Blog #3 - Balancing Home and Work/Public and Private

"Care work" in my family did not occur like a normal family.  My parents both have had very stressful and demanding jobs since before I was born.  I was born into a family that worked all the time and I spent everyday but the weekends with my grandmother while my parents were at work.  I was so accustomed to being with my grandma that when my Dad would come to pick me up, I would cry and say that I didn't want to leave.  However, care work existed in my grandma's household, she did all of the cooking/cleaning/laundry for her husband who was at work all day.  We went grocery shopping almost everyday followed by vacuuming the house so it would be perfect for when Pam-Pops got home from work... All while trying to take care of a baby.  She went from being an "empty nester" having normal stay-at-home wife responsibilities to a stay-at-home mom again.  However, when we moved to Colorado when I was little, we hired a live-in nanny and maid because we had no family around to help take care of the kids.  My parents did not do anything around the house that I can remember, they came home to their house cleaned and dinner on the table every night.   Their kids were bathed and ready for school the next day.  My nanny was really more like a parent to me because she was the one that spent the countless hours with me throughout the day doing the "care work" and the parenting.  It is interesting how I am already experiencing a different situation for me in my adult life than what I grew up with! 

The Juggling Work and Care video that I watched describes a great thing that they are trying to do and it seems to be having a very positive impact on their employees.  Everyday stressors are going to be with you at work, you can't help that, so by having your employer accommodate those situations it makes you much more loyal to your job and it makes you want to work harder for them.  This is the outcome that Centrica has experienced by implementing the Carers program.  This allows mothers to work from home with small children, or son's to work odd hours to take care of his elder mother in the nursing home.  It really is a great program.  They encourage employees to talk about their problems with one another so people are more supportive when a situation arises, and they focus on teamwork so they can keep productivity up while being flexibility with their employees.