McGladrey attends Working Mother Work Life Congress

By Stephanie Repke

Talent Management Associate

Minneapolis, MN

 

McGladrey is celebrating our seventh year as one of Working Mother’s Best 100 companies. And for the second time in my relatively short tenure here, I was privileged to join my McGladrey colleagues, teammates and leaders the last week of October at the Working Mother Work Life Congress in New York City, at the heart of Times Square. At this two-day conference event, we heard – and shared – best practices, ongoing challenges and newest trends in the WorkLife, wellness and flexibility arena. The culmination of the event was a gala dinner celebration of the Best 100 companies, where our own Working Mother of the Year Jill Reyes was recognized.

 

Particularly exciting, though, was seeing our Principal National HR Leader, Katie Lamkin, present the results of the McGladrey sponsored “How We Flex” white paper, a study on the workplace flexibility needs of working moms. One of the key points of the white paper showed that it’s better when managers flex. Katie shared the story of McGladrey’s own flex evolution, and brought to life the ‘pay it forward’ concept – that managers who flex their schedules help ‘lead by example’ for their employees to work flexibly as well. I would highly recommend checking out the full white paper, which includes the flex success stories that Katie shared about assurance partner Jim Smith and director Erin Peterson.

 

Hearing threads of Katie’s presentation referenced by speakers and attendees alike throughout the sessions of conference was incredibly rewarding; McGladrey had a presence at this event like never before. And people loved hearing about our iPad program (all employees who work at least a 50% time schedule receive an iPad)!

 

For those who have been to their fair share of conferences, it can be pretty hit-or-miss in terms of quality – from the topics of breakouts to the richness of discussion. But I can safely say that this one exceeded my expectations. As someone who has been fortunate enough to work a flexible schedule (flexing my hours outside of traditional business hours) for my entire career, I’m still learning new things every day about finding success through WorkLife flexibility and wellness. Some of my favorite tidbits:

• Work is not a place; it’s something you do.
• Redefine the ‘badge of honor’ at work. Asking for flexibility and pursuing WorkLife integration shouldn’t make you feel guilty.
• “Tweak It” - small tweaks we make to the way we work and live can create impactful changes over time in how we manage our professional and personal endeavors.
• Manage your calendar as one, not work and personal.
• We as employees have an individual responsibility not only to ask for what we want, but to manage ourselves in a flexible and mobile work environment.
• Flex really is for everyone, but there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Having ongoing conversations, especially with your manager and teammates, is essential to ongoing success

McGladrey team at Working Mother Work Life Congress