Have you ever wondered why employing a mother is good for business?
Motherhood provides a perfect ground for the acquisition of a multitude of skills.
Moreover, 84 percent of Swiss mothers are active in the labour market, according to a survey conducted in 2015 by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Are you still in doubt about the merits of hiring a mother?
Here are ten good reasons to hire a mother:
Multi-tasking without losing her bearings
Although she used to be able to cook without distractions, a mother has had to learn how to manage multiple and instantaneous activities in the field. She now knows how to prepare the meal, while checking that her cherubs remain calm and don't put their fingers in the power sockets or their hands on the cooking plates. The mother has acquired reflexes such as putting the pans out of reach and always checking that no little hand has come to light the oven. All this without a checklist and without losing the thread! These are all essential skills for managing a company project and juggling a great number of tasks.
What about the partner? You can be sure that the mother knows well how to delegate and collaborate for the good of everyone!
Communication and listening skills
With a partner, if there is one, she will have experienced intense moments of communication where fatigue would have been a significant obstacle. This is an undeniable advantage: she will be able to maintain healthy communications even after long hours of meetings.
If this mother has already experienced the first two years of her child, she will also be able to decipher and understand staff members who do not express themselves clearly, whether for reasons of elocution or they are not using their mother tongue. She knows how to listen attentively, without getting worked up, even when the conversation is unclear.
Master of explanations
Is a project a little complicated to present? Once she has listened to you several times to understand what you are getting at, she will be able to summarise your ideas so everyone can understand them. She has acquired a proven competence in outreach and will be able to answer your many "whys" without getting tired. If need be, she can use pictorial explanations involving kittens or Disney characters if needed.
Original solutions at fingertips
A discussion that leads nowhere? Projects that are not moving forward? Frustrations with the team's functioning? The mother might surprise you. Now used to having to change her daily routine and habits in response to her child's frustrations, she has acquired agility of mind that will solve many problems. From her experience as a mother, she will have understood that the simplest solutions are the ones that work best because they generally can please everyone.
Identifying her limits
Because raising children often takes a person to their limit - on many occasions - she will know how to say stop before she burns-out. That said, given the previous point, she will know how to find a solution to finish her work on time. Remote working, for example?
Part-time is a mother's ally
It is often difficult for an employer to find people who are motivated to work at a reduced activity rate. Look no further! Mothers are here!
In its 2015 study, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office announced that four out of five mothers work part-time, i.e. 80.6%. In comparison, only one working father in nine (11.4%) does not work full-time. For details of 2019, see the graphs below.
Managing conflicts
You and another colleague are at odds and the atmosphere in the office suffers as a result? The mother will know how to deal with the conflict. By confronting the parties, for example, by opening the discussion and diplomatically proposing that both of you apologize. If it were to develop into direct confrontation, she would probably ask everyone to go to a corner to think about their actions for a while and come back once everyone has calmed down. Yes, yes you will have been grounded.
Rock-solid organization
As a personal assistant in her daily family life, the mother has to manage appointments with the pediatrician, the ortho-osteo-speech therapist, and the dentist, not forgetting sports activities and friends' birthdays. She will be able to manage a Prime Minister’s agenda and their whole Cabinet without too much difficulty, if necessary.
Resourceful
The mother knows how to exploit her resources. She will in no way hesitate to propose the use of external service providers as a solution. She herself has a list a mile long of backups to fall back on for childcare: grandparents, nannies, the Red Cross, etc.
She knows how to manage an uncompromising boss.
A mother sometimes gives birth to a despot. Although unconsciously, a baby won't let her choose the time to feed or change diapers. An older child will be able to have unprecedented outbursts for a piece of chocolate in the middle of the shopping aisle at rush hour. So the mum has learned to let go of her own schedule to meet someone else's demands. Another skill to highlight here is adaptability.
So, convinced?
Further reading:
10 excellentes raisons d'engager une mère de famille par Oona Baumier
Photo credit :
Drazen Zigic via istock.com
Sources :
OFS
