Op-ed: To Achieve #balanceforbetter in the Workplace, Reinvent Family Leave Policies

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Dale MeikleBy Dale Meikle, PwC

Icelandic primary school children born in the 1970s and ‘80s expressed disbelief when told that a man could be President.

Their mental map didn’t include little boys aspiring to the presidency — because all they’d ever known was a female president. It’s a favorite anecdote of mine because it flips common gender stereotypes while cementing their power.

Gender equality leads to better outcomes for everyone, a theme International Women’s Day elevates this year with their #balanceforbetter theme. At PwC, we approach IWD as another opportunity to challenge stereotypes. The most limiting stereotype at work is that women are predestined to be caregivers. Outdated family leave policies lie at the root of gender inequality in the workplace and beyond. Until they’re refreshed to give individuals and families more choices, women will continue to make up a minority of leaders.

PwC’s US CEO, Tim Ryan, recently said, “Together a new employer-employee relationship can expand what the old one did for decades, create shared prosperity and hopefully build better and more meaningful work and lives for millions.” Expanded family leave and a simple but intentional change in nomenclature will anchor this transformed relationship, paving the way for true gender equality in the workplace.

PwC found that the expectation of work-life balance is exactly the same between male and female millennials; research shows that men and women experience similar levels of work-life conflict and that fathers experience more work-life conflict than mothers. I can say anecdotally that the men I know take their caring responsibilities just as seriously as the women; and that my colleagues and friends without kids don’t value their family, friends, or time any less than those with kids. PwC’s cutting-edge research on engagement drives home the point that the most successful leaders of tomorrow must discover how to deliver great performance by helping people individually thrive.

Beyond the essential birth and recovery period that women must continue to take, women and men should have equal access to time off and flexibility in coming back to work after the birth or adoption of a child. Furthermore, all employees should be offered a minimum amount of leave to care for the people they love. Employees are unique in their needs and the most successful companies will offer benefit choices that work for everyone. Companies and governments should be racing towards inclusive family leave policies, not plodding towards them – and some are beginning to show significant progress.

Culture Matters but Policy Helps

Territories leading in family leave policies are — not coincidentally — also top of the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Index. Iceland, a perennial leader on the Index, grants three months of non-transferable parental leave to both mothers and fathers and an additional three months of leave to couples to share as they choose. Its success lies in the uptake: about 90% of Icelandic fathers take the leave.

Netflix offers 52 weeks of paid family leave to women and men (and, with 41% female employees is one of tech’s leaders in gender equality across its staff population); Google and Facebook offer equal family leave to women and men. Last year, PwC US introduced six weeks of fully paid parental leave for all employees, with about 72% of new fathers using the full amount. Employees also have the option to implement a phased return to work after parental leave, allowing new parents to work 60% of their contracted hours at full pay for four weeks following a paid parental leave of absence. Other types of caregivers can receive four weeks of paid leave in order to care for certain family members with serious health conditions. PwC UK offers eligible parents of either gender 22 weeks of full pay and is encouraging more dads to feel like they can take it. Breaking through assumptions about men’s role in families and changing attitudes will be key to capitalizing fully on the good policies that already exist.

To be sure, gender equality is a complex issue with children socialized from a young age to play into narrow roles – and this calcifies the stereotypes that play out later in life. Even in countries with longstanding progressive parental leave – like Sweden – deeply embedded gender stereotypes from sources, namely, the media, hinder gender equality progress.

Globally, women continue to bear the bulk of unpaid care work. Leave to care for children and other loved ones matters now as it has never before because the workforce has transformed, while policies and even norms have stagnated. Many leave policies are woefully out of date, constructed to serve a majority of mothers who didn’t work outside the home and a majority of fathers who were happy to leave domestic duties to their wives. Around the world, family leave policies vary dramatically, with some countries lacking any mandated paid parental leave (United States), and others offering up to three years (Germany, Eastern Europe). In the UAE, new fathers get two days of paid leave, while in South Africa and India they get five. Research shows that new mothers are penalized financially at work, while new fathers are rewarded and these outdated or unfit leave systems perpetuate that trend. It’s not the fact of a woman having a child that hurts her career, but the assumptions that she is less competent and less willing to take on high-profile assignments.

When these policies were crafted, zero percent of corporate workers had caring responsibilities. Today, according to a recent HBR study, seventy-five percent of all workers have care responsibilities, regardless of gender, and regardless of whether they are single or coupled. Families have also evolved: same-sex, single parents, and blended families are exponentially increasing. It’s important to note that leave policies shouldn’t be limited to caring for children, but can and often do also encompass caring for partners/spouses, parents, grandparents, nieces/nephews, or other close family members. Many corporations don’t directly address leave for anyone other than children.

The imperative is there

According to a 2016 study, only 36% of companies have a global parental leave policy covering multiple types of leave, 94% include maternity leave, 76% include paternity leave, and 73% included leave when adopting children. Our leave policies are no longer fit for purpose.

We must provide more support and choices for our diverse workforce and use the term family leave to describe anything other than a woman’s short-term medical leave, when recovering from childbirth. Family leave is not only a gender-neutral term, but covers a wider swathe of employees and accounts for the changing family and household dynamics of today’s world.

About the author

Dale Meikle is the Global People Experience Leader at PwC International

Connect on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @dmeik

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Effective Networking for Female Professionals: The Old Girls Club?

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By Nicki Gilmour

It is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day this week (Friday 8th March, 2019) so tune in for hard hitting editorial on women’s advancement at work, like we do the other fifty weeks of the year also.

According to a new study published last month, women should be networking with other women as well as men if they want to land more prestigious and better paid jobs. This study of suggests women need a women-only inner circle and a larger, well-connected network generally. The study analyzed the peer networks and job placements of 728 students at leading university, representing two class years, from an MBA program in 2006 and 2007. All of the graduates landed leadership jobs, so the (well respected) researchers ranked the positions according to prestige and other factors. The subjects studied consisted of 542 were men and 186 women, which is roughly consistent with the researchers’ findings that women make up about a quarter of business school students nationwide. The conclusion being that a person’s network composition regarding gender split can predict the career success of women. Wired magazine broke down the study and talked to the study authors and interpreted the study with the main message being women and men who are connected to other well-connected peers across their social network do better. In addition, it is extrapolated that women thrive from “gender-specific private information and support.” And men do not need insider information to thrive and advance because, wait for it ‘work is built for them’. Words that interested me from the study’s lead author, Northwestern University data scientist, Brian Uzzi, he goes on to state,

“Quite frankly, most of the jobs are still male-dominated and therefore the kind of private information that’s so important to help women get ahead isn’t as important to men’s advancement,”

Despite Brain Uzzi being possible the leading network expert, a respected expert in social psychology with a very respectable body of work that no one can argue with and some really good advice, it is hard to accept that his conclusion from just final job outcome is the end of the story.

For me, it is very much the opening of the conversation around bias, gender stratification and gender roles, because people decide if the men and women of this study get hired and people negotiate offers for salaries. That is to say, a man and a woman could have made the same connection at the same networking mixer, but the man got hired.

But, if we take this study at face value, then we can conclude that this is not new news as we know women have to work twice as hard at networking just as they do with other areas.

Uzzi shares his opinion on how he feels women should behave via his interpretation only of the results,

“When it comes to networking, women need two things and men only need one, so for every one contact a man makes, a woman has to split her time between the contact that’s going to give her market information and the contact who’s going to give her private information. If you’ve got to split the time between the two, you’ve got to be very smart about the kinds of choices you make.”

It is not a revelation that women have to work harder or are given less credibility for the same thing, or are dinged for same traits. Nor is it a shock to most of you that you do get the scoop from other women, because it could be friendship or a deeper phenomenon involving “out group” dynamics. Call it what you will, because what is real that we pay the same money for those MBAs so we need a way to ensure we get the same Return on Investment as literally the next guy. And for the love of golf, do not ask us to play unless you want to and even then, you are not one of them.

A step backwards?

What this research does not talk about is what men can do to prevent women from having to make choices. You can be a good man yet not be a man who advocates for women to have equal pathways to success.

Then, #metoo comes along with the shouts of “not all men” which of course is entirely valid because we all know some really great caring men who understand consent and respect and where the lines of proper behavior lie. The problem with the “not all men” chant is that it can silence the nuance of useful conservation around “although you do not, but by virtue of a legacy power structure you probably could be you were inclined to, therefore how do we ensure the bad guys are stopped by a new structure so you do not ever have to feel lumped in with them, because you are in fact part of the solution”. Instead, out of fear many men have taken a step back from interacting with women at work. Not helpful. Just actually more indulgent of a privilege to withdraw of a historically dominant group instead of facing the work that has to be done. Some people do not have that privilege to say no without consequence.

Networking past the biases and fear

Most networking information is entirely based on men networking with men with male examples given as an argument for basing your connection on hobbies and passions. Herminia Ibarra’s work clearly delineates the differences between personal, operational and strategic networks and is worth a read.

In this era of strong gender roles still being perpetuated by most people, men and women alike (granted glimpses of hope around understanding the negative effects on boys as well as girls of the patriarchy and toxic masculinity), it no shock that men continue to network with each other in the way they have always known how, excited primal physical arousal states usually with sports and competition. Which is why we have to believe there are physiological differences without believing we are beholden to them. We all have the ability to disrupt our cognitive process with a behavior change. That goes for women too. Start with your own biases. How much do you do love the patriarchy? Odd question you might think, but really look at to what extent do you favor men and boy’s needs over those of women and girls? This question is not about whether you like men or whether you believe in raising strong daughters or whether your husband does the dishes. It is a question about your own value sets, deep, intrinsic ones that are probably buried in your unconscious and then how that affects your conscious and unconscious behaviors.

Why do you go to women for information and perhaps comfort but not for promotion, stretch projects and general greatness? Why do men get immediate credibility and do you give it freely while in parallel asking women to prove themselves?

As we enter the hoopla, ceremony and celebration of International Women’s Day, the question to ask yourself is where are you on this spectrum of consciously and unconsciously endorsing for men because they are men, because it’s a spectrum we are all on.

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Voice of Experience: Beth Renner, National Director of Philanthropic Services, Wells Fargo Private Bank

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As a mentor, Beth Renner knows that women often need to find their voice—and when they do, it can be a powerful booster charge to their career.

As she recounts, she was recently working with a long-term mentee who had finally applied for a position. When Renner had asked why she had hesitated, the mentee said she believed she didn’t have the entire skill set, but as they walked through the skill set and experience, it became clear that the position was a perfect fit. “Sometimes the biggest challenge is the messages we tell ourselves.”

Finding the Ideal Niche to Blend Personal and Professional Interests

Renner’s clear confident voice has brought her a 28-year career in the financial services industry, during which she has essentially touched every part of a financial services company. She started on the retail bank side as a personal banker; then was a credit officer with a small business lender; went into the fiduciary side as a private banker and trust manager, where she subsequently oversaw the fiduciary investment and brokerage side; and for the past eight years has worked in philanthropic services, where she currently has $26 billion in charitable assets under management for clients.

“The lifeblood of our business is the advice we provide our clients around their donations and assisting nonprofits in making sure they are sustainable,” Renner explains. Having always been personally involved in charitable work with both her time and treasure, the chance to marry that in her professional life is the achievement of which she’s most proud.

“For me it’s not about achieving a certification or designation, but about what I do every day, and I’ve really found a home for myself in this area that allows me to align my personal and professional values,” she says.

A Sea Change in the Philanthropic World

As the country prepares for an impending generational “wealth transfer,” Renner finds several themes consistently emerging. First, as a matriarch or patriarch who is naturally at the maturing point is engaging in legacy planning, they are asking how they can ensure that their values will be represented. The goal is to engage multiple generations from the family in their philanthropic pursuits.

Others are wrestling with the question of how much to leave their kids and wondering how to engage philanthropy as a tool to stave off entitlement.

“Donors are viewing themselves as an investor in these causes more than ever before, and we are adjusting the advice we provide them to create a more disciplined process.” To that end, she has helped develop a series of philanthropic planning modules that they are currently honing through focus groups, and she looks forward to rolling them out. “It’s a pleasure to be able to work more deliberately on these issues and adjust our business to how our clients are telling us they need counsel.”

Renner has become attuned to the absolute value of listening with intention and mindfulness which is helping inform this new initiative. When her father passed away shortly after she turned 50, she hit a point of reflection. “It causes you to look at things differently, and one of the things that has stuck with me is the art of listening and how it helps you understand others and yourself. Being mindful means that if I’m in a situation where I’m listening to clients or my team and find myself having an internal reaction, it spurs me to dig deeper to figure out where it’s coming from.”

Finding a Mentor Helps Your Career Path

One thing Renner learned from her mentor early on in her career was to focus on developing transferrable skills. For example, you don’t just want to be an expert in credit analysis, but you need to know how to solve complex problems. “In any position, consider what skills you can learn that you don’t yet have or want to cultivate,” she says.

And today she encourages women to be intentional about mentoring other women. “Don’t wait to be asked; when you see someone with potential, proactively reach out to them,” she suggests. That’s because we all are a collection of our past experiences and to give someone that gift of your accumulated knowledge will allow them to make progress faster.

She takes that outlook to her work on Wells Fargo’s Women’s Team Member Network, a diversity and inclusion employee resource group she finds valuable for its focus on broadening everyone’s lens around diversity and how to foster and develop it.

Her outside philanthropic pursuits are a perfect match for her professional life: She is absolutely passionate about the American Red Cross, and is the national chair of the women’s giving group called the Tiffany Circle. The group has flourished in five different countries, and in her role she helps develop the strategy around mobilizing this women’s segment. “A lot of the work I do at Wells Fargo helps the Red Cross with their fundraising and stewardship because I can share national trends and the emerging role that women are playing in philanthropy,” Renner says.

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Erika Irish Brown, Chief Diversity Officer, Goldman Sachs

Erika Irish Brown“Be Bold and Take Risks to Be an Agent of Change”

“If you expose people who are smart and hard working to opportunities – and provide them with an access point to begin a career – success follows,” says Goldman Sachs’ Erika Irish Brown.

As Goldman’s new Chief Diversity Officer, Brown is responsible for driving inclusive culture initiatives and efforts related to the firm’s recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse professionals.

She notes she is genuinely passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in the financial services industry. “The sense of purpose I have for my work drives me every day.”

A Beneficiary and Proponent of Diversity and Inclusion

Brown’s first introduction to financial services came via a year-long internship as a college student, which was offered specifically to students from underrepresented minority groups by a state-run bond agency. She describes the internship as a huge win given her alma mater – the State University of New York at Albany – did not send a high volume of graduates to Wall Street at that time.

This internship helped her land an analyst role at Lehman Brothers, which she says was a life-changing opportunity. “Very often, people ask me, why am I so committed to diversity and inclusion?” says Brown. “One reason is because I got my start on Wall Street as a beneficiary of what we now call a diversity and inclusion program.”

After working in investment banking at Lehman, Brown went on to issue bonds for the City of New York and served as a Presidential appointee at the US Treasury in the Clinton administration, ultimately earning her MBA from Columbia University and serving in roles at Morgan Stanley and Black Entertainment Television. She enjoyed the financial markets, the fast-paced nature of her work and the variety of people she was able to work with, but added: “It was a different time – gender, ethnic diversity was low.”

Brown took an interest in the diversity and inclusion (D&I) space, serving as a recruiting liaison for both on-campus and experienced hires – on top of her day job as a banker.

Prior to the financial crisis, Brown began her first ‘official’ diversity-focused role, once again, at Lehman, where her team focused on enhancing diversity at the vice president level and above. Post-crisis – and a brief stint on the Obama administration’s Treasury transition team – Brown joined Bank of America, where she built a team focused on executive diversity recruiting. From there, she went on to serve as Bloomberg’s chief diversity officer, building the company’s D&I platform from the ground up.

“Being considered a subject matter expert on diversity globally has made me very proud,” says Brown. “This is not easy work, it is not easily measured and you have to be bold and take risks in order to be an agent of change.” This risk-taking has led Brown to Goldman Sachs, where she has a large, global platform to influence diversity.

Evaluating and Developing New Approaches at Goldman Sachs

“It was important for me to come in and listen, learn and talk to people,” says Brown of her approach to her new role at the firm last year. “I wanted my expertise to be informed by the culture here.”

After connecting with stakeholders across regions and divisions and gaining a global perspective, she now feels well informed to have opinions, make assessments and execute on the best practices and strategies that will work for Goldman Sachs.

Brown outlines some of the many opportunities in the D&I space she hopes to focus on in the coming months:

  • Enhance the Goldman Sachs brand as an employer of choice in diverse communities;
  • Embed D&I practices into all aspects of the Talent process;
  • Advance the firm’s inclusive culture and work environment; and
  • Ensure accountability for furthering D&I at every level

Her team has the support from CEO David Solomon and the firm’s Global Diversity Committee. Brown notes that it is crucial to have senior leadership setting the tone – particularly when diversity impacts each and every area of a company, from business performance to client engagement.

“Today, no topics are off the table in the workplace, and people expect to bring their authentic selves to work,” says Brown. “I’ve seen firsthand that this approach has been adopted at Goldman Sachs as well.”

Recommendations From a Life-Long Learner

Describing her roles at several investment banks and why young women should pursue financial services careers, Brown says, “The skills sets you develop in a short period of time, the amount of responsibility and high bar for expectations, and the seniority of people – both internally and clients – that you engage with is empowering.”

Her advice to women as they progress in their careers is to continuously innovate and be life-long learners.

“Ask yourself – are you pushing the envelope, taking risks and being ambitious,” says Brown. “We should all reflect upon our legacy and ensure we make a difference in our workplace – it can be anything from launching a new product to creating opportunities for others.”

Outside the office, Brown continues to push for change in her community. As vice chair of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, she works to ensure the Central Brooklyn community has access to housing, education and economic development opportunities, arts and cultural activities and capital for small business owners.

Brown stresses: “giving back is important to me – anything I can do to contribute and give back to others, I’ll do.”

And, a mother to three sons, Brown also keeps busy on the slopes, skiing in the winter with her family and cheering on from the sidelines of elite AAU basketball games. “We’re very active as a family, and our time together is so important and a priority to me,” she says.

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Change Your Mindset To Change the World (and Your World)

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By Nicki Gilmour

As we close out our Black History Month coverage this week, and in a direct follow up to my Op-ed on mental constructs regarding Race and how to talk about racism.

I ask how can you ensure your network is not just full of people like you, who hold the same constructs and therefore everyone can easily have confirmation bias? Bad for business with potential ‘groupthink’ coming into play, and bad for personal growth.

I am going to ask you to check whether you walk the talk on having an inclusive network.

Does your network consist of people who look, think and act like you, in every way? I am here to ask what can you gain by broadening your horizons?

How can you ensure you are getting to know perspectives that are different from yours? Equally, how can you explore enough when you are getting to know someone, to find out if that person who do not look like, can actually be very similar? How can you not presume or make assumptions based on stereotypes? It is hard because you brain “goes” there and research from the fields of neuroscience and social science’s “ladder of inference” can be shared with you in one sentence here. Simply put, your brain tricks you into thinking you have seen this before and you know what this is about. Guess what? You don’t know what is coming next, whether it is your brain seeing four red cars and subliminally telling you the next car will be red. Or whether your brain tells you that leaders are always better if they are tall white men even if you don’t know the person himself but in concept only. Or you do know the person and you dismiss their flaws and give unearned credibility to them due to concepts.

My point is, appearances can be deceptive. We are all made up of complex identities, no one is simple or one dimensional and we all have a gender (male is a gender too), ethnicity (maybe we need a new word as it implies white protestant as a benchmark baseline ), orientation (straight is an orientation too), nationality, work position, parent or not parent status, even golfer or not golfer status. Most of us, have had some affiliation to a legacy or current dominant group. We can go through life like that, easily. I had very little perspective for example of what it meant to be a Catholic growing up in Belfast as my class and religion meant I was never really stopped by army or police or had to deal with thugs and gangs and any resemblance of poverty. Bombs yes, they were everywhere and random, but the everyday drag and bias of being in the minority and less powerful group in my society, no. Yet, my mindset was one of scarcity, fear, paranoia and being aware to this day of the so-called “other”. I am not saying I am freed 100% from my sectarian constructs – maybe 99%, but I know that i see parallels in the USA with race and that is why I know for sure that people can take the diversity journey and grow. As Maya Angelou said, “when you know better, you do better.”

So, where do you start?

Step 1: Take the time to understand your values because values are espoused versions of your implicit beliefs. Chances are you are running the same old program that was handed to you in childhood via your direct environment, family structures, institutions such as school and church/temple/mosque, and the overall society you were born into and whatever norms that group had in play.

Step 2: Write out every construct you have been told such as “Trust is earned” or “X, y, z is the way it is”. What do you tell yourself when you are in varying situations as who to hire for the project, who to cut from the project, and who to promote? What do you tell yourself when you are stressed at work and having less than optimal interactions?

Challenge the and every single line by asking yourself simple questions such ‘Do I believe this, truly?’ or an advanced version of this could be ‘How else can I look at this?’ or ‘Is this still working for me now?’ and “how is this actually something that was given to me by my father/mother/granny, and is not actually how i feel at this time?”

If you would like to work with me as a coach on personal and professional growth and renewal, with real insights for you, about behaviors and the context of the operating system you are in. Please book a free exploratory time with me. Life is too short to carry outdated constructs around. Grow! Whether it is individual, or organizational change, it does not happen without awareness as the starting point.

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Voice of Experience: Valerie S. Peters, CTFA®, Senior Vice President and Head of Relationship Services; Abbot Downing

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Valerie Peters_color_lowres
“When I entered the corporate world over 20 years ago, I believed that it was possible to achieve anything with hard work and discipline, and I still believe those are key ingredients to success,” says Valerie Peters, who serves as operations leader for Abbot Downing, a Wells Fargo business serving ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Her career path has proven the value of focusing on a goal….and working to achieve it.

Each Experience Leads One Step Closer to Career Goals

Peters started her career in retail banking as a customer service phone representative and then transferred to the commercial real estate division, where she was selected for the management trainee program. She immediately felt drawn to the wealth management arena during a rotation in the trust area, and with that eventual role in mind, she began looking for opportunities that would help her build the skills she needed.

She took a role managing a team of client service professionals supporting wealth management clients with their banking, investment and fiduciary servicing needs; from there, she moved on to become a manager within a trust center and eventually transferred to the division that served ultra-high-net worth clients. Her time working in client-facing, trust services and operational roles were each stepping stones that helped prepare her for her current position as operations leader for Abbot Downing.

In her quest for continuing education, Peters counts achieving her designation as a CTFA (Certified Trust and Financial Advisor) several years ago as one of her proudest moments. “I had spent several years working in the fiduciary area, and earning the CTFA was a culmination of the time I spent gaining work experience, as well as obtaining knowledge through the various trust school programs I have been fortunate enough to attend,” she says.

Sponsors and Mentors as a Key Ingredient to Success

Along the way, Peters has found that sponsors and mentors are crucial and has appreciated the support they have given. She has also looked externally to find role models to emulate; one of her personal role models is Ursula Burns, who came from modest beginnings to become the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. “I have long been inspired by her hard work and dedication,” Peters says, citing her strong work ethic and commitment to learning the ins and outs of business through a variety of roles.

Over the years, Peters has participated in a number of programs geared towards retaining diverse talent, including women, naming the Diverse Leaders Program as one of the most impactful. “The whole time I participated in the program, I felt that I was valued not only for what I do within the organization, but also for who I am and how the perspectives and insights gained through life experience shape my thoughts, ideas and values,” she says.

When Peters is away from work, she values time spent with her family—a favorite escape is spending time at the beach unwinding and enjoying the ocean. “We try and get away as often as possible when the kids are on break from school,” she says.

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Why Relocating Can Boost Your Career—And How to Make It Work For You

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By Cathie Ericson

Whether you’re employed at your company’s headquarters and want to find out more about working in a branch office—or vice versa—relocating within your company can boost your career in a myriad of ways.

It shows you’re a team player if you’re moving to fill a necessary role and bolsters your network of champions as you showcase your skills by working with others in various functions, departments and locations.

The reasons for relocation vary: One survey from Impact Group found that while nearly one-quarter relocated for a promotion, more than half said they were doing it for personal career development.
According to a Robert Half poll, 62 percent of respondents would relocate for a job opportunity—and that might be wise, considering that nearly half find they would receive better pay and perks through a move.

Many of those relocaters are women: A Wall Street Journal article reported that women accounted for nearly a quarter of moves by North American employers in 2016—up from 17 percent in 2009, according to surveys of employers by Atlas Van Lines Inc.
Sometimes the relocation is strictly for professional gains, such as your desire to learn new skills or work with new teams, but other times it’s for a personal reason, whether you want to be closer to family or have always wanted to live in other region. Whatever the reason, here are five ways to make the relocation seamless.

1. Explain why it’s in your company’s best interest.

Whether you want to work in a different division or want a change of scenery, it’s important to make your case carefully if it’s a relocation that you’re requesting, as opposed to one that’s been offered to you. Do some clandestine research on how other relocated colleagues have fared elsewhere in the company—did it propel their career or did it put them on the slow track to nowhere? That can help you determine if it’s a wise career move before you even get started.

And then conduct similar research to help you build your case. Find out how your background and skills can be parlayed into helping your division or location of choice achieve their goals and prepare to make a business case to prove your point.

As Erica Perkins, director of human resources business partners at Glassdoor, explains, “Don’t ask for something if you haven’t researched whether or not it’s feasible. Find out what your employer policy is on location transfers and (if international) global mobility programs and assignments/expatriation.”

You’ll also want to make sure you’re not professionally pigeonholing yourself “by taking on a specialist role,” Jennifer Petriglieri, an assistant professor at INSEAD, tells Harvard Business Review.

2. Learn more about the culture of the office and the location.

Ideally the firm will sponsor a trip for you to do some reconnaissance before making your decision, but if not, consider funding the trip yourself—you don’t want to complete all the paperwork and have your family uprooted only to find out that the office is significantly smaller than you had expected, located in a less-desirable area or has a culture that’s far different from your current one.

“Visiting your new office location at least once before you commit, reaching out to new coworkers via email or LinkedIn, or inquiring about the different types of culture-building activities offered to employees (or lack thereof) are just some examples of ways to vet a new opportunity,” recommends Phoebe Licata, an employee engagement consultant.

And utilize the power of social media to find out more about the city in general if you’ve not spent significant time there to make sure that it offers the ambience you prefer, whether that’s for cultural activities, outdoor adventures or a burgeoning restaurant scene.

If you are unable to visit, see how much information you can glean from coworkers—ideally you have a contact in the office who can be candid—or talk to other colleagues who regularly interact with those in the potential location. They might be able to give you important intel that can solidify your decision—or at least ensure you are prepared once you arrive.

3. Negotiate a compelling redo package.

The Robert Half survey found that more than one-third of companies have increased their relocation packages in the past five years, but it’s important to learn who will shoulder the various expenses. Among the aspects to consider are:

  • Funds for a fact-finding trip.
  • Moving expenses.
  • Temporary housing.
  • Housing allowance for a down payment, or a stipulation that the company purchases your existing home if it doesn’t sell.
  • Fees that might be required for new licenses, registration, utilities, etc. Also consider all contracts you have in place you might be breaking.
  • Other assistance, such as finding schools or jobs for your family members.

Also make sure to research the cost of living in the new location; if it’s significantly higher, you might want to ask about a bump in pay or subsidy commensurate with those expected higher expenses.

This is also the time to confirm whether it’s a permanent or temporary assignment and what recourse you have if things don’t go as planned.

4. Consider a “trailing spouse” if you have one.

As Matthew Bidwell, an associate professor at Wharton, explains in the Harvard Business Review article, “It’s not just what does this mean for your career, but what does this mean for our family?” he says.

Companies are realizing the importance of a happy family: The same Atlas survey found that more than 60 percent of employers provided job-hunting aid for spouses or partners in 2017, nearly double the 33 percent who did so in 2007.

And in addition to inquiring about the assistance your employer might offer, think through other networks or opportunities your partner can tap, whether it’s through their current job or LinkedIn connections. See if there are others in your new office who might be families with the industry and have contacts to share.

Making sure your family is on board with the move is a key part of your eventual success.

5. Embrace the adventure.

Whether the relocation was your idea or was something “strongly recommended” by your employer to advance your career, look at it as an incredible opportunity to try something different, meet new people and further enhance your career and your value to your company by bolstering your network and your skill set.

“A career is long; we can all afford a few adventures, and we have plenty of time to experiment and explore,” notes Petriglieri.

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A 10-Step Guide to Adapting Your Resume for Your Next Job

CV / Resume
Most people have a well-crafted resume in their drawer just in case one day they might need it again.

As time passes, the recruiters are more and more selective, so, exceptional resumes are harder and harder to compose.

For instance, today’s most recruiters are using an ATS software for scanning potential candidates, and only if their resume passes the software they will get a chance. Therefore, a decently-written resume won’t do the job today, especially if you’re applying for an executive job post.

The competition between the candidates is very high as well, so there’s another reason why your resume must be perfect. But if you’re fighting for your dream job, I’m sure that you’ll take all the measures necessary to craft a resume that will get you the interview.

In order to help you with your journey towards creating a flawless resume, in today’s post, we’re presenting our 10-step guide to adapting your resume for a CEO-level job.

1. Present Your Credentials at the Top of Your Resume

Presenting your credentials at the very beginning, right below the title, before your contact information, is a great way to begin the resume. This applies regardless to the type of job post you’re applying for.

Of course, the credentials must be related to your job description. This placement is a great choice in order to ensure that the recruiter won’t miss them.

2. Provide Links to Your Social or Professional Accounts

Most employers are checking their employee’s online presence, so of course that they’re going to check yours too. Social media is a great part of many people’s lives nowadays, so it’s a great place to find out more about the candidate.
Therefore, you must be transparent from the very beginning and along with your contact information, leave the links to your LinkedIn profile, to your website, or to your portfolio.

3. List Your Core Skills at the Beginning in a Readable Format

Skills are always important no matter your experience in the field. Nevertheless, recruiters don’t have the time to spot out your skills from never-ending sentences, so the best way to present your core skills is by listing them. As well, list your skills according to their relevance and according to the job description.

4. Present the Achievement Section near the Top

The achievements section does not only have to be placed at the top of your resume, but it also needs to be selective. I mean, you surely have many things to praise with, but not all of them are relevant or that impressive. You are here to become remarkable, so stick only to your greatest achievements that have a strong connection with the job post.

5. Relate Only Your Recent Work Experience

If you apply for executive positions, it means that your experience dates back in time. Therefore, you can spend days filling pages with all your achievements. Unfortunately, recruiters don’t leverage that time, so you’d better stick only to the most recent experience and achievements, no further than 15 years.

6. Focus on Your Achievements

Words are empty. Action, on the other hand, can talk very loudly. Recruiters aren’t interested in reading stories, they want facts. Therefore, they want numbers. Translate all your achievements in numbers. That’s how they know how valuable you really are.

7. One-Page Length is a Myth

Yes! That’s right! The fact that a good resume should be at tops one-page length is a myth and nothing more. Haven’t you ever wonder how someone with 30 years’ experience is supposed to write all his skills and achievements in just one page?
Two pages aren’t too long, for some may even be too short. Anyway, it is enough space to sum up all your work-related experience and history. But if you encounter any trouble with fitting all your relevant information in two pages, you can seek for guidance at Career Booster or other similar sites.

8. Leave the Education Section at the End

The education section is indeed important, especially if you have recently graduated and your skills list is limited. But in our case, education is barely relevant comparing to your achievements from the past years.

Therefore, while adapting your resume, make sure that you leave the education section at the end. Otherwise, if you let any other section which is more important, the recruiters may skip it as they rarely read a resume until the end.

9. Adapt Your Resume for AST

First of all, what is an ATS? ATS is a software, specially programmed to tailor a resume according to a job description. Thanks to this tool, recruiters can save a lot of time while the software sorts out the “bad” resumes.

You see, throughout the job descriptions, there are certain key-words that must be included in your resume. If you fail to do so, the ATS software will automatically consider your resume “bad.” Simple as that. Therefore, it’s crucial to tailor your resume if you want any recruiter to actually read your paper.

10. Proofread

You’re almost done! Even if proofreading is the last step of the process, you must take it very seriously because the devil is in the details.

You can’t afford to present a resume with simple grammar issues and misspelled words. You’re applying for an executive position, so mistakes aren’t acceptable, especially when the expectations are so high.

Even after you proofread a few times, you can still expect mistakes. That’s why you should ask someone to take a look over your resume too. As well, you can always seek help online.

For example, you can find many experts ready to help you at Superior Papers and Resumes Planet. This way you can sleep well at night knowing that an expert revised and approved your resume.

Conclusion

An executive job post requires an outstanding resume that is able to make a lasting impression in any recruiter’s eyes. If you already have a resume that only needs to be adjusted, well, you’d better think twice.

Adapting a resume is just as hard as composing a new one, so you must take this process very seriously, of course, if you want any recruiter to take your resume into consideration. But that’s why we created this 10-step guide – to help you turn your old resume into an interview-winning resume.

About the author

Guinevere Coulis is a passionate writer, journalist, and traveler. Currently, she is working for Brill Assignment. Occasionally, she writes essay papers for A-writer.com as she wants to help students all over the world. Traveling is a part of her life as she’s always working from different parts of the world where she enjoys connecting with people and experiencing new things.

This is a guest contribution. Guest views are their own and theglasshammer does not endorse guest views, or have any affiliation with any services promoted or offered.

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Mover and Shaker: Jeanelle Johnson, Director, Deals – Valuations, PwC US

Jeanelle JohnsonFor PwC’s Jeanelle Johnson, it’s the experiences gained from taking on new challenges and living overseas which have made her career path so rewarding.

Having the right people around her was key to making it happen.

“Finding your people is extremely important in feeling like you belong, and sometimes you have to be strategic to find them,” she explains. For her, finding sponsors has been pivotal in helping her advance, both to understand the professional landscape and the unwritten rules.

Creating a Career on Her Own Terms

Johnson started in a different career path than most of her counterparts in the consulting world; she began at a family-owned business in the financial services industry where she examined trading by company executives and wrote articles for mutual fund companies. She decided to earn her MBA—working full-time, while pursuing classwork part-time on the evenings and weekends.

While participating in on-campus recruiting, she interviewed with an investment firm in Baltimore for an investment banking role and started as an Associate, only to find out a month later the group was being sold. Johnson was getting married at the time so she took a pause to reflect on what she wanted in her future career.

Earlier in her career, Johnson had been exposed to Big 4 firms, which she was surprised to learn did more than just accounting—but also valuations and M&A transactions, which is what she had enjoyed most when she worked in investment banking. She had also been intrigued by their reputation among her peers and in the media, such as in Working Mother magazine, as a place where she could enjoy a challenging work environment, but also be able to carve out the time she needed to start a family.

Johnson joined a Big 4 firm in 2006 and worked there until August 2015, appreciating the flexibility they offered her—first working remotely from California while her husband completed a graduate degree; then working from home most of the week when her first child was born; and finally offering her a transfer to the London office to accompany her husband who had been offered an opportunity there—a stint that was supposed to be a year and ended up being more than five.

When they moved back, she and her husband decided it was best for the family to focus on her career, and he became the primary parent. Johnson was looking for a firm that was supportive of developing people like her into partners, and the recruiter who had hired her at her prior firm was then at PwC so she pursued an offer there. “I was offered a position that started in March, but I told them that I could not start until August, and they were willing to wait,” Johnson says, which confirmed she had found the right place. They moved to New York for two years and then returned to Washington D.C. in July 2017, which she says has been wonderful both personally and professionally.

And, she says, that’s the professional achievement she is most proud of so far…the ability to pivot to whatever opportunities she was offered, rather than just following a straight line.

Finding Role Models—And Acting as One

Johnson says she admires people who demonstrate grit and resilience, and who don’t let anyone see them sweat—even when they are. “Maintaining that calm, level head imbues confidence to everyone, while also being open and approachable—those are qualities I try to emulate,” she says.

As one of the senior women in her practice group, she is proud to take part in diversity and inclusion initiatives that help promote the idea that it is possible to have both a successful career and family, especially as an underrepresented, minority woman. “Much of the corporate world was not designed by us or for us, so being visible allows younger people to see what they can accomplish,” she says.

Recently, Johnson joined the board of directors for a charter school in D.C. as another way to share her professional acumen.

With two children ages six and 10, she appreciates the opportunities that were presented by living overseas. “It provides you with such an interesting frame of reference; we traveled extensively, and my daughter has visited 18 countries…she’s drummed on the streets of Istanbul and been in a backpack in Marrakech markets.”

“Traveling gives you a broader view of the world, and I am passionate about instilling that in my children. If you stick to what you know, you may never see what is possible.”

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Op- Ed: How To Have the Hard Conversations About Casual Racism

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casual racism

By Nicki Gilmour
It is Black History Month. Beyond the celebration of African heritage, it is also a time to have the hard conversations.

Hard conversations around race, ethnicity, racist behaviors and what makes someone or something racist are uncomfortable for many people and it takes bravery, an open and developed mind and good intentions to embark on them. If you are a white person you have to face that you might have some white privilege going on, and it is easier said than done. If you are a person of color reading this, know that i am terrified to dissect this, but want to in service of advancing the subject and hope I can provide a way for everyone to think differently. Casual racism and casual sexism have a lot in common, it is like a 2.0 version where it is not exactly explicit but has enough intoned for us to know on the receiving end of it, that there is something implied to ‘keep us in our place’, the place before we were here. The sunken place in the fabulous satire Get Out explains race in America better than most articles I have seen.

It is a fragile yet perfect time for conversations about social identity and specifically race and ethnicity with different voices calling out Gucci and Katy Perry’s products saying they evoke Blackface depictions this week. Liam Neeson disclosed information about an incident that could have ended in a vengeance murder of an innocent black person 40 years ago in the UK. So, If not now, when would we talk about racism, casual and otherwise?

Racist? I am not a racist! 

In case you missed the whole disclosure from Liam Neeson, this VOX editorial piece is the best round up of opinion and links I have read about the topic. But, what is striking about this whole incident to me is that he seems oblivious to the obvious conclusions that most of us have around his language today describing the incident in the past. His reaction of surprise of being called a racist for his admission, is casual racism and white privilege, as it is afforded only to people who have the luxury of not understanding what it means to be black, or in other circumstances of casual -isms, a woman or LGBT in this world.

I grew up in the sectarian violence of Northern Ireland so I understand firsthand what he is saying about pitting entire groups against each other based on identity and affiliation by default to a two group system to brutalize the brutalizer or one on their “side” in a vicious cycle of perceived wins. So, his context is what we call in Northern Ireland “tit for tat murder” and I think while it might be hard for people to fully understand what he is saying about his programming, it is relevant here. Not in any way an excuse, but if we apply how one’s lens or worldview shapes us we can start to understand why people will differ in their opinion of what constitutes racism and why that is.

The ‘socialized mind’ is one that does what is expected of it, according to Kegan (Harvard developmental psychologist) who suggests that between 58% -75% of the population can only view incidents subjectively. Simply put, situations only makes sense to them according to how they directly experience events and data filtered through the lens of lifelong cultural and familiar constructs.

I think Liam is still very much unconsciously but not consciously having a reflection around masculinity and its role in the patriarchy. He is now fully starting to challenge his childhood constructs and that review is a good step.But, I have not seen him have any glint of awareness that he is not extending the same review he gave to his constructs around vengeance of the other group to his worldview on race and ethnicity. He has not gotten to a place where he can also see that by asking the second or third question to his friend who was raped consisting of ‘what colour was he?’ was only a deductive question to get an answer he wanted. It was a new form of in-group and out-group category process that remained in his framework from Northern Ireland’s two group system of “Us or them”. So, he did (and does) have bias against people of color and predisposed stereotypical notions, but he had no clue until now and possibly continues to not see it. So, having seen this play out in all aspects of diversity, my question always becomes one of why do the rest of us have to suffer as a default group affiliated member (person of color, woman etc) while the straight white guy has a mere inkling that fish do not know they are swimming in water and wants a prize for admission of a bad behavior? My conclusion is always, ‘better late than never and keep going.’ because what other choices do we have for progress?

What are the best ways to prepare for a hard conversation around ethnicity and race?

A discussion around race is ripe or any other hot topic involving identity and legacy power, whether in this piece or at a dinner party, only if the people reading this or eating dinner with you are not beholden to making meaning of experiences only via the usual cultural sources given to them over a lifetime, processed exclusively through that worldview.

Race, politics, sexism, and the gold or blue dress challenge all boils down to what your brain thinks it knows to be true. According to Kegan and Lahey, developmentally if you can only look through your lens without being able to look at the lens itself, you are beholden to that socialized mindset of tribal, go with their crowd thoughts trapping you forever in subjectively. Sound familiar? The problem is we get nowhere as people name call and soundbite at each other on social media and family dinners and it shuts down an actually productive conversation that is needed to resolve tough topics. Hence, the masses scream on twitter and some people will say they are right in naming racists as racists and others will say that they do not believe that person or product is racist and that is an over reaction and just cannot see what you are talking about or come to their defense based on personal frameworks versus wider systemic thought frameworks, or objective review.

The adult developmental level beyond the socialized mind is the self authoring mind and then the self transforming mind. In this situation and in casual racism, we have to go beyond our beliefs and experiences to understand other people’s experience in their context, not just ours. What Michelle Rodriguez missed in her defense of Liam was not lost on Shonda Rhimes or so many others.

In our socialized mind we can argue all day whether he is a racist or not a racist, and we will both feel vindicated. In our self authoring mind, we can apply frameworks that help us understand systemic matters such as societal bias, stereotyping and legacy historical power issues. Then, we can understand why Black Lives Matters for example, is not negating that all lives matter and by saying it is, is a denial of inequity and a microaggression.

Equipping yourself with the capacity to enjoy ambiguity while developing mental complexity and having competing ideas without having to throw one out to streamline or prevent cognitive dissonance, is a growth strategy for you in your career and life.

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