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????親愛的安妮：我以前一直在漫不經(jīng)心地尋找新工作，但現(xiàn)在我下定決心要換工作了。最近，在我供職的律師事務(wù)所，因?yàn)橐粯栋缸拥淖罱K審判期臨近，導(dǎo)致我不得不在辦公室里度過母親節(jié)。這件事讓我的忍耐達(dá)到了極限，并促使我最終做出了這個(gè)決定。 ????四年前，從法學(xué)院畢業(yè)后，我便獲得了這份工作。聘用我的合伙人當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì)我保證，我會(huì)有靈活的工作時(shí)間，并且可以在晚上和周末回家看我兒子——那時(shí)候他只有兩歲。但事實(shí)卻并非如此。我相信，在保證工作與生活的平衡這方面，事務(wù)所的意圖是好的，但是在緊急關(guān)頭，這里所有人都在夜以繼日地工作，“早”（比如晚上9點(diǎn)）離開一會(huì)兒就是對(duì)團(tuán)隊(duì)的背叛。 ????我知道，在網(wǎng)上有許多關(guān)于家庭友好型公司的信息，但是我怎么能知道那些信息是否屬實(shí)呢？我將要有第二個(gè)孩子了，我希望在選擇下一位老板的時(shí)候，不要再犯同樣的錯(cuò)誤——曾經(jīng)的受傷者 ????親愛的OB：可能你也知道，有許多人跟你的經(jīng)歷是一樣的。美國(guó)勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局（Bureau of Labor Statistics）的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字顯示，孩子在18歲以下的女性中，大約有四分之三（71%）正扮演著職業(yè)女性的角色，其中許多職業(yè)女性的孩子很小：六歲以下孩子的媽媽中，64%在外工作；對(duì)于孩子在一歲以下的媽媽群體來說，這一比例為57%。 ????所以，許多公司宣傳他們會(huì)努力滿足父母的需要，并把這一點(diǎn)作為招聘和留住人才的福利。而且，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這方面擁有一流信譽(yù)的公司，很容易就能找到。 ????例如，《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）推出的年度最佳公司（Best Companies）榜單中，列出了重視工作與生活平衡的十佳雇主。《職業(yè)婦女》雜志（Working Mother）將遠(yuǎn)程辦公、彈性工時(shí)和工作分擔(dān)等特殊待遇作為評(píng)選根據(jù)，列出了一份25年來最佳家庭友好型雇主的榜單。在這25年間，IBM與強(qiáng)生公司（Johnson & Johnson）年年榜上有名。 ????這是個(gè)非常好的現(xiàn)象。但是，跟大多數(shù)事情一樣，家庭友好也是相對(duì)的，請(qǐng)別介意我這么說。比如：就在上周，職場(chǎng)網(wǎng)站Glassdoor.com公布了一份投票結(jié)果，選出了美國(guó)25家注重工作與生活平衡的最佳雇主。前三名分別是：雀巢普瑞納寵物食品公司（Nestle Purina PetCare）、邁特公司（MITRE）和SAS研究所（SAS Institute）。 ????但即使在這勝出的25家公司中，也有跡象表明，父母——尤其是新生兒媽媽們的處境——可能會(huì)非常艱難。例如，玻璃門網(wǎng)站（Glassdoor）調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，每10名雇員中，僅有一人表示，在孩子出生或收養(yǎng)孩子后，他們可以選擇逐步返回到工作中來。 ????在整個(gè)就業(yè)市場(chǎng)——尤其是經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退引發(fā)失業(yè)浪潮的背景下——要找到一家真正的家庭友好型公司，就像大海撈針一樣困難。 ????求職網(wǎng)站簡(jiǎn)單就業(yè)網(wǎng)（SimplyHired）首席營(yíng)銷官丹尼爾?格林伯格表示，許多公司都知道，求職者想要辦公室以外的生活，因此，公司會(huì)在發(fā)布招聘信息時(shí)進(jìn)行相應(yīng)的措辭。 ????格林伯格表示，從2009年以來，簡(jiǎn)單就業(yè)網(wǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，包含“彈性工作”的招聘廣告數(shù)量增加了100%，而提及遠(yuǎn)程辦公的招聘廣告數(shù)量則激增了166%。 ????格林伯格還表示，簡(jiǎn)單就業(yè)網(wǎng)的分析顯示，即便如此，在網(wǎng)站上的530萬(wàn)份美國(guó)職位列表中（全球?yàn)?00萬(wàn)份），“僅有5.4%的工作對(duì)媽媽友好”。為了幫助你，以及其他有相同情況的求職者鎖定這些工作，該網(wǎng)站開發(fā)了一種計(jì)算方法，通過解析包含“家庭友好型”等關(guān)鍵字的招聘廣告，創(chuàng)建一個(gè)快捷工具，幫助你縮小搜索范圍，從中挑選適合自己的職位。 ????不過，簡(jiǎn)單就業(yè)網(wǎng)最顯著的特點(diǎn)，是一個(gè)標(biāo)簽為“我都認(rèn)識(shí)什么人？”的鏈接，它被鏈接到人際關(guān)系網(wǎng)（Linkedln）和臉譜網(wǎng)（Facebook），并根據(jù)你的社交媒體聯(lián)系人，給出他們所在公司的招聘職位。 ????格林伯格表示，要想真正了解一家公司到底多重視雇員的家庭生活， “目前正在這家公司就職的員工，才是最可靠的信息來源?！碑吘梗魏稳硕伎梢栽趶V告中打出“彈性工作”招牌。但是，如果人際關(guān)系網(wǎng)上的熟人告訴你，她已經(jīng)幾個(gè)月沒能準(zhǔn)時(shí)回家哄孩子睡覺了，那你就得悠著點(diǎn)兒了。 ????此外，格林伯格還為你提出兩條建議。首先，如果你還沒有這么做過，你可以試著和你現(xiàn)在公司的上級(jí)坐下來，跟他表達(dá)你對(duì)工作負(fù)荷的不滿。他表示：“能否獲得彈性工作時(shí)間，部分取決于你在公司的地位?！餍恰瘬碛懈蟮挠绊懥?。但是通常情況下，直言不諱還是值得一試?！?/p> ????格林伯格還表示，在開始全面找工作之前，“試著想想其他辦法”。“老板們非常重視有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人，除非迫不得已，否則他們是不會(huì)輕易找人來替換你的。所以，相對(duì)于投奔一個(gè)完全陌生的新東家，不如與你現(xiàn)在的公司進(jìn)行磋商，獲得工作與生活的平衡，或許這會(huì)更容易。而且在新地方，至少在開始的時(shí)候，你需要花很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間來證明自己。” ????格林伯格給出的第二條建議是，在試探潛在雇主關(guān)于彈性工作的看法時(shí)，要注意你的措辭：“不要直接問長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作的問題。你絕對(duì)不想給人留下職業(yè)道德缺乏的印象。但是，你可以問一下公司文化，尤其是正常工作日通常需要承擔(dān)哪些工作任務(wù)。”另外，不妨邀請(qǐng)一兩個(gè)潛在同事，與他們進(jìn)行非正式會(huì)面（或吃午餐，離開辦公室），借機(jī)看看能否對(duì)公司有更深的了解。 ????還有一個(gè)問題：你并沒有提到，你是否在考慮跳槽到另外一家律師事務(wù)所，還是擴(kuò)大搜索范圍，嘗試一下其他行業(yè)。一些律師事務(wù)所確實(shí)可以保證工作和生活的平衡，在這里給你推薦一個(gè)很好的信息來源：“當(dāng)工作奏效時(shí)（When Work Works）”，這是一家導(dǎo)航網(wǎng)站，通過它，你可以了解美國(guó)家庭與工作協(xié)會(huì)（Families and Work Institute）和人力資源管理協(xié)會(huì)（Society for Human Resource Management）推薦的家庭友好型雇主。 ????不過，有一些傳統(tǒng)的律師事務(wù)所，它們的日程總是排的滿滿的，因而臭名昭著。你或許應(yīng)該盡量擴(kuò)大職位搜索范圍，尋找一些其他的公司。我曾經(jīng)在這里提到過的一本好書，或許可以給你一些啟發(fā)，就是由黛博拉?亞倫所著的《法學(xué)畢業(yè)生能做什么？律師非傳統(tǒng)職業(yè)指南》（What Can You Do With a Law Degree?: A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside, & Around the Law.）。 ????祝你好運(yùn)！ |
????Dear Annie:I was half-heartedly looking for a new job, but now I'm stepping up my search. The last straw was spending Mother's Day at the office, because of looming trial deadlines at the law firm where I work. ????When I took this job right out of law school four years ago, the partner who hired me assured me that I'd have flexible hours and would be able to get home to see my son -- who was two years old at the time -- in the evenings and on weekends. It hasn't worked out that way. I believe the firm's intentions are good regarding work-life balance, but when push comes to shove, everyone here works around the clock, and ducking out "early" (say, 9 p.m.) means letting the team down. ????I know there is lots of information online about family-friendly companies, but how do I know it's accurate? I'm expecting a second child, and I'd like to avoid making the same mistake again in choosing my next employer.— Once Burned ????Dear OB:As you may know, you've got plenty of company. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of women with kids under 18 are in the workforce now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and many of them have small children: 64% of moms with children under six years old are working outside the home, as are 57% of women with infants under a year old. ????It's no wonder, then, that many companies see promoting their efforts to accommodate parents as a boon to recruiting and retaining talent and, as you note, the ones with stellar reputations in this regard are pretty easy to find. ????For instance, Fortune's own annual Best Companies list features a ranking of the 10 best employers for work-life balance. Working Mother magazine has been publishing a yearly list of the most family-friendly employers for 25 years, taking into account such perks as telecommuting, flextime, and job sharing. Two companies, IBM (IBM) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), have made that list every year for the full quarter century. ????Great, but like most things, family-friendliness is relative, if you'll pardon the pun. Consider: Just last week, career site Glassdoor.com came out with the results of a poll identifying the best 25 U.S. employers for work-life balance. The top three: Nestle Purina PetCare, MITRE, and SAS Institute. ????Yet even among those 25 winners, there are signs that parents -- especially new moms -- may be struggling. Only one in 10 employees in Glassdoor's survey, for example, reported that they have the option to return to work gradually after childbirth or adoption. ????In the job market as a whole -- particularly since the recession, with its attendant waves of layoffs -- finding a truly family-friendly spot can be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. ????Daniel Greenberg, chief marketing officer at job-search portal SimplyHired, notes that many companies know job hunters want a life outside the office, and have worded their job postings accordingly. ????Since 2009, Greenberg says, SimplyHired has seen a 100% jump in the number of job ads containing the word "flexibility," and a 166% leap in those mentioning telecommuting. ????Even so, SimplyHired's analysis shows that, of the 5.3 million U.S. job listings currently on the site (8 million worldwide), "only about 5.4% are mom-friendly," says Greenberg. To help people like you pinpoint those jobs, the site developed algorithms that work in part by parsing job ads for family-friendly keywords and created a handy tool that allows you to narrow your search to just those jobs. ????The most telling feature on SimplyHired, though, is a link labeled "Who do I know?" that connects to LinkedIn and Facebook and shows a list of job postings at companies where you already have social-media contacts. ????"Current employees are the most reliable source of information" for getting the straight skinny on how family-friendly an employer really is, Greenberg notes. Anybody can toss the word "flexibility" into a job ad, after all, but if someone you know on LinkedIn tells you she hasn't been home in time to tuck her kids into bed in months, beware. ????Beyond that, Greenberg has a couple of suggestions for you. First, if you haven't already done so, try sitting down with higher-ups at your firm and expressing your dissatisfaction with your workload. "Getting more flexibility depends partly on your status in the company. "Stars" have more leverage. But in general, directness is worth a try," he says. ????Before you embark on a full-scale job search, "try to work something out," Greenberg adds. "Employers really value experienced people, and they would rather not have to replace you. So it may be a lot easier to negotiate more work-life balance where you are now than to go somewhere else where no one knows you -- and where you may end up putting in long hours, at least at first, to prove yourself." ????And second, in sounding out prospective employers for flexibility, Greenberg adds, choose your words with care: "Tread lightly on asking directly about long hours. You don't want to give the impression that your work ethic is lacking. But it is okay to ask about the company culture and especially about what a typical work day entails." It also couldn't hurt to request an informal meeting (maybe over lunch, away from the office) with a potential coworker or two, just to see what insights you can gather. ????One more thought: You don't mention whether you're contemplating moving to another law firm or broadening your search to include other kinds of companies. When it comes to work-life balance, a few law firms do get it. A good source of detailed information about some of them: "When Work Works," a guide to family-friendly employers from the Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. ????Neveretheless, you might do better to cast your job search net as widely as possible, looking way beyond traditional law firms with their notoriously grueling schedules. A great book I've mentioned in this space before that might help spark some ideas for you is Deborah Arron's What Can You Do With a Law Degree?: A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside, & Around the Law. ????Good luck! |
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