What does career have to do with balance?

The Simmons School of Management in collaboration with HP has released a recent study involving 400 professional women (middle and senior-level professional women with over 20 years work experience). The study looked at to what extent women were leaving the workforce, why they make careeer decisions and how they manage work-life balance.

The study found more than 90% of the women surveyed had used some sort of flexible benefits work arrangements during their careers. These flexible benefits could involve telecommuting, flexible hours and limitations on travel or evening work.

Professor Mary Shapiro speaks about the study's results at NECN on this 12 minute video clip -- it's very interesting and is certainly in line with many of the current business topics I speak on regularly and advise corporations on as an HR Consultant. You can visit some of my additional comments on flexible workforce arrangements and current business trends at my sister blog: The Biz Toolkit.

The study points to the very interesting changes that are taking place in the workforce which are being driven by changing demographics, demographics and generational priorities. Looking at the Canadian context flex hours and a wider use of parental leave are much more commonplace than a few years ago, even though they are still not widely adopted.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue - does your company support flex arrangements? If you are a professional woman, how does career impact your balance?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CHRP, CPCC, CPT
Potentials Realized
The 90 Day Your Balanced Life! Program starts on March 20th (Tuesdays 7-8 pm EST). I hope that you can join me -- space still remains!
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com