The Globe and Mail

November 14, 2007

Working 9 to 2, what a way to make a living

At this B.C.-based company, work hours are custom-made for a mother's family commitments

by LAUREN LAROSE, The Canadian Press

Also appeared in CBC News Online, Metro News Online, London Free Press, Kamloops Daily News, Simcoe Reformer, Prince George Citizen, Moncton Times & Transcript, Guelph Mercury, Sarnia Observer, Woodstock Sentinel-Review, Timmins Daily Press, Medicine Hat News, Cape Breton Post, Kitchener Record, Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald, Sudbury Star and The Belleville Intelligencer

Long before gaining any formal training or experience in caregiving or nurturing children of her own, Nancy Peirce demonstrated at an early age her capacity to offer her hand to those who needed one - something that was very much a family affair.

"When I was five years old, my grandmother lived with us and I helped my mom look after her. Kept me out of trouble," she recalled, laughing.

The Surrey, B.C., resident would later earn a diploma in early childhood education, work in a preschool daycare and spend four years as a one-on-one support to a person with mental and behavioural problems.

But at 48, the wife and mother of four has her hands considerably more full juggling the demands of work and family, a situation familiar to countless Canadian moms.

A new initiative aims to help ease the strain that often accompanies work-life balance by offering working mothers a schedule that allows them to honour their family commitments.

British Columbia-based Nurse Next Door, a home health-care service company, developed The Mommy Shift. Mothers who are experienced caregivers are given the opportunity to work with neighbourhood seniors between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. while their children are in school.

Individuals interested in becoming caregivers but lacking formal training or experience can participate in an in-house companionship training program.

"When we were out there looking at hiring caregivers, we realized that mothers have two qualities that are really high on our list: They are very caring individuals, and they are, on the most part, very responsible individuals because they have children," said Nurse Next Door co-founder John DeHart in an interview from Vancouver.

"We basically created a program to get mothers back to work, and work for us as caregivers with schedules that allowed them to put their families first."

The initiative was the brainchild of Christina Rehm, a human resources manager with the company's Vancouver branch, and started during the summer, generally a tough time to fill spots as workers take vacation.

Workers involved in The Mommy Shift can also take off days throughout the year when school isn't scheduled, including professional development days and winter, spring and summer breaks.

Those are boons to Ms. Peirce, whose children - aged 16, 14, 13 and 9 - are in three different schools and two different school systems, as well as being involved in a host of extra-curricular activities.

After re-entering the workforce following the birth of her youngest child, Ms. Peirce said it was difficult to find a job that meshed with her schedule and desire to be home in the afternoons and on weekends with her kids.

"I have to concentrate on other things besides work," she said. "I know I have to think of appointments for this one, and school supplies have to be picked up for another one, or uniform washed for the next game."

With Nurse Next Door, her work encompasses everything from taking clients to appointments to assisting with chores around the home, including light housekeeping and cooking, while affording her the time she needs to spend with her family.

"You see a smile on somebody's face just by doing something little," Ms. Peirce said of her work.

The trend of alternative work arrangements, such as adjusting shift hours, dates back to the 1980s when baby boomers with children needed time away from the job, said Anil Verma, a professor specializing in labour trends at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

Allowing for modifications to the traditional workday schedule could prove beneficial to future employers who find themselves facing labour crunches down the road, he said.

"Certainly, it's more and more of an issue in the future because we could be facing labour shortages, and if there are people that are qualified to work and they're not working right now then it benefits the economy so you can get them out."

Mr. DeHart said stay-at-home mothers are a "great resource" for companies to tap into, and adopting an initiative similar to The Mommy Shift in their own businesses could meet the needs of employers and potential jobseekers alike.

"There are a lot of mothers out there who do want to work," he said.

"If the company is progressive enough and they can think out of the box, I think it can work in virtually any organization." 

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