After 20 years replete with good salaries, benefits and vacation time, Jocelyn Sussman of Glencoe decided being home in the morning to get her three kids off to school was worth more than what Corporate America had to offer.
Sussman, who has a masters in finance and worked for powerhouse companies like American Airlines, Ariel Communications and Discover Credit decided she needed more flexibility.
'Once you become a parent your priorities change,' said Sussman. 'I could work. I could have a nanny drive my kids everywhere and make them every meal. But your kids are only young once and it's really important to be a part of their life. I wanted to be the one helping them with their homework.'
Sussman is part of a growing trend of mothers who prefer to work part-time rather than full-time. In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of working mothers with children under the age of 17 surveyed indicated that a part-time career is the ideal arrangement, up from 48 percent in 1997. Similarly, while 32 percent of working mothers said full-time is the ideal situation in 1997, just 21 percent of those surveyed in 2007 said it was ideal.
The biggest reason for this trend is simple, most experts agree: More time working means less time with the kids.
Karen Steede Terry, author of Full-Time Woman, Part-Time Career: Launching a Flexible Business Plan That Fits Your Life, said the move away from preferring full-time work comes in part from shifting social norms and employment opportunities in previous decades.
'There was a trend for women working in the 1970s and 1980s. Women wanted to 'have it all' -- work and a family,' Terry said. 'As the corporate world got more demanding and required more hours and wanted you to work on weekends, women moved to wanting more part-time work.'
Flex time
Mothers across the north suburbs seem to be keeping in line with this national trend. But so-called part-time work comes in many forms, and often amounts to more than 40 hours a week.
'Flexible is a more accurate definition of those of us who work quote-unquote part-time,' said Becky Fitzgerald, a former national account sales executive with International Textile Group who now works from her Winnetka home as an independent consultant.
Fitzgerald was thrown into part-time status when her company was sold. She qualified for the Trade Assistance Act, which enabled her to take a series of Microsoft classes, bringing her up to speed on computer technology. The transitional time allowed her to evaluate her next professional step, and because of her experiences and new technology training she was able to successfully work independently outside the corporate world.
But with an 11-year old son, this is more than a part-time gig.
'I work 80 hours a week,' she said half-jokingly. 'If you're not getting tugged by a customer, you're getting tugged by a child.'
Fitzgerald said the advantage is clear.
'I schedule my appointments and I work on my time as opposed to a company's time,' she said, but added 'that's not to say that I don't keep my computer on till seven.'
Flexibility seems to trump fewer hours for other working moms as well.
A former manager of stock transfers at Mesirow Financial in Chicago, Lori Reisberg of Niles holds three part-time jobs and has a 12-year-old son.
'To accommodate after-school activities and religious school I have to do a lot of driving to take him places,' Reisberg said. She sets her own schedule so she can get him where he needs to go, 'and to be there for him when he gets home from school.'
Reisberg works with students who speak English as a second language. At Oakton Community College she serves as a placement aide, registering students who recently arrived in the country. She also works with ESL students at high schools including Niles West, Maine West, Temple Judea and the Salvation Army assessing their language and grammar capabilities. Additionally she is a lunchroom supervisor at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.
'I have a really weird schedule,' she said, but 'the flexibility is nice so I can be there for him and accommodate his needs.'
Money matters
Of course, the costs of spending less time at work can add up, and some mothers simply don't have a part-time option. In addition to decreased income, single mothers or mothers who are not able to go on their husband's benefits plans must purchase health insurance for themselves and for their children.
Hilarie Lieb, an economics professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, said it's important to look at what the partner is doing.
'If you're looking at dual income families, then you can get by on one person working full time because of benefits,' Lieb said. Whether or not one parent can work part-time is 'really a function of what the main income earner is generating,' she said. 'And it also depends on the lifestyle they've created.'
North suburban families are some of the wealthiest in the country and often work in the high-paying sectors of the economy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, affording them the ability to have only one full-time working adult. Moreover, according to the Bureau, male full-time, year round workers in New Trier Township have a median income of over $100,000; twice the median amount for similarly employed females.
Liz Platt, 41, a speech pathologist from Lake Bluff, doubly benefits from her husband's insurance plan. Working contractually and as a private practitioner, Platt is able to earn more money than if she worked from an office, and she says, perform her job better.
'When you are part-time there's a misconception that you're not as dedicated to the job,' Platt said. 'I see a very limited and specific population. I think I can put more thought and effort into it because I'm not burnt out.'
Working independently also gives her more time with her three children aged 11, 9 and 6.
'I want the flexibility to be an old-fashioned mom,' she said. 'I want to be here after-school with them, make dinner and those kinds of things. I want to be involved in their life in that kind of way; just being around them, having an influence on their life.'
Even without a spouse's benefits, some mothers value flexibility more than money.
Sussman of Glencoe said that part of the reason she stayed with Corporate America for as long as she did was because her insurance plan covered her whole family. Now, she and her husband have private insurance.'The benefit of being home with my children outweighs the cost of health insurance,' Sussman said.Mom's needs, tooJulie Burke was a full-time nurse before the first of her four children was born.'When I had kids I knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom,' she said. At the same time, 'I feel like you do need to do a little something outside of the home. Not necessarily working, but something you enjoy doing.'In addition to nursing and mothering, Burke avidly practices Taekwondo, and has been awarded state champ in both Illinois and California. After going through the instructor program, she and her husband opened the ATA Black Belt Academy in Glenview. She teaches three days a week--two adult classes while her kids are at school. She turns full parental responsibility over to her husband, Joseph Burke, on Wednesday evenings for her kid classes. Her husband teaches classes as well, and all of their children participate.Whether it's figuring out how to individually market special skills, holding a number of part-time jobs or negotiating flexibility with a corporate employer, north suburban women are finding ways to prioritize motherhood.And really, everyone knows that moms work 24 hours a day anyway.As Lieb said, 'Having children is work. It's a real job.'
