consider to be the primary productivity stoppers in the workplace, employers pointed to:
Cell phone/texting – 50 percent
Gossip – 42 percent
The Internet – 39 percent
Social media – 38 percent
Snack breaks or smoke breaks – 27 percent
Noisy co-workers – 24 percent
Meetings – 23 percent
Email – 23 percent
Co-workers dropping by – 23 percent
Co-workers putting calls on speaker phone – 10 percent
Our natural talents are gifts at birth. We had nothing to do with them.
However, we have a great deal to do with becoming aware of them. It is up to us to discover our natural signature talents and transform them through focus, practice and learning into strengths.
Our first awareness of what comes easy happens in late childhood or adolescence. We then build on these competencies in our first job or when some other transitional situation occurs that demands we use one or more of our innate talents more purposefully. Focusing on what matters helps us reach clarity.
As the years go by, we practice those things that come easily to us as we build our natural talents into strengths. Concurrently, we experience what doesn’t come easy to us, while trying not to overplay our talents, as we work around and underplay our weaknesses. The result is we undermine our destiny by attempting to live within our limitations.
This book reminds us that we have spent our time and energy pursuing things that are not aligned with who we really are and what we are capable of achieving. When we understand the misalignments between what we do naturally and what is required for success, we can close the design gap of where we want to be instead of attempting to change who we are.
When we reach out to others, who help us get to where we want to be, we increase our ability to be resourceful, to persist and be generative using our designed plan for happiness and success. We build resilience and adaptability through receiving and acting upon the feedback received from those who help us as we move along the path of constant change which is the new normal.
@F-L-O-W is the guide we need to ride the waves of change while enjoying the happiness and well being we seek.
Developed by Lee Hecht Harrison, the world’s leading provider of outplacement and career transition services, Resu-Me is a free and intuitive online tool that allows professionals with a LinkedIn profile to transform their profile into a compelling career video complete with voice-over and handy infographic – in just a few clicks. Each user gets a unique URL that can be shared across social media networks to give their resume that extra edge.
“In the online space, communicating hard-earned career credentials to stand out in the professional world can be challenging. That’s why LHH has created Resu-ME. Resu-Me is a personalized online tool that allows professionals with a LinkedIn profile to boost their personal brand, increase their networking reach and digitally differentiate themselves in an instant,” said Jim Greenway, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales Effectiveness for Lee Hecht Harrison.
Greenway explained that each Resu-ME is automatically tailored, accessing career credentials from a user’s LinkedIn profile. For additional customization, Resu-ME includes a bank of visual images and graphic effects related to a variety of professional fields, geographical locations and activities. Users can further personalize their Resu-ME video through a set of editing options, including the ability to upload photographs and quotes.
Any professional anywhere in the world with an English language LinkedIn profile can create a Resu-ME.
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CNN moms talk work-life balance
Do men really have it all?
Are perceptions of dads changing?
