Employers Need to Deliver Work Life Balance for Young Parents
This article is more about HR policies needed as millennials move into their next phase, establishing families. Soon to represent 35% of the global workforce, their needs to find satisfaction in their jobs are intertwined with their needs for satisfaction with work life balance. They are moving into the same territory as Gen X as Gen X families (in general) move into the next stages for their families - aging kids who may be leaving the nest and other familial responsibilities and concerns about the next 10-20 years as they age in the workforce.
But many companies are stepping up offering greater leaves after a baby is born for mothers and fathers. They are also looking at ways to make sure ones work life balance is carefully considered in order to retain talent.
In this article I think it’s important to learn from experience. What would those of us who went through the family start up phase wish we could have had available to us? What did we get the most out of in that phase that we could use to create new and unique programs designed around an altruistic desire to make the lives of those who follow us better?
A Cool Program to Disrupt Aging
With stats like 80% of 50+ year olds say marketers assume things about them based on stereotypes, you can see the need for brands and people to connect at the individual level. This piece in Advertising Week illustrates a program from Getty Images and AARP to use imagery to disrupt and ageist mentality.
We No Longer Share a Common Lived Experience
In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post they claim that we are moving in a direction of a lack of common experience because of many socioeconomic conditions impacting some communities more than others.
I think it’s an interesting look but I would argue with the premise. Sure some areas and some demos show certain trends today, but I would wonder if we are in unprecedented territory or just in similar territory to past US socioeconomic patterns? Frankly there are still many shared common experiences that we get based on living experiences and other common grounds that transcend geography and demographic trends.
I think we pay a lot of attention to things that call out differences as things that separate us and we focus less on the things that we have in common. Living in America is a huge blessing that we and all others here are afforded. We can be presented with many challenges but we are also largely free to make choices to change the circumstances that influence those challenges. We generally work well together when we get past what makes us different.
