The Merrill family of Edina has a daily routine that goes something like this: The alarm goes off at 6 a.m. for Ann Merrill, manager of corporate communications for Golden Valley-based General Mills, Inc. Her husband Darren, a computer engineer, gets up shortly after and wakes up their 13-year-old son Sean and 9-year-old daughter Hailey. They all shower and eat breakfast. Ann is out the door at 7:10 a.m., and Darren leaves shortly after dropping off Sean at school and Hailey at her before-school program.
After work, Ann races to pick up Hailey for indoor traveling soccer practice. During her daughter's practice, Ann drives to a nearby Dunn Bros Coffee shop with her laptop, grabs a cup of tea, and gets a little more work done. Later, she and Hailey help out a friend by taking her friend's daughter to dance class. They then head home and eat dinner; a stew is waiting in the crock-pot. Meanwhile, Darren arrived home around 5 p.m., and he and Sean ate dinner before leaving for Sean's basketball playoff game at 7 p.m. The goal is to get the kids in bed around 9 p.m.
Sound familiar? The Merrills pretty much typify today's busy working family, and they've mastered a routine that works for them. However, Ann Merrill says balancing full-time work and family is, well, work. After 10 years as a business reporter at the Star Tribune, she resigned in 2003 to join General Mills. When she left the newspaper, she was working four-day weeks (at one time she worked three-day weeks), and she admits going full-time was an adjustment.
"The biggest challenge is trying to juggle everything and feel like you're fully connected to both," she explains. "What I've lost is 'me' time. The kids' time is our priority. I joke that when they're off to college, I'll have that flat stomach and manicured nails. I also wish I was better at veggin' out on the couch, but I'm a multitasker."
And in fact, she says, multitasking can make life easier for working parents. "When I'm at my daughter's horseback-riding lessons, I bring bills along to pay," she says. "The good news is you can cram a lot in. The bad news is it doesn't leave much time to relax."
For Ann Merrill, relaxing is just going to have to wait, but she says balancing work and family also has its rewards."I work because I get personal satisfaction," she says. "I also want to model good work ethics for my children. But I'm also doing this so we can have the experiences and lifestyle that we want them to have. Somebody once told me, 'Give your kids experiences, not things,' and that's what we're trying to do."
One such experience was when the Merrills hosted a boy from Belfast, Northern Ireland, in summer 2002 through a Minnesota-based program called Children's Program for Northern Ireland. It was started more than 30 years ago as a way to get both Catholic and Protestant kids out of harm's way during July, the "marching season," which often features violence. Last August, Ann took Sean to Belfast to visit the boy and his family.
"It was an experience we'll never forget," she says. "I think it taught Sean a lot about the challenges people face and the importance of trying to find common ground."
Ending up at General Mills was no accident
Because family is so important to Ann Merrill, she was careful when making her career change. "Because I had been a business reporter, I was exposed to a lot of companies," she says. "I always said there were two companies in town that I would switch to and General Mills was one of them. I felt they treated people well, and they made an effort to try and figure out work/life balance."
General Mills is one of five Minnesota companies that made Working Mother magazine's recent list of the best companies for women to work for. The company was commended for its onsite childcare, flex time, and efforts to increase the number of women working in the company.
Programs and amenities at General Mills include a new parenting club, an adoption network, paternity leave for fathers, alternative work arrangements including part-time and job sharing, summer hours, onsite doctor and dentist offices, a company store, an onsite fitness center, as well as a hair salon and gas station.
"You can even renew your tabs on the campus or order a take-home meal from the onsite D'Amico," says Kirstie Foster, General Mill's manager, corporate public relations. "The point is to make employees' lives easier. You can get things done during your lunch hour and spend evenings with your family."
Foster says offering these amenities and benefits are part of the company's business strategy. "Performance at General Mills is measured by business results, and happy employees are productive employees," she explains. "These benefits and amenities also help General Mills maintain a low employee turnover rate of 5 percent."
Training for a half-marathon
Foster herself has benefited from General Mills' programs. She lives in Eagan with her husband John, a portfolio manager and investment analyst, and 18-month-old daughter Mia. When Foster returned to work after a three-month maternity leave, she used the company's onsite childcare center and health facilities-including a personal trainer, food behaviorist, and nutritionist-to train for a half-marathon. She dropped off Mia at the childcare center before work to train, which saved her time in the evening so she could spend it with her family. Several months later, she successfully completed the half-marathon.
Foster says these are valuable amenities because, after having a baby, women often concentrate on everything except their own needs. These services helped her find time to plan healthful meals and work out.
However, she points out that companies not only have to offer amenities, they have to include work/life balance as part of their company culture. For example, she recalls when her daughter got sick the day that she had two editors in from out of town, a news segment to film with KARE-11, and an event with the company's CEO.
"I had to leave it all to take my daughter home from daycare. When I told my team members I had to leave, the first thing they asked was, 'How's your daughter? What can we do?' rather than 'How are you going to handle all of this?' I had their support. That illustrates that it's wonderful that General Mills offers these amenities, but it's also part of the culture that employees live and breathe."
Another tip Foster would offer parents is to challenge themselves to become better managers of their time. General Mills offers employees a two-day workshop called "Getting Things Done" by the David Allen Co. (www.davidco.com), which provides strategies and systems for managing both one's work and personal life.
Making it work
Like the Merrills and Fosters, Michelle and Steve Schober of Maple Grove, both senior systems analysts in the IT department at Minnetonka-based Carlson Companies, know firsthand the challenges of balancing work and home life. Their son John is 6 and daughter Ashley is 2.
Michelle is up at 5:15 a.m., Steve is up shortly after and the kids by 6:30 a.m. They're out of the door by 7:20 a.m. Sometimes the couple carpools, while other times they drive separately depending on what's going on later in the day. John is dropped off at the in-school daycare and Ashley at Carlson's on-site childcare center.
The family arrives home around 6 p.m., and the night routine begins, which includes cleaning up, making dinner, and giving the kids baths. "We tag team," Steve Schober says. Also, the family does whatever it can to make their lives easier, including weekly home milk delivery.
"The biggest challenge is balancing everything," Steve Schober says. "There's so much you have to do and so much you want to do. You have to prioritize and be organized."
Michelle Schober adds that they both work full-time because they want the financial resources to offer their children all they can. "As working parents, there's not as much time, but there's nothing more important than the quality of time," she says. "On weekends, we go to church as a family and do things together." Steve and John, for example, are taking ice-skating lessons together.
As for their work life, the Schobers are pleased that Carlson understands the importance of work/life balance. The company once again made Working Mother magazine's list of the best companies for women to work for. Carlson was commended for its on-site exercise facility for pregnant women and its policy that offers partially paid leave for new mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents.
"It is immensely helpful to work for Carlson," Michelle Schober says. "When I had John, I had an alternative work arrangement where I worked four days a week. The company offers flexibility." Also, the couple has been very pleased with the on-site childcare center.
"It's wonderful. It's one less thing we have to worry about," Steve Schober says. "The center is right across the parking lot and it gives us peace of mind." The facility looks after 95 children full-time and accommodates children who need emergency backup care.
"The childcare center and our lactation and nursing rooms help new moms transition back to work," says Susan MacHolda, Carlson's senior director, work life/diversity. Carlson also offers flexible work schedules, on-site fitness centers, a health clinic for minor aliments, and amenities like the ability to order take-home dinners from the company's cafeteria, which can all be lifesavers for working parents.
"I've picked up soup to bring home," says MacHolda, who has two daughters, ages 10 and 16. "It's all about time. These things take a little stress off you. I've cherished the support of Carlson and its focus on family. They understand the importance of managing your whole life. They recognize the whole person."
New parents find their way
Eagan-based Thomson West is another Minnesota company singled out for its work/life balance efforts. Working Mother commends it for its donation of land and money to a nearby YMCA to expand its childcare facility. The company also offers its Just-in-Case program, which reimburses parents up to $500 a year for backup childcare. In addition, it offers flexible work arrangements among other benefits.
Marcus and Ellen Anderson of Lakeville appreciate Thomson West's understanding of the importance of balance. Marcus is webmaster, corporate communications, Thomson Legal & Regulatory-Corporate, and Ellen is senior program manager, technology, program management, TLR-Corporate. They are parents to 9-month-old son Nolan.
"We both have arrangements where we can work from home if we need to," Ellen Anderson says, adding that the option helped significantly when Nolan came down with pneumonia in February. "It's important to have that flexibility."
Since becoming parents, the Andersons have figured out ways to make their lives easier. They hired a cleaning lady, who comes in twice a month. They use Simon Delivers. They pick up their prescriptions at the drive-thru. They pay their bills online. They order take-out dinners once a week. They order digital prints online. Marcus is in charge of all "Target runs." They split up housework responsibilities and alternate pick-up and drop-off of Nolan from daycare.
"The biggest challenge is getting in your eight hours at work and still putting in quality time with Nolan," Marcus Anderson says. "You want to find a healthy balance. After we pick Nolan up from daycare, we have dinner and focus on him." Weekends, he adds, are also precious family time.
The biggest challenge for Ellen Anderson is just making this balance work. "It's a constant struggle," she says. "Am I doing the best for my child? But I want my son to recognize when he gets older is that I have skills that I choose to use outside the home. I have the knowledge and desire to learn and be challenged in different ways. It's a choice. And working also means being able to afford things for Nolan."
