OK, we’ve heard the arguments about how staying at home means stepping off the career path and all that. Here’s the deal: There’s not a business on the planet that wouldn’t benefit from the skills moms bring to the table:
- Moms are entrepreneurial, scraping together the resources to take care of what must get done.
- For many moms, frugality is elevated to an art form.
- Moms know how to be powerful advocates for the causes they undertake.
- Moms don’t waste time with issues that don’t matter to them.
- Moms know how to pick their battles.
- Moms multitask to the nth degree. I can’t walk into a room to pick up my keys and wallet without forgetting one or the other.
- Moms figure out how to get things done with limited resources and impossible schedules.
- Moms have the tough conversations—with sitters, with the parents of their kids’ friends, with teachers—that they don’t want to have but that they need to.
- Moms work the politics of the school board (which, from what I’ve seen, are every bit as nasty as Board politics, and—in my neighborhood, at least—often just as sharp).
- Moms make fast decisions.
- Moms prioritize.
- Moms don’t mess around with “career path” baloney that requires a crystal ball that’s accurate 5 years out. They do today’s job today.
- Moms take their egos out of it and take care of others.
Do moms come in the same spectrum of competence as everybody else on the planet? Absolutely. And there are some bad ones, no doubt. But those who thrive in those five or six years until their little ones get back to school full time—or even just survive—have developed a set of skills that every business should be looking to hire. Those are the ones I’m talking about.
So go ahead, argue that momhood turns a woman’s brain to mush. In some cases, true. But as a general rule? No way. I’ll go to the mat on this one. I’ve sat at the dinner tables and been at the events where the husbands complain about their wives act silly and couldn’t function without them. Beer-guzzling, video-game-addicted, AWOL-on-Sunday, 4-Vegas-trip-a-year meatheads telling me their wives are less capable than they are at managing life.
I’m not buying it.
Look around your office. Are you making space for moms? Not just hiring them, but finding ways to capture their skills and talents? I hope so. Because they have a lot to offer when you do.
Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.
I'm the CEO of Ajax Social Media. We're helping 1 million people shine by making their online stories better. 
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Agree Jason,
Unfortunately I have seen just the opposite happen: recruiters and hiring managers taking a small or short term view of mom’s or mom’s-to-be as candidates.
Mom’s and Dad’s to a lesser degree generally) have so many priorities outside of work that they are often less reactive to workplace situations and conflict, and for good reason. They need to manage their energy so as not to get sucked in. Many times I have marveled as a Mom says directly her stand on an issue and then is off to do something else. She moves on.
There is another culture/community/diversity benefit too… having mom’s and dad’s in the office–sometimes with their kids, reminds us all that we aren’t just running businesses in a vacuum. As Seinfeld once said, “We’ve got a civilization to run here…” and welcoming parents, kids, families, etc. into the workplace community–if not into the work space– is a way to keep our focus on the whole picture.
When done well, embracing mom’s and all they represent grounds the organization in the real, sends a message to others that having a life is a good thing, and embeds employees in the organization… leading to greater longevity, loyalty, and engagement.
@James—Thanks for those comments. When I was young and ambitious, I didn’t understand the parental workers who mentally checked out at five/six. But what I understand now is that these folks bring a maturity and a stability to organizations that I never could have matched. It’s nice having a few people around who understand that it’s always and only about the relationships!
Hi Jason,
Honestly, this article seems rather narrow and unbalanced to me. Essentially what you argue is that moms (which should read “stay at home moms”, or “moms and dads”) are not completely useless in the workforce; that the skills they learn in caring for a child are translatable to the workforce. Alright, check, that makes sense to me.
But this paragraph kills me: “So go ahead, argue that momhood turns a woman’s brain to mush. In some cases, true. But as a general rule? No way. I’ll go to the mat on this one. I’ve sat at the dinner tables and been at the events where the husbands complain about their wives act silly and couldn’t function without them. Beer-guzzling, video-game-addicted, AWOL-on-Sunday, 4-Vegas-trip-a-year meatheads telling me their wives are less capable than they are at managing life.”
Motherhood is an aspect of a women’s life; not the shaping force of her intellect and personality. So when these “meatheads” say their wife is less capable than them that might or might not be true—but I doubt that they are married to some high powered, incredibly competent woman. And if she is (as I a suspect) a feminine counterpart to a deplorable beer-guzzling, video-game-addicted husband, then raising a baby might teach her some organizational skills, but probably not enough to make her a huge win of an employee.
In other words, the skills that a woman learns caring for a child are a complement to her past abilities. What you should argue is that these skills enhance the desirability of an employee, rather than diminish their value (as parenthood is traditionally perceived as doing). Instead, you argue that these skills are the defining traits of “moms,” and are desirable as stand alone traits, completely divorced from the worth of the person as a whole.
To sound trite, not all moms are created equal, and while the skills of raising a child are laudable and should be accorded some respect, they are by no means definitive.
So I agree with the crux of your argument—that parenthood teaches skills that are valuable in the workplace. But phrasing this argument in the manner of “moms have some value too!” and boiling that value down solely to the skills they learn through parenting, for me obscures the positive message you are trying to convey.
@Laura—Thanks for commenting. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I agree! http://ls-workgirl.blogspot.com/2011/02/modern-workforce-maternity-leave.html
Can you recommend any job websites where one can find moms who are experienced professionals but looking for part-time professional work? I don’t mean contract work, but being a true 50-75% employee at a company.
Liz, I wish I knew.