左手尿布，右手创业

    女性有了孩子后，社会就会迅速地给她们贴上诸如“全职妈妈”和“职场妈妈”之类的标签，但“在家办公的妈妈”则几乎无人提及。

    2010年，自我的大儿子出生以后，我就一直以某种身份在家工作。他七个月大的时候，我找了一份兼职，又开始正常的白班工作。我在一家非营利性机构负责指导业务开发团队，尽管我尽量划分出工作与生活的界限，努力避免日程安排与家庭生活发生冲突，但他们还是会在休息日或下班时间给我打电话。我不可能“挂掉电话”，所以陪孩子荡秋千时，我可能还得听电话，这种事总是不可避免的。

    2013年，我有了第二个孩子，这一次我决定辞去工作，自己创业。我与其他两位合伙人共同创建了Baby Caravan公司——其宗旨是帮助产后女性解决产假问题和重返工作岗位。

    经营自己的公司，确实给我带来了灵活性和其他的许多好处。在公司筹备过程中，我不论去哪儿都会把三个月大的儿子带在身边，比如去银行开户或者去拜访客户的时候。见到这一幕，没有人会眨一下眼睛——他们都理解我需要同时扮演好妈妈和商业女性两个角色。

    在家工作的妈妈可以享受到与全职妈妈相似的好处。比如，她们可以参加学前节日派对或者去学校接生病的孩子，然后在下午1点准时出席电话会议，还可以在晚上和午睡时间工作，进而节省一笔雇保姆的支出（我现在正在这么做）。我敢说，这便相当于实现了“拥有一切”。当然，有时候你以为至少要再过十多分钟才需要换尿布，结果孩子却给了你一个惊喜，这时，你不得不突然挂断工作电话。如果你不介意这种情况，你可以认为自己拥有了一切。

    为什么还有那么多的公司不愿意聘用在家工作的妈妈们？她们完全可以与其他成年人一样平衡自己的时间。只不过，正常上班族是在聊办公室八卦、喝咖啡和更新Facebook的间隙安排工作，而在家工作的妈妈们则是在孩子午睡、预约医生、去学校接孩子和照顾孩子的间隙进行工作。

    对于许多女性来说，这种安排是她们梦寐以求的。她们既可以拿出时间来陪家人，又能发展自己的事业，还能在经济上为家庭做出贡献。正如美国总统奥巴马在今年1月的国情咨文中所说，养育孩子是一笔巨额开支。妈妈们通常并非自愿选择离开职场，而是因为继续留在职场在经济上不划算——对于有多个孩子的母亲更是如此。父母一方在家工作，比如从事兼职或创业，可以帮助家庭节省雇保姆的支出。

    我的亲身经历：我和丈夫每周两天把一岁半的儿子送到日托中心。这对我们来说是一笔庞大的开支，但聘用保姆整个星期照看孩子的费用可能更高。作为一名在家工作的妈妈，我可以调整自己的时间，来满足孩子的大多数需求。对我们家来说，这样做很有意义。

    而且，这种安排可以让公司留住那些不希望将孩子交给专职日托的优秀员工。想做出一番事业的职业女性总是干劲十足，这与她们在哪里办公无关。

    随着科技的发展，员工和家庭的正常形态会继续发生变化。公司需要清楚，从长期来看，强迫有着非传统志向的员工遵循传统的工作时间，不但对公司无益，反而会造成伤害。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    Society’s been quick to label the “stay at home mom” and the “working mother,” but the “work at home mom” is rarely ever mentioned.

    I’ve been a work at home mom—in some capacity—since my first son was born in 2010. When he was seven months old, I returned to my day job, working part-time. I was directing a business development team for a non-profit and—despite the boundaries I had tried to set by reeling back my schedule—people never had a problem calling me on my days off or afterhours. I couldn’t just “shut off,” so I was inevitably the mother pushing my son on the swing with a phone at my ear.

    I had my second baby in 2013 and I decided to leave my job and start my own business. With two other partners, I launched Baby Caravan—a company that helps postpartum woman navigate maternity leave and the subsequent return to work.

    Having your own business definitely provides flexibility, as well as other advantages. When I was getting my business off the ground, my son was three-months-old and I brought him with me everywhere—including the bank while I opened a business account and to client visits. No one blinked an eye; they understood my need to be both a mother and a businesswoman.

    Work at home moms have similar perks to stay at home moms. They can attend the pre-school holiday parties or pick up a sick child from school and still make it back home for a 1PM conference call. They’re also able to save money on childcare by working evenings and during naps time (something I am doing at this very moment). It’s almost like you get to—dare I say—“have it all.” That is, if you don’t mind ending a work call abruptly when you notice that the diaper you thought had at least ten more minutes in it actually didn’t.

    So why don’t more companies employ work at home moms? These are mothers who can balance their time like any other adult. Instead of fitting work between office gossip, coffee runs and Facebook updates, these women fit it in between naps, doctor appointments, school pickups and childcare relief.

    For many women, this sort of set-up would be a total dream. They get to spend time with their families while also advancing their careers and contributing financially to their families. As President Obama mentioned in his State Of The Union address in January, childcare costs are astronomical. Mothers often leave the workforce not by choice, but because it just doesn’t make economic sense to stay—especially if they have more than one child. Having one parent work from home—as a part-time employee or as an entrepreneur—helps families free up some of those funds.

    Case-in-point: My husband and I send our 1 ½-year-old to daycare two days a week. This is a gigantic expense for us, but it would be even more costly to hire a nanny to take care of him throughout the week. As a work at home mom, I can adjust my hours to accommodate most of my child’s needs. That’s a big deal for my family.

    This set-up would allow businesses to keep talented employees who aren’t looking to have their young children in full-time care. Women who are professionally driven will always be driven, no matter where their desk is.

    As technology advances, the idea of what a typical employee and a normal family look like will continue to change. And businesses need to see that forcing traditional work hours on employees with non-traditional aspirations will hurt, not help, the companies in the long-term.