What Happy Working Mothers Know

Science and sociology have made great strides in understanding what makes us happy and how we achieve it. For working mothers who face endless demands at home and in the office, WHAT HAPPY WORKING MOTHERS KNOW (Wiley; Hardcover; $19.95; September 2009) provides scientifically proven and practical ways to find the right balance and replace stress with happiness.

Fostering happy employees is the single greatest transformation a company can undergo to retain talent, improve its competitive position, and increase its top line revenue.  It also has the potential to drastically reduce stress and medical-related workplace costs (and bottom lines in the process). Consider a few numbers on the cost of unhappiness in the workplace.

Some statistics show:

• Employee stress cost U.S. business more than $300 billion annually from increased absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, and medical and legal costs.
• As many as 2.5 million working parents are less productive employees because they’re worrying about what their children are doing after school, according to a 2006 study from the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.
• Worker fatigue, more common in women than men, affects nearly 40% of workers and cost employers 136 billion-plus a year in health related lost productivity.

Happiness equals profit in the workplace. If the costs of health care decrease, if employees take fewer sick days, and if the cost of employee turnover drops, companies decrease their expenses and increase their overall profit.

Working mothers want workplaces that recognize their second jobs as moms.  In some places, such awareness exists - employers are open and understanding of special issues working mothers face.  In others, employers are less understanding, and if a working mother takes time away from her job, the guilt creeps into the fabric of her relationships with her peers.

• 75 percent of working moms feel their bosses are supportive of their family needs.
• 69 percent had asked for changes at work.
• 74 percent got the changes they requested (most for more flexibility).

Many moms raise great kids and achieve the professional success they desire and deserve, but if they aren’t happy, what’s the point? WHAT HAPPY WORKING MOTHERS KNOW doesn’t show you how to have it all, but how to have all the things that really matter.