Women now make up at least half of the American workforce. And based on a research study from the Pew Research Center, one out of five married women are more educated and earn more money than their husbands.
Yet despite these strides, working women are facing more challenges than ever before. Since more men than women have been downsized, the remaining women are often asked to pick up more of the slack at work. And despite the fact that the average male partner shares more household and child rearing responsibilities than perhaps his father did, women still manage the lion’s share of these responsibilities.
As I plod along trying to successfully manage my existing client projects, cook an evening meal, source new prospects, make sure my son does his homework, execute on a marketing plan, scrub a toilet, write my next book, and sooth my daughter’s freshman college year jitters, I do sometimes think how nice it would be to have a wife to help me out and wonder if you can get one on e-Bay. But since that doesn’t seem to be an option and the demands of work and family don’t seem to be changing anytime soon, here are some suggestions for making the most of work and family responsibilities.
At work:
Document your accomplishments all year long. Keep track of new responsibilities you are assigned or the ones you inherit after others are downsized. Jot down some notes periodically about projects you completed successfully and be sure to document how you helped the company you support make money, save money, save time, grow the business, or keep the business. In a year where the average salary increase was about 2.5%, it is in your best interest to keep track of what you have achieved. Doing so could differentiate your performance over that of your peers and be the difference between a 2% and a 5% increase at review time. If you are going to work hard, you might as well be recognized for it.
Embrace new responsibilities as an opportunity to grow. When new projects come along, try to see them as a new opportunity rather than just more work. The new responsibilities might give you the opportunity to become the resident expert or “go to guy” on a particular subject. Being the expert on something makes you a more valuable employee and less replaceable.
Learn how to become an expert at delegating. As your responsibilities grow, look for ways to delegate more and mentor junior members of the department. Doing so will allow you to take some things off your plate and focus on more strategic work and make your team members feel that you are interested in their professional development.
At home:
Catch up on work while your family works. Sit at the dining room table with your kids after dinner while they do homework so you can monitor that they are doing it and answer any of their questions. Use this time to catch up on some of your own work such as email and reading. This can actually become a nice family ritual and something that the kids will look forward to because even though they are doing their homework, they will appreciate the fact that you are nearby.
Find activities that your spouse and your kids can do together that don’t include you. Some dads like to coach sports teams and others like museum outings. Work with your spouse to come up with some activities that can be exclusive to him and the kids and use your down time for you. Go to the gym, catch up with friends, or take a nap. Do whatever you need to to re-energize.
Use online resources to get chores done. The Internet has made shopping 24/7 a reality. Whether you need to shop for groceries, house-ware items, or clothing, just about everything can be found online and you can shop at odd hours or ones that are more convenient for you. In addition, some online food markets offer tasty and healthy choices for already prepared meals at reasonable prices and this can be a boon to working moms struggling to make a home-cooked meal every night.
Cut yourself some slack. None of these suggestions will work perfectly every time. And during some periods of your life, work and family will be more challenging to balance than others. For example, if you are the parent of an infant and working a full-time job, you will be tired and something will slide. If you need to get dinner from the drive through window every now and then, don’t beat yourself up over it. And if your house is not so spotless that you can eat off the kitchen floor, will anyone really be any worse off?
