FORUMS
Guide for Smart Working Moms
That's why when you ask your boss for some job flexibility so you can spend more time with your kids, he says okay. Perhaps you no longer work until 7pm, or you cut back on business travel, switched to flextime or work from home one day a week. You breathe a sigh of relief, and the company pats itself on the back for its enlightened approach to working mothers.
But without knowing it, you may have entered the Mommy Zone -- you're still productive, sharp and committed, but you've fallen off the radar screen when it comes to promotions, bonuses or high-profile projects. Asking for a change in schedule to accommodate your family obligations can give you a quick image makeover -- from player to worker bee. The fine print in your deal goes something like this: We'll let you have a life, but you can forget about career growth. And so the goodies go to your competition -- women who don't have young children or, more likely, to men. "Working on a flexible schedule can get you labeled as being uncommitted or regarded as less valuable," says Marcia Brumit Kropf, Ph.D., vice president of research and advisory services at Catalyst, an organization that advises companies on women in the workforce. "Which is interesting, because the reason you get these arrangements in the first place is that you are valuable."
Is it possible to escape the Mommy Zone -- to have time for your family but keep the rewards coming your way? Your chances are getting better. Two-thirds of big U.S. companies have some sort of family-friendly option, and the trend is spreading to traditionally macho, work-'em-till-they-drop fields like law and public accounting.
More common, though, is the company that trumpets its new family-friendly policy but can't quite make it stick. Like the New York law firm that allowed its sole female partner to work a reduced schedule after her baby was born. The other partners began to call her "Chuck E. Cheese" in front of her and complained loudly if she took books from the firm's library to use at home. "The message was not lost on any woman in the firm," says a former female associate. Even big companies with formal job-flexibility programs have often seen them turn into mommy ghettos.
So don't wait for your company to get its act together. Women who've done it say there are ways to stay on the fast track when you're on your personal mommy track. To pull it off, you're going to have to be -- as the career handbooks love to say -- proactive, ready with the solution before your boss has even thought of the problem. You'll have to be a master of personal PR. And you're going to have to cheat just a tiny bit.
