Giving Flexibility to Working Mothers and Caregivers
By Traci Schweikert
Welcome to May and the work-life balance gauntlet known as Maycember. In addition to tackling H1 milestones before project teams scatter for the summer months, working moms and caregivers are adding year-end concerts, projects, and parties to their calendars. If moms have children with additional needs, they are adding a scavenger hunt of questions about allergen-free treat alternatives or activity spaces with less sensory overload. Ask any mom and she can give you a long running list of things she needs to research, create and deliver in the next six weeks. Think I am exaggerating? Just ask.
The truth is, we won’t ask. Instead, we will add to the already teetering pile with several new high priority deliverables. With the first half of the fiscal year in sight, we will task working moms to prep strategic priorities and budgets for 2026. Seeing our Q2 projections, we will ask them to hold on an open position or prep messaging for a potential shortfall.
The good news is moms and caregivers are experts at multi-tasking. They will deliver for their organizations, their families and their community. The bad news is they will do so at the expense of their own physical and mental health. They will likely sleep and exercise less and prioritize family and work above their own needs. In most organizations, the expense of that success goes unrecognized.
How do we support and recognize the moms and caregivers within our organizations without instituting unsustainable and inequitable policies or absorbing the work ourselves? One word – FLEXIBILITY.
Here are a few ways that organizations can provide flexibility for mothers and caregivers:·
- Temporarily shift deadlines or work schedules.
- Eliminate ‘fire drills’ such as multiple and last-minute revisions of decks or project plans.
- Grant them additional time off, including half days, late starts, early departures.
- Allow them additional work-from-home options, even if temporary, to accommodate travel to school events and commitments without extended commute times.
- Adjust meetings to allow for midday gaps or early departures for mothers and caregivers to attend school events.
- Postpone non-essential projects or trainings for them.
- Refrain from scheduling new meetings without giving a 24-48 hours notice to them.
Not every organization or team will be able to offer all the options listed above, but hopefully the list will spark ideas for using flexibility to support mothers that are feasible for your team. The best thing to do is talk to mothers on your teams and ask them how you can support them, especially during the next six weeks. Also remember that one size doesn’t fit all. The support one person needs could look different than another. The flexibility should be equitable, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be the same.
If you are not the person in charge of project timelines or work schedules, you can show small signs of appreciation for them by taking them for a coffee or lunch in an effort to get to know them. Ask them to brag about that concert or about life outside of work. Moms always have pictures to share.
Caregiver roles look very different from family to family. The same flexibility offered to working mothers should be extended to bonus moms, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members. Leaders should consider supporting any adult who is showing up for a child in their life. The result will be healthier, more engaged employees who will bring the same excellence to the office that they bring to their families and community.
