Juggling Family and Work. Is there a penalty at work for being obvious about your parenting responsibilities?
October 6, 2013
Read here about employees who cover up their parenting obligations because they think it makes them fit in better.
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CJS-360 Diversity Issues 
I am surprised in this day and age that family responsibilities are not better supported in the workplace, especially with the great numbers of women in the workforce. I know there are increasing numbers of men who share parental responsibility, but I still feel the majority of the child-rearing responsibilities fall to the mother.
I would agree with the article that it is valuable for employees to speak up and represent the needs and responsibilities of their families in the workplace so management can understand and address those needs. The benefit to workplace accommodation of family needs is increase productivity and better morale among employees.
I am fortunate to work in and environment where family needs can be expressed and are honored whenever possible. This applies to both males and females alike. It may take more time away from work, but also increases commitment and productivity in time spent at work. I also believe that most people who spend are professionals give more than ample time and commitment in return for consideration of the fulfillment of the rest of their life. In other words, I don’t believe people are inclined to take advantage of this benefit.
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/both-men-and-women-cover-family-responsibilities-at-work/
In every job there is a standard hourly shift. 1st shift which is usually 7-4, 2nd shift which is 2-11pm and 3rd shift which is considered overnights. For a parent with kids they should have had a meeting with their spouse already on whos going to work which shift to help cover babysitting the kids and providing needs for their childern. But for a individual to cover up family obligations for their job is unacceptable. They could have atleast voiced their opinion or state that they cannot make the meeting due to family and ask for a new date to meet. But to not voice their concerns then it gives the work place the right to just do what they need to do and when they need to do it because they can careless about the individuals schedule unless someone spoke up.
From the article itself there doesn’t seem to be a penalty. The employees just aren’t speaking up or being vocal and if they fail to speak up, they have no place to be upset or angry about company policies. The articles goes on to mention personal and work life blending together which is an issue for all employees, not just those with kids. The author portrays only those with kids as the victim when in actuality, it affects everyone. Besides this, people who have children take on burdens of their own, it isn’t up to everyone else to make life easier. If they weren’t able to plan for it, they shouldn’t have had kids.
I agree. I think that more workplaces should be work life balance. I currently work for Target and my company is life work balance. We get so many hours a in year to request off from work to attend things for our children. They also work with collage students or anybody attending school. Target works around your schedule so you can attend school. Target believes that if their co-works family and personal life is going good they will have good employees. You also have to understand some people chose to have kids while some don’t. Although I do think if you have children it’s up to the parents to have a plan or be prepared if need be for anything.
I do not believe that someone should not mention their family. I mean that is their life and work goes along with that but to not mention your children at home for any apparent reason I do not think is correct. I work at a very good company that lets me take time off for my childs things. Sometimes I wish I didnt have to work so I could do more things for my child but it does not always work that way. I would do anyting for my child and I would rather have the company I am working for or about to start for know that I have a child and that some times I will have to miss work for her and some of her school stuff. Juggling a job and child and school and dance is alot of stuff but we get by and sometimes we are more tired then not but i would never want to work for a company i feel i could not mention the fact i have a family and a child at home.
I agree with bits and pieces of everyone’s responses. Peter, I agree with a few of your points. First, parents should be discussing which shifts each person will take at their respective jobs in order to prevent any unwanted scheduling problems to occur. This meeting should happen long before a new job is acquired or before each parent goes back to work. If an individual refuses to disclose that he or she has children to take care of, then there is nothing the company can do to help out eg. scheduling.
I agree with Demosthenes’ post in that everyone’s lives have the opportunity to be affected; not just those with children. There have been countless times where I personally have had to cover someone’s shift because they had something going on with a child. Whether or not they told the company about their child, I still had to bend over backwards to help out. Sometimes even postponing personal family plans. It would be in everone’s best interest to disclose the fact that they have children to their employer.
Lastly, I agree with Andrea in that most companies, including Target, will try to help out their employees if they are aware of children being present in their lives. The thing is, these companies have to know about the children first, so that events like other employers filling in for others doesn’t have to happen. It is up to the parents to disclose this info.
I feel like it can go both ways, as a company you would want to try and care and give your employers excuses such as family events and all, but at the same time it is also the employees’ fault for the lack of planning in advance and notification. When you try to apply for a job, you let them know what shift and the type of flexibility you have, you can’t always just say that you’re flexible throughout the week. This is the reason why there would be issue later on because you told them that you were flexible for any type of shift. Personally we know that when your flexibility is strict and you have a lot of things to work around, employers would rather take their chances with someone else. This applies to all, not just employees’ with a family, kids, or other things going on. The solution to these issues lies on with the first initial interview with the employer and employee. If you fail to work out a solution to your problems then and there, then the job is not likely for you.
I believe in balance and you have to have that in order to run a business and a family. I agree with a lot of the comments, I wish my employer was more family oriented but I also plan ahead for family events so it ends up working out with both my work and family life. If you don’t have income you wont be able to support your family and if you don’t have reliable employee you can’t run a business so I understand from both aspects.
This article is extremely interesting to me because it’s not something I’ve thought about. Coming from a position where people work under me, I feel as though it’s extremely important to know about my employees’ families. If I do not know they are struggling to attend events for their children, there is no way for me to help them. However, I’ve also seen the other side of this, where people are so forthcoming about their parental obligations that they expect special treatment or continually have a reason why they need to leave, etc. Families are extremely important and my company does what they can to accommodate for them, but without knowing someone has a family, there is no way for us to accommodate.
This was a very interesting article, I had never thought of family and work balance this way. In my previous position, we were allowed to be a little flexible in order to accommodate family time as well had several paid benefit hours to use for these circumstances. All ‘higher ups’ acknowledged that family was important and knew by providing these benefits people would most likely stay with the company longer. However my current job, while very rewarding, is restricted in regards to family. We can talk about our family however certain managers will cause a fuss about having to ask for time off even for a half day and coverage is not an issue. I was recently refused time off to see my dad who comes to town once a year, when I stated why I needed this one day off they shrugged.
I agree with previous posts as companies will generally try to accommodate for those who both have children and do not, however it is impossible for them to know why we need time off or certain hours/accommodations without clear communication between the employee and employer.