Our work has put us in touch with numerous individuals and families
with inspiring stories about redesigning work to create time for
other life passions.
Dream Bigger
With the dawn of the information age and a global economy where
dual career couples are now the norm …
What do we want for the 21st century workplace?
What do we want for the 21st century family?
Do ideal workers still need to put work before all else?
Do ideal mothers still need to put children before all else?
In order to succeed, we have played by the rule that work and
family are separate, but in our hearts, we know it is an artificial
divide.
It's time to change the rules and adopt a new work/life paradigm,
one that follows our hearts and intuitions. One that knows the
truth - that most workers have multiple life interests - and one
that knows the pain of requiring workers to ignore this truth.
It's time to discard the "separate spheres" work-life
paradigm, the one that assumed work and family were two different
worlds, and instead embrace a new paradigm - an integrated paradigm
- one that allows us to mix these worlds together.
But in order to do this, we need to break some rules.
To begin with, we need to challenge the definition of an ideal
worker. But that's not all; we also need to challenge the definition
of an ideal mother and ideal father. These three assumptions make
up the cornerstones of the "separate spheres" paradigm.
To appreciate how much this "separate" spheres paradigm
still influences everything we do, take a minute to think about
an imaginary world made up of tall and small people.
In this imaginary world, workplaces are only constructed for
tall people. When a small person comes to work, it takes them
a little longer to walk down the hallways, their feet don't quite
touch the ground when they sit on the chairs and they always seem
to have a hard time reaching the top buttons in elevators.
At the same time the world of home is made for small people.
When a tall person tries to come into the world of family and
children, they keep bumping their heads and knocking things over.
In fact, it mostly seems like they just make a mess of everything.
We have constructed two separate spheres, the world of work and
the word of home. Tall workers, small caregivers.
In the world of work, tall workers are rewarded differently than
others. Tall workers, or workers who are able to put work before
all else, are more valued and highly rewarded than other workers.
Furthermore, in this world that separates work and family, women
still do the majority of care taking, and ideal caregivers are
still seen as small caregivers. Sometimes this is because wives
are unwilling to (or seemingly uninterested in) encouraging husbands
to share in the care of children and home. And sometimes this
is because husbands are unwilling to or seemingly uninterested
in sharing in the care of children or home.
In today's world, the workplace is no longer made up of just
tall people, people who can put work before all else.
The workplace has changed; women have entered the workplace,
and most men now have working wives. In fact, men who have stay-at-home
wives are now a minority at work.
And the world of family has also changed. There are some who
are trying on new definitions of mother and father and experimenting
with new ways to share in the care of children and home.
If the majority of us now have work alongside other responsibilities
outside of work, isn't it time for us to change the paradigm?
Isn't it time for us to change the assumption that the workplace
is for tall people and that the work of home is for small people?
Isn't it time for us to create a world where we expect workers
to come to work with other responsibilities and interests outside
of work and to create a workplace that accommodates these needs?
Isn't it time for us to create a world where, when a mother is
expecting a new baby, both the father and the mother are encouraged
to think about how they would like to change their work to meet
the needs of family?
Let's dream bigger, let's change the rules of the game.
ThirdPath is available to speak about work/life integration and
Shared Care to professional associations, businesses, community
groups and related conferences.