At any given time in our lives and careers, we will be faced with significant personal challenges that will take an enormous toll on our worklives: taking care of our aging parents; the loss of a family member, friend or partner; or facing serious health issues of our own. In the last four years, I personally have experience all of the above from the loss of my father to cancer after a brutal battle; the aging of our family matriarchs; and getting rear ended by a car while on my motorcycle on top of a six year battle with a continually misdiagnosed medical condition.
In the course of these challenges I had to put building my business (version 1.0) on hold, lost a job because I wasn't "giving it 100%" in what was also a rather unsupportive environment, and, most recently, ultimately had to make the choice of investing in my health and recovery and give up a job I loved, though I didn't fully realize that that was the choice I was having to make at the time. I took a leave of absence and in my time away my job as I knew it was gone.
In that, the silver lining is I am back to embracing my true calling as an independent consultant. Sometimes what you thought really wanted to be doing becomes the barrier to the real opportunity or your calling.
I share this personal perspective as every human will experience loss or damage that can take a significant toll on their career and financial well being. Numerous times. It is the human condition and one that our modern work environment rarely truly makes the room for.
In reflecting on the challenges of the last few years (as admittedly my 2010's were off to a rough start!) and passing another anniversary of my father's death, I came upon an honest and practical article on LinkedIn by J.T. O'Donnell, CEO of Careeralism entitled "When Caring for Sick Family Hurts Your Career..." (https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140120130305-7668018-when-caring-for-sick-family-hurts-your-career)
In this article, with a focus on caring of others, she examines the reality of our aging population and the toll that it takes on professionals. She lays out practical tips for keeping your career on track while caring for sick family:
1) Tell your employer what's going on.
2) Don't try to juggle both job and care giving.
3) Take a leave-of-absence, but be available for e-mails and calls.
4) Work through the grieving process before you return.
5) Meet with management to discuss your "comeback" game plan.
Obviously, not all places of work will accommodate this, those not bound or adhering to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and beyond that the risk for employees working in At Will states. Hence even in doing the right thing, you can lose your job and feel like your career is being derailed because of what is life.
O'Donnell notes if you had lost your job after caring for sick family, that crafting a career story that can get you hired is essential and recommends working with a career coach, mentor, staffing agency or other partner who can help with networking and redeveloping your personal brand. As she reminds us, we all need a little help from our friends sometimes.
And here I am myself, bringing you into the journey, as it is our journey as human beings in a society
in which we earn our value through work and try to eke out our 100% all the time in this construct. While I found much validation and practical steps of navigating life challenges in O'Donnell's article, I am also left with the desire to do my part in changing the conversation in our communities and in contributing toward working to more human centered work environments that do make space for the human condition and the reality that we as employees and professionals will not be 100% all the time, whether through better supported leave policies or work environments and cultures that embrace employees at their best and nurture them through the inevitable hiccups and challenges. In this, organizations and employees can thrive and deliver in excitingly humane and sustainable ways.
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