National Flex Day is a day to celebrate work flexibility, especially for working moms.

This is Day 21 of our 31 Ways to Get More Done series. To read all the posts in order, visit the introduction post to see the outline for the whole series.I gladly support Working Mother magazine’s National Flex Day:

National Flex Day will be an annual, nationwide campaign to promote the power of flexible work arrangements, from flextime and telework to compressed work weeks and career flexibility. Created in honor of the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, all of which offer flexible work arrangements, National Flex Day will take place each year on the third Tuesday of every October, during National Work and Family Month.

Flexibility Helps Me Thrive

Being a working mom is tough. While I have never worked for a Fortune 500 company, I have been fortunate enough to have many flexible jobs in my career. Working for small businesses definitely has its perks.  Whether I needed to work with an infant in my office, bring a sick child to work, or work from home, I have been blessed to have employers who saw my value, trusted my work ethic, and allowed me flexibility. Typically, with my office work, I have had the flexibility to come in late, take a longer lunch, or leave early to attend meetings, watch awards assemblies, participate in extra-curricular activities, and tend to sick children. In return, I have scheduled payroll after the soccer game, emailed  from the children’s library, and worked on a newsletter before the rest of the family woke.

Lack of Flex

Inflexible work terms make me grumpy, anxious, and less productive than when I can care for my family as I need to. Working for a local restaurant after my layoff, I worked “swing shift” which caused me to only have about an hour of time with my son each work day. My daughter was in half day preschool so we were able to spend time together before my son arrived from school. I was only available to help with homework, sign papers, get dressed. I also worked weekends. Often, my husband brought  the kids in for dinner, which definitely gave me a bright spot in my work day. I had to exchange shifts with another co-worker to have Halloween off to take my kids trick or treating, as there are no “holidays” off in retail. It really does make all the difference in my work performance, when I can focus on tasks needed to accomplish but be available for my family when needed. Learn more at Working Mother’s National Flex Day page.

What does job flexibility look like in your life?

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