Technology Helps Working Moms

I've been following and writing about Working Mother Magazine's Best 100 Companies list for a long time. Each year, I'd sift through the top companies' anecdotes of women empowered to balance work and home through flexible work arrangements and other wonderful benefits. Then, I'd try to reconcile it all with the widespread perception that taking full advantage of long leaves and part-time schedules is great for the family, a dead end for the career.

But as I look at the magazine's 21^st list this year, and see that 99 percent of Working Mother's top companies offer flextime and telecommuting on a part-time basis, it's encouraging. Some companies have figured out that it's stupid to shun flexible work arrangements if it means hanging onto smart, good employees, some of whom happen to be moms. And the thing that has made it easier for some managers to embrace flexibility is technology.

Work and the ability to access it have gone mobile, so why not allow workers to go with it when needed? The cost of setting up home offices has dropped drastically, and Blackberrys, cell phones, and portable computers have made it possible to be connected to colleagues from anywhere. With Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), workers can securely log onto their employers' computer networks from remote computers.

"It's not really an accommodation anymore to have someone work at home part of the time," Carol Evans, Working Mother Media's CEO, told me. "It just makes good business sense."

Robin Raskin is right on the mark when she writes that technology has given women the freedom and resources to start their own businesses instead of pursuing corporate tracks that don't fit their lives. I'm one of them; a decade ago I hung out my freelancing shingle to gain more work-life flexibility. But it's encouraging to see some trendsetting companies offering 16-month leaves, and others becoming more open to flexible schedules with each passing year, giving some women more choices.

Now, if the 74 percent of companies nationwide that don't offer telecommuting part time or anytime, and the 43 percent who don't buy into flextime, would only see the light.

So moms, are your bosses flexible, or have you gone the entrepreneurial route to better mesh your work and family lives?