I published the following post well over a year ago, but I want to republish it now because I think it’s just as true and valid now (if not more so) than it was in early 2008. We’ve come so far, but there is much work to do to level the playing field in the business world and eliminate the gender gap. Unconventional thinking like that discussed below is just one way to get there.
Ever since I left the corporate world in 2004 to be a stay-at-home mom to my triplets, I’ve wondered something. It’s not rocket science. In fact, this thought seems so simple to me, so obvious and makes such sense that it’s beyond my comprehension why more companies haven’t considered it. Ready for my genius? Here you go:
Why don’t more companies hire stay-at-home moms (or dads) as consultants, freelancers or as telecommuting employees? Many of us have an enormous amount of experience and knowledge in our respective fields garnered from our years working prior to choosing to stay at home with our children, and if you let us work from home and make our own hours, we’ll probably be willing to work for a lot less money and produce superior results.
What? Mr. CEO says that he needs employees who are available to be in the office during business hours. I call bull!
What? Mr. CEO says that he can’t trust someone with kids around to complete work on time. I call major bull!
I could go on and on with the arguments against hiring stay-at-home moms to take on management and executive roles in companies from the comfort of their own homes, but I’d have a counterargument for every single one of them. It just makes sense to leverage the knowledge and experience of these women. What an incredible, untapped talent pool!
And I’m not talking about hiring assistants and customer service representatives here. I’m talking about hiring experts in their fields. The women who left their careers by choice when they were working in management and executive level positions in order to be at home with their children. Most of these women are very capabable of meeting the needs of a corporate position around their duties at home if given the opportunity to telecommute with a flexible schedule. I work until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning many nights each week to complete the necessary work for my business – the business I started to meet my unconventional schedule but that I run professionally and successfully despite my odd hours. Imagine what a corporation could get from me or other women like me if they let go of their traditional ways of thinking that work has to be done in the office during conventional business hours.
So again I ask, why aren’t more companies noticing this pool of talent available to them at a lower than expected price if they were willing to make some concessions in terms of telecommuting and scheduling? I just don’t get it.
Of course, there are some companies who are catching on. Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal to learn the details. And two more companies that make use of virtual experts, particularly women, that you should check out are Womenkind and Newstex (full disclosure — both are clients of mine). It seems to me that the companies who tap into this pool of talent sooner rather than later will position themsevles quite well in the short and long term.
What do you think?
If you agree, please Digg this post, Stumble it, write about it and link to it. Do anything you can think of to spread the word!
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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I believe because there is such a large pool of stay at home parents, that the push for companies to allow telecommuting is getting stronger. Also, because of the “green movement” companies are getting pushed more to save (work at home saves in trash, recycling, car emmissions, etc). Another great push is the economy’s current position – companies are asked to save more money, and they have already cut paychecks down, stopped buying new toys, and are even cutting marketing and advertising down – if they allow work at home, they will save tremendous amounts in office square footage as well as water, heating, and electricity. The trend has started… let’s keep pushing!
Talented stay-at-home moms (and dads) are exactly the talent pool that I want to hire from to grow my business. Where do I find them, other than by luck or word of mouth? The traditional jobs sites seem totally inadequate for this and I have yet to find a good alternative.
Hi Rick,
Sites like WAHM.org are a great place to start. Also, Craigslist and freelancer sites like Elance.com and Guru.com are great options. Posting jobs on Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com also gets them in front of large audiences without breaking the bank. And don’t forget using sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to spread the word about open jobs.