- Welcome to the Knowledgette webinar on work-life balance. In discussing work-life balance, too often we focus on one side or the other. The key factor is balance. To be at equilibrium, both sides must be equally valuable. Life has many types of trade-offs, pain, gain, risk, reward. Basically we are opportunity driven. People may be willing to literally work themselves to death for the right opportunity. If we are asked in the abstract what we would do for an opportunity, quite often we'll give a different answer than if presented with a specific opportunity. So a lot depends upon the opportunities that you have. When you think your work-life balance is not rewarding, the problem may not be on the home side, it may be on the work side. In the Society of Petroleum Engineers' survey that I led on why people change jobs, we found that opportunity was the main driver. Opportunity was the factor that most people cited for why they stayed with an employer, insufficient opportunity was why they left, and opportunity was what drove their selection of a new employer. Many women now start their careers thinking the glass ceiling is a thing of the past and that the sky is the limit for them. However, by mid career, they're hitting boundaries and maybe feeling frustrated. At the same time, women may be starting a family. So at the same time they're seeing the rewards side diminishing, they're also seeing what they're sacrificing increasing. Mid-career frustration can be due to many things. But a key factor can be that a woman feels that she's no longer on the fast track. A woman may have received many advancements earlier in her career only to find herself stalled at mid-career when promotions get more competitive. Amongst the problems can be that a woman may find that she's stuck in a series of lateral moves, which can happen for many reasons. Management may claim that the lateral moves are giving her broad experience, or she many have taken those moves to avoid a relocation. If a woman wishes to go into management and finds herself a series of staff roles, she may find it impossible to secure a management role. At the same time, if a woman is starting her family, she may feel that her job gives her insufficient flexibility. Many women are now delaying childbirth to mid-career. So at the same time women are hitting frustrations at work, their responsibilities are increasing greatly at home. And since infancy is fleeting, women may be very torn about continuing their careers versus dropping out. However, if you drop out, the hurdles to getting back into the workforce are much greater than if you continue in some capacity, whether it's part time, taking a leave of absence, or telecommuting for a while. The Pew Research found that the majority of mothers think that they will have more difficulty advancing after they have children. This can also contribute to a woman feeling that her work-life balance is unsatisfactory. It's often reported that men indeed do benefit after having a child. It's thought that they've reached greater maturity, they may receive a promotion and, or a raise. In contrast, it can be viewed that women are now distracted from their employment and have less of a chance of advancing, so the fact that 63% think that they will have more difficulty advancing is based on experience and observations of what happens. In the Society of Petroleum Engineers study, we reached out to women who had left the petroleum industry. Many women at the time they leave may cite family responsibilities as their reason for departing. It is politically acceptable to say that. You're not criticizing your employer in any way. However, when we asked, childcare issues were not among the top five reasons why women quit the industry. The top reason was for more meaningful work, and the next reason was insufficient opportunity, followed by to work in a location they liked better. All of these indicate that women are not getting sufficient opportunity where they work. There are many reasons for lack of opportunity. Even if a woman was fortunate enough to have an important sponsor early in her career, by mid-career, her sponsor may have retired, changed job, or some other problem may have happened. When a woman has a child, there can be perceptions of inadequate dedication to her career, the well-known motherhood penalty. If because she's part of a dual-career couple, the woman is at put geographic restrictions on where she will work, the unwillingness to relocate can also be perceived as putting her career behind her family life and lack of dedication to career. These factors and others can be compiled and create friction with supervisors, and coworkers may resent a woman making use of flexible work arrangements. And so that can create resentment, or coworkers may say inappropriate things implying that the woman should be home with her children that can also create resentment. Also included in this in terms of why women may not be considered suitable for advancement can be the fact that women have a different communication style than men, and so men may not appreciate what women are saying. And women often do not get credit for their ideas. So the female pipeline of talent leaks at mid-career. Unfortunately, most employers are not focusing on this leaky mid-career point. There's no way we're ever going to fill the pipeline if it continues to leak at mid-career. However, employers like to focus on the entry point, on encouraging more women to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as opposed to saying, "What's wrong?" There's enhanced recruiting of early career women, but mid-career attrition doesn't get the attention that it's due because that requires admitting that existing programs are not working properly. So if you're frustrated and thinking about dropping out of the workforce, you need to think long and hard about it. You need to understand what's driving you, why you feel that your work-life balance is not satisfactory. Don't automatically assume that it's the home side. Yes, raising a family and having children is a huge amount of work, but that's transitory thing. And if you drop out of the workforce, returning to work can be much more difficult than continuing on in some capacity, either taking a leave of absence, working part time, or telecommuting. So you need to ask yourself, will you really be happier as a full-time housewife, taking care of young children. You will lose the intellectual stimulation you get from your work, your relationship with your spouse will change because the focus of your daily life is different. How are you going to satisfy your intellectual needs? And you also need to very seriously look at how difficult it will be to return to work when the immediate pressures change. In conclusion, when we think about work-life balance and our personal work-life balance, we need to address both sides and say what's working and what's not working on both sides to really understand why we feel out of balance.