Career vs Family life

I recently came across an article in HR magazine claiming that more than a third of women do not think they can meet their career goals while still paying enough attention to their personal lives. We recently blogged about the lack of women on the board of UK firms – are the two connected?

Kenexa Research claims ‘traditionally, women play a larger role in managing their family responsibilities and, therefore, they are likely to feel pressure in trying to balance both work and family demands’.  Kenexa carried out a survey of over 1000 employees asking for their views on work-life balance; just over fifty per cent believed their employers supported their efforts to balance both their work life and personal life. Does being successful both in the workplace and at home depend then on the support you get from your employer?

With everything from email to video conferencing at our disposal today, many employers allow flexible working for those with family responsibilities, but the figures show that obviously not enough are truly embracing these flexible ways of working. There may be no substitute for having someone present in the office but if the alternative is women leaving your organisation, is it not worth some consideration? As the report said, female employees who report having a balance between work and personal responsibilities state a much lower intention to leave.

There is no doubt that because the majority of women still play the main role at home that it is difficult for women to meet their career goals whilst paying enough attention to their family lives. As much as we’d all like to be Wonder Woman, we simply can’t do it all! However for those who want to continue with their careers and have a family at the same time, a little support from employers would go a long way.