by Valerie on April 29, 2010
Did you see the record number of women among Australia 100 fastest growing start-up companies?
Huge congratulations to these admirable role-models featured on the just-out BRW Fast Starters list.
There are 18 women chief executives and 38 (or 20%) female founders—but as the Australian business magazine points out, this means women are still under-represented among Fast Starters.
The inspiring 18 women CEOs run companies in fields as diverse as electrical cabling wholesaling, immigration law and online retail to photography and recruitment. That is triple the number from the previous year.
And of course, big congratulations to the men among the list, too.
THE DOWNSIDE
BUT it was also interesting to see the downside—the lack of life work balance.
As the report put it: ‘A common characteristic of the owners of fast growing businesses is their unrelenting work ethic.’
Translated, this means:
- Nearly one-third of the entrepreneurs on the list clocked up more than 60 hours a week
- Another third devoted between 50 and 60 hours a week
- 66% admitted to being contactable at all hours every day
Here’s some of that downside spelt out:
- More than 40% experienced anxiety and 4% depression since starting
- More than 30% relationship stresses (including divorces)
- 13% reported some degree of loneliness
Their solution?
Many business owners who suffered burnout or similar said reconnecting with their family and friends and achieving a greater work life balance were crucial to their recovery.
BRW reporter Kath Walters says of the women: ‘Today’s fast women are younger, more hopeful, more ambitious, more comfortable with risk.’
Let’s hope they’re also ensuring they have some life work flow, too!
by Valerie on April 9, 2010
When the President and First Lady of the most powerful country in the world hold a conference pushing for more flexible work conditions, it must be time to celebrate the coming of age of work life balance. Mustn’t it?
It was most impressive to see US President and Mrs Obama convene the White House forum celebrating more flexible work situations, such as telecommuting and flexible hours or job sharing and part-year work.
We’ve long quoted Michelle Obama on the topic. She’s often spoken about the realities and guilt that come with trying to be the best mother while also being the best worker.
Here are just 6 points from the event worth repeating:
Some words from President Obama…
- Workplace flexibility isn’t just a women’s issue. It’s an issue that affects the well-being of our families and the success of our businesses. It affects the strength of our economy — whether we’ll create the workplaces and jobs of the future we need to compete in today’s global economy.
- And ultimately, it reflects our priorities as a society — our belief that no matter what each of us does for a living, caring for our loved ones and raising the next generation is the single most important job that we have. I think it’s time we started making that job a little easier for folks.
And some from First Lady Michelle Obama…
- But here’s the thing: As we all know here today, it just doesn’t have to be that way, doesn’t have to be that hard. And that’s something that I learned for myself, not just as an employee but as a manager, when I discovered that the more flexibility that I gave to my staff to be good parents, and I valued that, the happier my staff was likely to be and the greater chance they were to stay and not leave, because they knew they might not find the same kind of flexibility somewhere else.
A new White House report also showed that flexibility actually improved productivity. And we know from our research that our perception of flexibility made women believe they had work life balance.
Finally, a telling statistic from the conference:
- Today, two-thirds of American families with kids are ‘juggler families’ where there is no spouse at home full time to deal with many routine and emergency family needs. This is the complete reversal of the situation in 1970 when almost two-thirds of married couples had one spouse at home.
So what’s happening in your work place? And have you started your own company to give yourself flexibility?
