New Incentives for Women Executives

For weeks now, I have had an interesting article laying on the sidelines as I buckled down to focus on time-sensitive issues. However, this article (Los nuevos incentives para atraer ejecutivas a la alta dirección) piqued my interest and has be rolling around in my head ever since.

The article discusses how many women ‘associate a successful career with personal sacrifice,’ perhaps in terms of family, friends, religion etc. Basically they believe that a successful career will take away their work-life balance and lean heavily towards the “work” end of the scale. And perhaps they are right. After all, to get ahead one supposedly must work harder and longer than his/her peers, which inherently takes that time away from other things.

However, the most interesting part of the article to me was the way that companies are adapting to this situation. Companies that do not want to promote their female employees to higher positions to take advantage of their unique skills are looking for ways to ensure this work-life balance throughout the employee’s career. What they have found is that a salary increase does not entice women in the same way as their male counterparts. Instead, these companies have found that the biggest difference in incentivizing is made by offering flexible working hours. Other benefits include, daycare centers, gyms, healthy habits etc., but flexible work schedules are the most popular.

As a woman, I can say that this definitely holds true for me. In my current position I work 9 hour days in exchange for having every other Friday off. This perk has made a huge difference in my life over the past two years. With habitual three-day weekends, I have been able to take several mini-vacations within Chile and to its neighbors. Also, to my company’s benefit, I have used these Fridays off to complete many errands that would otherwise have cut into my work time (visa applications, doctor appointments, etc.).

In a perfect world, I would take this one step further and work from home a few days a week. My job is mostly done by online research, email and phone calls, making my physical location often irrelevant. And while I believe it would be important to report to the office at least one day a week for meetings, central database updating and other such tasks, I would relish the opportunity to blast my music, work through lunch, and get up and stretch freely without worry of bothering my colleagues. I learned to work this way in college, when I first began developing myself as a professional, and it has been difficult for me to re-learn the way I work in order to conform to the inherent rules of an office.

What about you? Would a flexible work schedule or other benefit prompt you to strive for that promotion? How do you work best? In a suit? In Pj’s? Surrounded by colleagues or in privacy?