Flexibility is not an F Word, and we proudly
proclaim as much on Professionelle's unique T shirts. It's not just
a women's issue either, even though it often gets talked about as
if only working mums need and want it. We know plenty of
men who want to see their families, or study, or run marathons,
or generally add meaning and richness to their lives beyond
the work they do.
But for women and men alike, flexibility remains frustratingly
elusive. It's probably no coincidence that a third of our members
are part timers, or have moved to being self employed or
contractors in some way - as we two at Professionelle have
done.
It seems that if you can negotiate enough flexibility
to make your life workable it comes at the price of
having a meaningful career. So often we hear from professional
women who discover that 'part time' can be spelled as 'career
dead-end'. Many of our members tell us that it's full
time or nothing if you want to keep progressing. Off ramps and
on ramps for careers? As the beer ad says - yeah, right!
In this theme we keep tabs on research and progress in the area
of non-traditional work models. We follow new evidence
for the business case for flexibility. We ponder how
to recognise firms that are truly flexible. We reflect the
wisdom of our members who tell us how they "make it all work". If
you have fresh insights or have read something thought-provoking on
this tough issue, do please share them with us and we will
pass them on through this theme page.
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05 July 2010
By Kim Chamberlain, Successful Speaking
As a working woman, life places many demands on you. The trick is to manage these demands to ensure that you are in control of your activities. Things start to fall apart if you feel the demands are controlling you.
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05 July 2010
By Andrea Jordan, Coach, Writer and Corporate Lawyer
Perfection – is it your friend or your greatest enemy? How much of our lives are fritted away trying to be perfect? There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence. However, if you cross over into the obsession of perfection you could be damaging your work, health, relationships and yourself.
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18 December 2009
By Philippa Weaver, Green Sky
Are you hunting for a more flexible work model - and practical solutions - that will allow you to keep all the balls you're juggling up in the air? Philippa Weaver has built an online business that helps you market your skills as you make the move to a less traditional work model.
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31 October 2009
By Linda Coles, founder of Blue Banana
Your Linkedin profile is your online CV but with so much more! So many people join up to LinkedIn because they have had an invitation or heard about the site, but don't understand the benefits of using it. Linda Coles provides practical strategies and advice on how to get the most out of this network with millions of professional users worldwide.
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31 August 2009
By Juliet Moses, Partner, Taylor Grant Tesiram.
What happens if you spend countless unpaid hours of doing the GST returns for your husband's business, only to have your marriage end? How can you protect your financial interests if you are providing professional services, whether they be accounting, legal, marketing or otherwise, to or for your husband's or partner's business but aren't being paid for them?
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14 August 2009
By edited by Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes
"What range of arrangements are generally made in partnership or directorship agreements for leaves of absence such as maternity leave or sabbaticals whereby you, as a principal are not actively working in the business each day? I'm on maternity leave so will not be working regularly but can be involved as a shareholder ie monthly meetings." We asked our senior contacts in professional service firms for their experiences.
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10 June 2009
By Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes & Galia BarHava-Monteith
Gill South is a freelance writer in Auckland and also the mother of two young boys. Her first book, which she describes as a "Where To for Working Mothers" seeks to encourage all women who want to continue the careers and work roles they enjoy - after having children. You can choose to listen to our live interview with Gill in either the short or long version!
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27 May 2009
By Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes
Very often, thanks to our members, we get to hear about great sites, uplifting news and useful information for professional working women. Galia's researches for our new website and Sarah's venture into the world of Twitter have both revealed some real gems.
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01 May 2009
By Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes
We're fairly sure there's no silver bullet out there! Whether we're Gen Y, Gen X, Gen Jones or Boomers, we're all grappling with compromises as we try to stay sane yet also find work that interests and rewards us as professional women. Below we share the stories, experiences, tips and tricks our members sent in as part of our second birthday survey.
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01 May 2009
By Grace Holgate, edited for Professionelle by Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes.
Clear inequalities between the sexes in the New Zealand legal profession remain, 112 years since Ethel Benjamin was admitted to the bar. Women are noticeably absent from senior positions at law firms and earn substantially less than their male lawyer counterparts. What might explain these curious and unsatisfactory statistics? And what can be done to improve the position of women practising law?