For many homes, both partners in the marriage will be professionals who bring vital income into the family. The dual-income household has become the standard, and women and men are earning professional degrees at similar rates. However, it is not uncommon for one of the earners to leave their professional career for a time, either to switch to a field that allows for a better work-life balance, or to simply stay at home and be more involved in family life.
Much of this has to do with the demands of these careers. The people in these fields often have to work long hours, spend a significant amount of time commuting, and possibly even travel as part of their professional duties. It doesn’t leave much for a personal life of the individual and it is not conducive toward having the kind of relationship that most people want with their families.
Busy Industries are Demanding More
To have a career in industries like law, accounting, or business means that the individual is going to have to accept a very demanding work environment. In many of these fields, a 10-hour day is considered short. Days can often run to 16 hours, and the professional will often need to be available on the weekends to handle the massive workload. With conditions like this, a workweek that totals more than 60 hours can easily become the norm. (Sweeney, 2013)
You add to this the time spent commuting, the possibility of travel, and the need to participate in company events, and it makes for a situation where the career becomes the entirety of the individual’s life. When you consider all of this, it is no wonder that so many people would walk away from a career for which they spent a considerable amount of money to get educated.
This not only an issue that affects the individual practitioners, but it can also have a negative impact on the company that they leave. Developing solid professionals is an investment in many of these fields and when they decide to leave, it costs the company their investment.
One solution that companies and professionals have started to turn to is making it easier for their professionals to work from home. For businesses that operate in the fields of law and accounting, document management software can help to facilitate this possibility. When the staff has access to the documents, no matter where they are, they can continue their productivity when they are away from the office.
Mothers Leaving the Workforce
These are issues that could face any professional, but it tends to affect women to a greater degree than it does men. While this could be attributed to several factors, one of the most identifiable in this trend is motherhood. After having children, women are much more likely to choose to stay home with the family than a man would be. Many often try to balance the professional responsibilities with family, but it can become increasingly difficult as a career progresses. (Blakely)
This is a place where working from home can help to keep mothers in the workplace. If a mother can effectively split the work time between the office and the home, she will be much more likely to continue the career path that she set out to achieve when she started.
Remote Working Solution
Making it possible for staff members to work effectively from home will be one of the best ways to retain these employees. Alleviating the demand for time in the office, and time spent in the commute, will make it easier for the individual to achieve professionally, while also allowing for a satisfying family life.
With internet technologies and cloud-based services, it has become more practical for businesses to allow their professionals to work remotely. Additionally with advanced telecommunications, the ability to share and collaborate online and various programs and systems that make work possible, the only thing that the professional really needs is an internet connection and the acceptance of company leadership.
One type of cloud-based service that will be important for professionals that choose to handle some of their workload from home will be document management software. With a system like eFileCabinet online, the professional will have access to all of the company documents that they need, in an online environment that helps to ensure productivity and security.
For many of these industries, and the companies that work within them, working from home will never be able to replace the office work or time in the field completely. That being said, providing this ability to professionals can significantly relieve some of the demands that come with the profession, making it easier for employees to have a decent family life, and enabling companies to retain their talent.