Remotely hosted a webinar conversation where I got to sit down and do a bit of a deep dive with Lisen Stromberg, author of the book Work, Pause, Thrive and CEO of PrismWork.
Given how many people have been thrown out of work in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic, including increasingly information workers, our conversation was wide-ranging:
- It’s not actually news that women are being disproportionately affected by COVID’s economic destruction. Women have always borne more of the burden of caregiving, which has had impact on their careers at multiple points during them.
- That being said, it is not always a yes-working full-time/no-not working at all binary, so we discussed the three most common styles of “pause” Lisen’s research unveiled.
- Are there opportunities for companies and employees to evolve given the drastic and immediate change the pandemic instigated?
- How can people who are in a career pause of any style, whether chosen or foisted upon them, make the most of this moment to increase their chances of attaining life-work boundaries that stick?
These are unusual times, but some elements are not new…the lack of government programs, the disproportionate impact on all women, especially women of color. My conversation with Lisen might give you some practical ideas and some possible hope about how change might finally come.