August Founder’s Message

by Pauline Field

As vacation season winds down we are back at work and school – or are we?  The Great Resignation is saying maybe not.  Enough.  This time will be remembered as another occasion where the status quo was overturned, disrupted. Is it really okay to have to work 79 hours a week just to make enough to be able to rent a one-bedroom apartment? The White House Administration is saying it is time to rethink that.  While we may be inconvenienced because our favorite restaurant cannot open for lunch because they can’t get enough staff, maybe we should remember that waitstaff, many of whom are women, are frequently subjected to rude and harassing behavior from customers, customers who then will leave them either no tip or a miniscule one.

As USA Today points out, “at all levels of employment, people are asking how much their job contributes to their happiness and well-being, and whether their work is meaningful. For many, a job is no longer just about getting paid, but about quality of life.”

"We have changed. Work has changed. The way we think about time and space has changed," says Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of the book Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding From Anywhere. Workers now crave the flexibility given to them in the pandemic — which had previously been unattainable, she says.

How has the world of work changed for you?  Are you now looking at work as one aspect of your life to be considered along with family, friends and fun instead of work being the center of your life?  Let us know. We would love to hear from you.

Have you registered for our annual Summit?  With Women’s Equality Day coming up, this year’s Summit is on Creating Unity For All with an outstanding panel of speakers and the return of Claudia Puig as the Moderator.  Tickets are available here.