Nicole Gingerich, Senior Administrative Assistant at McGladrey, was named one of four 2011 Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother magazine. What’s unique about Nicole is that she’s the only single mother that was awarded this honor. Not only that, but she’s faced major health issues in her family. Here’s her story (excerpted from Working Mother magazine, November 2011 issue).
Nicole is an inspirational single working mom who has persevered through multiple obstacles to find resourceful and creative ways to break through barriers and deal with difficult issues. Her daughter, Madelyne, was diagnosed with systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at 18 months. And yet, despite having endured more medical poking and prodding than most of us will experience in a lifetime, Madelyne still has a ready smile, sometimes mischievous twinkling eyes and a bubbly personality – all due to her mom.
With help from a very supportive family and McGladrey’s work life flexibility policies, Nicole is able to act on a moment’s notice when Madelyne’s RA flares. Nicole does so with confidence, knowing that her team covers for one another at work. Indeed, despite her own ongoing emotional and financial strain, Nicole inspires her team with her generosity of time, energy and finances when she sees another in need.
Always hopeful for a cure and proactive in the quest, Nicole works closely with the Arthritis Foundation and recently captained a local Arthritis Walk team to raise awareness and research support.
It’s Wednesday at 1:45 in the afternoon. Alexis receives a call from her son’s school saying he’s sick with a 101 degree fever, and needs to be picked up from school. Alexis is getting ready to go into an important meeting with a client, and her husband is out of town on business. Alexis panics – she’s not sure who she can call for help. How about you? Do you know who you can call in an urgent situation such as this? Hopefully, you have a list of names and numbers you can call for back-up help.
For working moms, having a strong support network is essential. Given that life is unpredictable, you never know when you’ll need assistance — someone to pick up your child from school, or back-up child care, or someone to take care for your sick child.
Who should be in your support network? Here’s a list:
Boss – A boss can support you by allowing flexibility when needed – to attend parent-teacher conferences or school performances, or to stay home with a sick child.
Co-workers – Co-workers can support you by filling in when you cannot be at work – so you don’t have to come back to twice the work!
Spouse – Your spouse can share household and childcare responsibilities.
Children – Even your children (depending upon their age) can take responsibility and do their part.
Family — Your extended family can support you by providing back-up child care.
Friends – It’s great to have friends who can help in times of need – to trade-off carpooling or caring for children.
Neighbors – A neighbor can help out in a pinch; for example, to pick up your child from school.
Paid Services – These include your child care provider, emergency child care, and household services (including housecleaning, gardening, pest control, window washing, errands, shopping, etc.).
How strong is your network? What’s missing? If you find your support network is not as strong as you’d like, then gain the support you need. Then when you’re faced with an unexpected call, you’ll know who to ask for help.
Every day after school, some 15 million children nationwide go home to an empty house, according to a 2009 Afterschool Alliance study. If you’re the parent of a “latchkey kid”, I imagine your primary concern is your child’s safety.
First, it’s important to determine if your child is ready to stay home alone. There’s no specific age by which children are ready, since developmentally, children can be so different. Consider how mature your child is. Take into account how your child might respond to a variety of everyday situations – such as someone coming to the door, as well as how he or she might react in an emergency situation.
If you think your child may be ready, give it a trial run. For example, go shopping for an hour or so in the afternoon. See how your child handles being alone. Some children really like the independence, while others are afraid to be by themselves.
When you child is ready for the independence, prepare him or her. Here are a few tips:
- Checking in – Have your child check in with you as soon as he or she arrives home from school. With cell phones it’s easy to keep in touch by calling, leaving a voicemail, or sending a text message.
- Rules – Establish and discuss rules for everyday occurrences such as answering the door, snacks, cooking, homework, and TV/video games.
- Emergency plans – Discuss what to do in an emergency, and post a list of important phone numbers next to the phone.
Preparing your child to be home alone will help ease your mind. You’ll feel more confident that your child will be able to handle himself in any situation — and be safe!
This month Working Mother magazine published their list of 100 Best Companies for working mothers. Not surprisingly, all offer flexibility, including flextime and telecommuting. Other benefits offered by all 100 companies include: Employee Assistance program, paid maternity leave, on-site lactation room, and medical flexible spending accounts. Ninety-nine percent also offer child-care resource & referral service and health screening programs.
The 10 Best Companies for working mothers are listed below. Click here for the full listing of the 100 Best Companies.
- Bank of America
- Deloitte
- Discovery Communications
- Ernst & Young
- General Mills
- KPMG
- Prudential Financial
- PwC
- TriHealth
- WellStar Health System
What makes these companies so great? Besides the benefits and services listed above, all ten of the top ten companies have an active work-life committee or task force. They also grant flexibility requests on a reason-neutral basis.
Beyond the basics, it’s interesting to note the wide array of services some of these companies offer to make it easier for employees to juggle work and personal life. At Bank of America, employees can take two paid hours off per week to volunteer in the community. At Discovery Communications, anyone who pays for an exercise class may be reimbursed for 50% of the cost (up to $50 a month). Prudential Financial not only offers career counseling, but also life coaching programs for its employees. At PwC, moms who work just 20 hours per week still earn full benefits.
If you’re fortunate enough to work for one of the best companies for working mothers, chances are you’re taking advantage of these great benefits and services!
It’s 7 a.m. and Darlene discovers that her 7-year-old son is sick with a 101 degree fever. It couldn’t have happened on a worse day – the day of her important customer presentation! Does Darlene panic and scramble for back-up care? Or does she have a back-up plan in place? As a working mom, how can you handle these last-minute surprises? Here are 5 tips for what to do when your child is sick.
- Plan in Advance – Discuss with your spouse how you will handle a situation when your child is sick. Most importantly, have a back-up plan in place. Does one or the other of you stay home? Do you have a family member or neighbor that you can rely on? Are you aware of a child care center that will take mildly sick children? Discuss your options and have phone numbers handy.
- Build a Strong Support Network – As a working mother, it’s important to have a strong support network, especially if you are a single parent. Hopefully, you have family close by that you can rely on in a pinch. Develop relationships with friends and neighbors, in particular, stay-at-home moms or retired folks, who may be able to help out when needed. Be sure to return favors in order to maintain good will.
- Determine who will Stay Home with your Child – If both you and your husband work outside of the home, then check your calendar for the day and determine who would be in the best position to stay home with your child. If you don’t have any important meetings scheduled that day, then it may be your turn. Or as another option, the two of you could split the day. For example, you go into work in the morning and your husband goes in to work in the afternoon.
- Telecommute / Work from Home – Do either of you have the option of working from home? This may be the best alternative. Then either you or your husband can take care of your sick child and get some work done.
- Save your Sick Days – Try to save your sick days so that you have leeway to take a sick day when your child is sick. Then you can avoid taking unpaid days.
By considering these options and having a back-up plan in place, you’ll feel relieved knowing your child will be properly cared for when sick.