Giving 100% on the Job (Just Not Always From 8 to 5)
December 28, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
It is a Sunday (though I’ve kind of lost track of time, being away from home in California) and Jim and I are off from work, and Charlie from school. So we’re not having our usual rush and worry to get home in time to meet the schoolbus (though Charlie seeming to have more away from home holiday anxiety than ever before has meant there’s been plenty to keep us occupied). As Kajuana Ezell, whose 17-year-old son is autistic and who works as a senior administrative assistant for Prudential Financial, Inc., in Hartford, says about being the working mother of a special needs child:
“We want a career just like everyone……It’s just that our 100 percent may not be the standard 8 to 5. Companies that can’t give the flexibility, or allow us career opportunities, companies that aren’t open to change, we can’t work there.”
Today’s Boston Globe notes that some companies—-who’ve started to cover more services and therapies for those with disabilities—have been offering financial planning and parenting forums (via websites and conference calls, as well as live seminars) about special needs children.
Lost talent is one risk for inflexible companies. In nearly a quarter of families caring for children with special needs, one or both parents wind up reducing their work hours or quitting their jobs, according to government surveys.
One challenge employers face in responding is the spectrum of different conditions in the special needs community, from fragile health to behavioral disorders. As is often the case in the work-life arena, one size does not fit all. That’s why assessing employee needs regularly, and tailoring supports accordingly, is crucial.
I have to second Ezell’s point that about working 100 percent, just not in that “standard 8 to 5.” Parents of special needs kids talk about having to be “on” 24/7, and that can mean that we know how to be really flexible about getting things done, 24/7, too.
I found that it was easier for an employer to adjust to different schedules if those schedules were relatively fixed. The harder ones to work with were the really flexible schedules; changed quickly due to problems at home. Those were hard to work with.
In those situations were high flexibility is required a person’s co-workers are actually required to help make it all work.
I work a firm schedule (public school, bell to bell), and my need for flexibility comes after and before school hours. I take home a lot of work, and I have to call on Grandma or say, “Sorry, we need to reschedule” when an IEP doesn’t fit into my son’s needs.
I do think the flexibility of my job (which is not always quite as flexible as it has been, as I’ve taken on more administrative duties) has been extremely important in my being able to continue at it, and that having a job outside the house has been very important to helping Charlie—–even though it seems so necessary to focus “everything” on him and around him, sometimes he seems rather relieved that everything isn’t centered on him.