Managing Your Career (HBR Working Parents Series)

6

Flex Work, Part-Time, and Laterals, Oh My!

by Michele Benton

Quick Takes

• Identify the types of arrangements your company uses
• Emphasize your impact, not your hours
• Pause before you say yes to extra work
• Consider assignments that provide visibility and opportunity to learn
• Clarify how responsibilities at home might shift

Before having kids, we envision ourselves as the devoted company worker, always present, fully committed, and willing to give extra effort to get the job done. But with kids come new demands, especially for the majority of us who are in dual-career households.¹ Our commitment and career ambitions hold true; it’s just harder to fit life around traditional work structures. It would seem that alternative work programs—flexible ...