Great article from Down Under.
WOMEN should demand nannies and housekeepers as part of their salary package to keep their careers on track, Ita Buttrose says.
The publishing queen said if Australia adopted more of a nanny culture, it would help women stay in work, continue to climb the corporate ladder and snare the chief executive's role.
"I am a great believer in packages that include some support for the mother, whether it is a nanny or a housekeeper or whatever," she said.
"You might not get the shares, or you might not get the car, but you balance one out against the other. Of course companies can do it."
"Women who want to continue their careers and have families should ask for that package from their employer and the workplace needs to think about how they are going to offer it."
Ms Buttrose, 69, who used a nanny to care for her young children while she founded the magazine Cleo, spoke to The Sunday Mail to promote the first Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry poll to identify the challenges faced by Australia's 700,000 female entrepreneurs.
Ms Buttrose says businesses are mad not to have more women in decision-making roles and has urged them to pay for nannies to ensure their female staff don't fall off the career ladder.
"Having a nanny made my life infinitely easier and certainly having someone in my home caring for my son was much better than me dropping him into day care," she said.
"It means there is always someone with the child and if the child is sick and there's an important meeting, you can still get there."
"If you occasionally have to work back late your child is not going to starve."
"You are in charge of the routine then and you know what you are doing with your baby, whereas when you drop your baby into day care it is a different routine."
Ms Buttrose said big business needed to offer packages to female employees that included help at home - and women needed to demand it.
Ms Buttrose said she supported enforcing quotas of women in senior management and board positions because "the progress is just too slow".
She said Australia had been sidetracked by getting women on boards and should be concentrating on the more powerful CEO role.
"We got diverted with the boardroom argument."
"Don't forget running the business, being the CEO, is really the big role women should aim for ...It is the CEO that drives change in the business."
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Amen and for father's too! We have tax credits but they are about two weeks pay a year. Great point and I hope American corporations listen to this advice!
ReplyDeleteIn today’s society, there are many benefits of hiring a nanny:
ReplyDelete1. COST. If you have two or more children, it may be cost effective for you to hire a nanny as many daycare centers can cost you more. Also, many families are using “nanny share”. This is an arrangement in which two families share one nanny. This cuts down on costs but you still experience the benefits of having a nanny.
2. HEALTH OF THE CHILDREN. You may have healthier children by keeping them away from the large groups of children typically found in daycare. Germs are easily spread from child to child, so daycare centers can be breeding grounds for every cold and flu of the season. When your children contract illnesses, it takes an emotional toll on both you and your children. Further, they may miss school, you may miss work, and you may incur expenses associated with doctor’s visits and medications. Your children’s exposure to germs, and thus the risks discussed here, can be dramatically diminished by simply using the services of a nanny.
3. WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY. If your children are sick, many daycare centers will not accept your children. However, if you have a nanny, you can still go to work as the nanny will stay home with the children. Further, if you have an attentive nanny at home with your children, you will be less likely to feel like you just can’t concentrate at work due to concern for your children. By staying focused at work, your workplace productivity remains high.
4. HOME WORKLOAD DELEGATION. A nanny can help you maintain work/life balance. For example, a nanny can be an extra pair of hands helping with household duties such as laundry, errands, transporting children, and starting the evening meal. This allows for more quality family time when the parents arrive home. No need to rush in the morning to get the kids out the door for daycare or school: a nanny is an extra pair of hands in the morning.
5. MARITAL BONDING. Many parents become so over-committed with the tasks of working full-time on top of parenting, household maintenance, and a host of other daily responsibilities, that tending the marital bond simply isn’t on their radar screen. Years later, it may be too late when the couple realizes that they have grown apart. A nanny can help prevent that. Nannies can watch children in the evenings (which many daycare centers will not do), thus allowing parents an opportunity for a romantic evening out, or maybe just some private just-the-two-of-us time. These relationship-building evenings help maintain the marital bond.
6. PEACE OF MIND. Daycare centers have... http://tinyurl.com/yakn7ws