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Managing your family at home and your responsibilities at work isn’t always easy, especially if you’re a working parent with hectic school and carpool schedules, tight deadlines, or last-minute work presentations. The ultimate key to a healthy, happy career and lifestyle is balanced prioritization of work and personal time.
In a recent Parenting Panel for our employees, Salesforce executives shared how they adapt to challenging schedules and ensure they do not lose sight of their family’s wellbeing ... and their own, too. Employees around the world heard from Tony Prophet, Chief Equality Officer; Jody Kohner, SVP, Employee Marketing & Engagement; Sara Varni, SVP, Product Marketing Sales Cloud; and Todd Janzen, VP, Q Branch in a panel moderated by Leah Thomas Muller, VP, Sales Development.
As you can imagine, our leaders had a wealth of knowledge to share and certainly proved why Fortune recently named Salesforce the #5 Best Workplace for Parents. Here are my top 8 takeaways from the panel to help you achieve optimal work-life balance. And trust me – you’ll find these tips and company resources valuable even if you don’t have children!
Create a clear separation between work and home. While it may be difficult, putting your phone away when you return home empowers you to focus your attention on young children and your significant other, who may view smartphones and laptops as the enemy. Ultimately, taking care of yourself and your family should always come before work.
Plan out your week every Sunday ... everything from schedules, meals, and family activities is fair game – then add it to your calendar. For some of us, if it’s not in your calendar, it doesn’t exist – just like how we document everything within Salesforce itself! We live by it. Focus on what’s most important, as it’ll allow you to live in the present and better equipped to handle your responsibilities.
Manage up and let your bosses know how important and necessary your family time is to you. Do not feel obliged to apologize or make excuses. Adopt the mantra, “I’m a better employee because I’m a parent, not in spite of it.” Your quality of work won’t suffer, but your loyalty will go through the roof when you set achievable expectations with your manager. Be brave and bold in saying what you need.
Be strategic when setting tasks and activities for yourself. At Salesforce, we’ve developed our own approach to goal setting called the V2MOM, which stands for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. Aside from setting quality goals, focus on doing the best you can, rather than the most you can. And always make sure your superiors know what you're doing so that your efforts are acknowledged.
Try to take an hour-long lunch or a midday workout class to re-energize yourself. Also take PTO when you need it – you are more productive when you are well rested. For parents of newborns, caring for a child is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we encourage employees to take all of their allotted parental leave and come back when they feel ready.
People managers should model the behavior they expect to see in their teams. Be flexible, understanding, and transparent with your team, and let them know when you’re with your family. Resist the temptation to reach out to your team members who are taking time off by establishing zero work-based communication during time off. Also we try to give people one day a week to work remotely whenever possible.
Employees at Salesforce and their families can access EAP anytime they need to deal with a challenging situation, anxiety, or grief. EAP mental health professionals are available around the clock, and you can request face-to-face counseling services, too. Salesforce offers eight free counseling sessions with a qualified professional. All services under this program are 100% confidential.
We have great benefits for parents, so we encourage employees to take advantage of them! When an employee’s child is ill or nanny calls in sick, we offer Bright Horizons Backup Care – employees have 10 days of backup care available per year. At HQ, we offer Little Ohana childcare center, and a nearby center provides care for infants to preschoolers.
For breastfeeding mothers with busy business travel schedules, Milk Stork provides all the tools needed to send milk home to their baby, including a pharmaceutical-grade shipping cooler, breast milk storage bags, and FedEx Priority Overnight shipping labels.
Want to learn more about our parent programs? Check out www.getsalesforcebenefits.com.
