So many times over the last decade, a friend, co-worker or someone I have just met has looked at me and said, "Ugh! I have NO work life balance." There is also the variation which goes like this, "I need a better work life balance and I need it NOW!" As a working mother, I have struggled with work life balance myself. I still do. But I wonder if people are tired of talking about work life balance. Is it just assumed that there is no such thing as work life balance? That it is a myth? I don't agree with that way of thinking. I never have considered it a myth. I think it's obtainable if you set ..read more

  Ask a working parent their top concern and he or she won't hesitate to answer. They want to send their children to school, go to work, do their jobs, and not worry. Of course, all parents worry some because it's part of our job description as parents. But what I mean is that parents don't want to worry they won't see their child again when they arrive home from work. So, when I attended the March For Our Lives rally in Parkland on Saturday, I cried through every speech given by a parent of one of the 17 MSD victims. I could hear the sadness in their voices. The grief.  Today, most ..read more

    Recently, I was talking with a millenial who was in the middle of a job search. She thought it would be fun to work at a BMW dealership and learn all the features of the luxury cars. She imagined herself test driving the new models and playing with the gadgets inside. But when the manager of the dealership told her she would have to work many nights and weekends, she changed her mind about the job. "There is no way I'm giving up my weekends," she told me.  My young nephew, who has been in the workforce about six months, recently told me he is not happy in his job. "I didn't ..read more

My son came home from high school yesterday extremely upset. He had learned about a school shooting on social media almost minutes after it happened. He told me he was scared. He knows kids at the school where the shooting happened, and so do I.  As the afternoon unfolded, I checked in with friends who have children at the school and waited anxiously for them to respond. I watched the news reports that showed traumatized students, parents, and even visibly shaken law enforcement. This was a tragedy our community had never wanted to endure and it felt unfathomable. My emotions ranged from ..read more

Bad behavior in the workplace. It’s everywhere. Talk and accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct are almost daily occurrences. What has been most surprising to me is that bad behavior seems to be prevalent in every type of profession. So, when TONE networks held an event called Workplace Playbook for Women: The right response to wrong behavior, I tuned into its Facebook Live to hear what the experts had to say. The lineup: Liz Weaver O'Keefe,  Dr. Ramani, Valerie Grubb . Their expertise is described below.     Right out of the gate experts told us about the ..read more

Enlisted Military Personnel, Firefighters, Airline Pilots and Police Officers are the four most stressful jobs of 2018! Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, Hair Stylist, Audiologist and University Professor are the three lowest stress jobs of 2018! The truth is, no job is ever going to be free from stress. Some days, it feels like just getting up and out the door for work is stressful. Am I right? So when looking at what makes a job stressful, CareerCast identified these factors:   Being in the public eye, facing imminent risk of bodily harm to oneself or one's patient, and dealing ..read more

    My friend has worked at home for six years. Recently, she was interviewing for her dream job when the interviewer asked her "Won't it be hard for you to work from an office again?" My friend responded that working in an office setting isn't foreign to her and she could easily adapt again. After the interview, my friend called me concerned. "Is the fact that I've been working from home going to work against me?," she wanted to know. It's a good question, and worth asking. For all the benefits of working from home, doing so comes with challenges. There are managers who are convinc ..read more

            On Twitter, I noticed this hashtag trending: #NextYearIPromiseTo..... I'm pretty sure there were lots of people answering with....achieve a better work life balance. For me, and for others, it's been a pretty tough year. We want to make the most of our time, but there's never enough of it to do all that we want in our jobs and our personal lives. We want to find a level of contentment, but we have these crazy busy schedules. Most of us have difficulty balancing life’s competing demands.   Here is some encouragement: don't give up trying ..read more

      Are you stressed? Feeling down about your work situation or your personal life? This is a tough time of year. Many people suffer from the winter blues.  At work, many of us feel disappointed we aren't getting a year-end bonus, or we haven't received a promotion, or we didn't make that move to a better job like we thought we would when 2017 started.  At home, we feel a general sense of sadness that's difficult to explain.  Coping with the loss of a loved one or tight work deadlines, end-of-year workplace pressure and the reduced level of sunlight in fall and ..read more

    One holiday season, I wanted to give my boss a gift. He had been a mentor during the year and I wanted to show appreciation. So, I gave him a gift card to his favorite store. It wasn't for much, but it was just enough to show I was grateful for his guidance. Still, handing it to him felt a little awkward.  Around this time of year, many people struggle with who in their office to get gifts and what to give them. We don't want to appear ungrateful, nor do we want to look like a suck up. And, we especially don't want to go broke buying co-workers gifts. A few years ago, I tac ..read more