Be the Powerball of Bosses
Powerball fever is spreading across the nation as the lottery jackpot climbs to over $1 billion. With a big “B.” Go ahead, buy that ticket (or 10), dream a little dream about what you’d do with your riches, and then focus on the lottery you might actually win (or maybe you’ve already won): the Boss lottery. With a huge “B.”
What is the Boss lottery? It’s when you have a boss who understands how to bring new parents back to work with ease, as a matter of course, and with a sense of pride. It is a commitment to getting it right by setting employee and employer up for success. That means respecting time, boundaries, and genuinely caring about how to make it possible for parent employees to be their best at work and at home.
We hear story after story through It’s Working Project’s Portrait Project about how having the right boss makes or breaks the reality of back to work after baby in the American workforce. So in this time of Powerball mania, we’ve been thinking about the parents who have hit the jackpot–the ones who got lucky enough to work for someone who takes seriously their commitment to parental return. That is winning!
One thing we have seen, those who win often pay it forward (and with amazing amounts of pride). Sometimes winning the Boss lottery means becoming that boss.
Lainie from Cincinnati explains being a great boss is about flexibility, “Most of the contractors I hire are moms who regret leaving the workforce. I’ve hired some on full-time. I’ve always given the flexibility to work hours that are convenient to them. I’ve always covered for someone who had to take a kid to an appointment. I’ve never asked someone to work a typical schedule and have to pay for daycare without paying that person a wage that would allow them to afford a high caliber of childcare.”
And Claire from Kentucky shows us the importance of support, “”I am a mentor for new lawyers and active with women’s groups in my area, in part because I am a parent. After having my daughter, I also started a Lean In Circle in my region for women attorneys, in large part because working and being a mom is tough in the early years.”
While Erin from Houston shows us how changing workplace culture is pivotal, “I have someone right now whose wife is pregnant with their first and have worked with him to determine leave & encouraged him to both consider taking all the time we pay for (now 16 weeks for him) and offered flexible leave solutions if that works better (flex time, work from home, etc). It’s incredibly important to me that I normalize taking maternity and paternity leave from my position as a leader & that I advocate.”
So sure, you’ve got to play to win. And being that boss is winning — winning loyalty, commitment, recruitment, engagement, and retention. Best part, it doesn’t even cost a penny to play, and we guarantee your odds of winning the Boss Lottery are definitely better than 1 in 292.2 million.
If you have a story to share with the It’s Working Project’s Portrait Project about how you’ve won the Boss lottery or have been that boss, please get in touch with us through our site, or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.