WorkLife Presents: Mom's at Work

Digiday
  • 4.3 (61)
  • CAREERS
  • WEEKLY SERIES

WorkLife Presents: Mom's at Work is a six-part narrative series that will shine a light on the conditions women face when pursuing their careers while caring for their children. Hosted by WorkLife founding editor Jessica Davies, the series will provide a personal look into the lives of working moms -- including Davies herself and various executives across industries -- as well as explore what companies can, and in some cases are, doing to support parents in the workforce, with interviews featuring HR professionals and subject-matter experts.

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  1. The Impossible Juggle: Why Flexibility Matters for Working Moms—And What’s Still Missing

    EPISODE 1

    The Impossible Juggle: Why Flexibility Matters for Working Moms—And What’s Still Missing

    Being a working mom is hard. Being a working mom with a child who has extreme medical needs? That’s a whole other level. In our first episode, host Jess Davies and Katie Martin, EVP of marketing agency Front Row talk about their personal stories of navigating intense caregiving journeys while juggling careers, and how they spent three years sending each other daily voice notes – across different continents – sharing the raw, unfiltered realities of balancing work and motherhood in impossible circumstances. We also bring in sociologist and author Jessica Calarco, who unpacks why working moms across the U.S. are struggling more than ever, and Kelly Jones, chief people officer at Cisco, who explains why companies need to go beyond just offering benefits — they need to embed flexibility into their culture to truly support and retain working moms.

    37 min
  2. Starting a family, the Rising Demand for Fertility Support and Navigating a Company’s Benefits

    EPISODE 2

    Starting a family, the Rising Demand for Fertility Support and Navigating a Company’s Benefits

    Starting a family is one of the most exciting moments in life. But for so many people, the reality comes with unexpected hurdles — whether it's struggling with fertility, figuring out what benefits your job actually offers, or realizing, too late, that your employer doesn’t provide much support at all.` Fertility issues are more common than ever, and the cost of treatments like IVF is sky-high. That means fertility benefits, paternity leave, parental support, and family-friendly policies are becoming make-or-break factors for many job seekers. In this episode we speak with Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer at Headspace, who shares some of the challenges she and her wife had on their own fertility journey, and in navigating company benefits, and what a bad maternity policy looks like. We also speak with Cisco’s chief people officer Kelly Jones on why offering employers tens of thousands of dollars in fertility support is an ROI no-brainer. And we speak with Sean Puddle, managing director for North America at talent search firm Robert Walters, on the real costs businesses face when they have to replace talent, after mothers exit the workforce.

    36 min
  3. From baby to bias: The hidden struggles of moms returning to work

    EPISODE 3

    From baby to bias: The hidden struggles of moms returning to work

    Returning to work after maternity leave should be a transition, not a battle — but for many women, it’s anything but smooth. In this episode of Mom’s at Work, we explore the hidden struggles of working mothers re-entering the workplace, especially in hostile or unsupportive environments. From being sidelined or laid off to facing subtle (and not-so-subtle) biases, many mothers find that their roles have changed — not because of their abilities, but because of how they’re perceived once they become mothers. And because too many workplaces still don’t commit enough to figuring out how best to support them when they return. We speak with growth marketer Kendra Pennington, on how the judgment she felt at work since becoming a mother has led to “employment-inflicted trauma” that she carries with her today. And we speak with Bodacious founder Zoe Scaman on how she unearthed hundreds of other mothers’ stories about being squeezed out of their companies, and the true cost of that to businesses. And we speak with both Kendra and sociologist and professor Jessica Calarco on the “supermom myth” and why some feel that label has become toxic in a period of disillusionment where many women feel “having it all” simply means “doing it all.” We’re also joined by Amanda Carlson-Phillips, chief performance innovation officer at human performance and wellness company Exos, about the importance of having a “pro-recovery culture.” And Maven Clinic’s Will Porteous gives us valuable insights into the parent burnout crisis and why employer support drops off at the most critical point in parent’s journeys.

    34 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Ticker Tape Minds: How moms make it all work and why we need to talk about It

    Working moms constantly juggle two nonstop ticker tapes — one filled with work deadlines, the other carrying the endless mental load of motherhood. It’s a daily reality that rarely gets the attention it deserves. In this episode, we discuss the daily dance that so many moms perform: the push and pull of balancing professional goals and financial stability with family responsibilities. We speak with global operations director Barbara Nicholas about how she had to take sick days or unpaid leave when she had her first child, rather than risk being fired, and how she missed out on many of her daughter’s first moments as a result of being overworked. And how that experience taught her to push for better boundaries and establish the right work-family balance at an employer that doesn’t expect her to prioritize her job at the expense of her children. We unpack how the "Lean In" era, while well-intended, has left many women feeling like they can’t “have it all” – they’ve ended up being expected to do it all — and why that idea no longer flies. We reunite with returning guests Kendra Pennington, founder of Beyond the 9th women’s community, and sociologist and author of Jessica Calarco about why the “supermom” label can feel toxic, putting even more pressure on mothers to perform at an unrealistic level in both their careers and at home. And we look at why mothers’ ability to juggle is a strength, so why do so many workplaces seem to regard it as a weakness?

    29 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    The Price of Parenthood: Why raising a family is more expensive than ever

    For working moms, the rising cost of raising a family isn’t just a financial burden — it’s a daily source of stress that impacts careers, well-being, and the ability to plan for the future. In this episode, we dive into the rising financial pressures facing working parents today. From the skyrocketing costs of childcare, school supplies, summer camps, and college tuition to the everyday expenses of raising a family – the financial burden has never been higher. We speak with Kendra Cole, a PR professional and mother of three, about the crippling costs of summer camps across the U.S., with families shelling out thousands of dollars just to cover the school summer vacation. Meanwhile, wages haven’t kept pace with inflation, leaving many parents stretched thin as they try to provide stability for their children. We speak with MarketWatch personal finance reporter Venessa Wong on how parents are going into credit card debt to cover costs. And how she herself feels the pressure to start saving for her kids’ college education before they reach high school. And we speak with Priya Krishnan, chief transformation officer of Bright Horizons, about how some employers are trying to bolster their benefits to help offset some of these stressors, providing on-site childcare and backup childcare services.

    32 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Caregivers in the middle: The hidden workforce struggle employers can’t ignore

    Being stuck in the middle isn’t just a metaphor — it’s daily life for the sandwich generation. These are the working parents juggling the care of kids while also supporting aging parents, and it’s a lot. Between the rising costs of childcare, senior care, and just everyday life, the pressure is mounting, especially for women who still tend to shoulder most of the caregiving. In this episode, we speak with Naaz Nichols, chief customer experience officer at Care.com about her own difficult journey juggling her dad’s health needs along with her two children as a single parent. She shares how she had to give up her job and sell her house, so she could find the right care for them all. Countless hours disappear into the black hole of researching, coordinating, and worrying about adequate care for aging loved ones. Hotel group Hilton has sought to address this issue for its employees. We speak with Lora Lawler, SVP of total rewards and HR technology for Hilton, about how its partnership with Wellthy provides an invaluable service to its employees in caregiving roles, shaving thousands of hours off their searches and giving them vital peace of mind by vetting caregivers and facilities on their behalf. And we speak with Sarah Robb O’Hagan, an entrepreneur, author, and former global president at Gatorade, who shares how her own parents’ diagnoses affected her mental health at a time when she had three young kids and was working full-time. She also talks about how more flexible structures within corporations can benefit both parents and businesses.

    38 min
See All Season 4 (6)

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WorkLife Presents: Mom's at Work is a six-part narrative series that will shine a light on the conditions women face when pursuing their careers while caring for their children. Hosted by WorkLife founding editor Jessica Davies, the series will provide a personal look into the lives of working moms -- including Davies herself and various executives across industries -- as well as explore what companies can, and in some cases are, doing to support parents in the workforce, with interviews featuring HR professionals and subject-matter experts.

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