Working Moms Would Love An Assistant But Not Where You Might Think
Coming home to a clean house is worth more than an assistant fielding your phone calls in the office, says most moms.
Working moms know how to juggle.
Yet no matter how much we multi-task, there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done, both at the office and at home. A set of extra hands sure would come in handy and while many of us do have assistant in the office, many of us don’t have one at home.
A recent survey from iVillage and TODAY.com says more mothers say they would love to have some help, but they would prefer it to have an assistant at home rather than at work.
According to the survey, eight out of 10 working mothers earn at least half of their household’s income, yet the majority of women are also responsible for most of the household chores. Over 70 percent of the moms surveyed said say they would prefer an assistant at home over one at the office.
“Unfortunately, what working moms have the least time for is themselves,” said Kelly Wallace, chief correspondent for iVillage.
Work and home pressures not only “leave nearly half of working mothers feeling unhealthy, and about 40 percent said they do not have enough time with their children.”
These findings probably wouldn’t surprise anyone in the trenches of the day-to-day rat race. If I had a choice between an office assistant and an assistant at home who would allow me to walk into to a clean house and cooked dinner with chores done, I’d jump at the chance in a second, no questions asked.
After all, how many of us can go home and immediately focus on our child? It might be what we want to do first, but out of practicality, we must first make dinner and do minor household chores before we can play our children. And that causes stress. When the kids reach school-age, it can get even harder because they need to get their homework checked and off to bed on time. It’s one of the reasons why the evening hours are the most bewitching for many parents, and the most dreaded.
How nice would it be if our employers, upon seeing us frazzled offered some household help instead of an in-office assistant? Or even presented us with the choice? While it’s a dream to most, it would certainly result in more productivity, not to mention quality of life, don’t you think?
Would you prefer an assistant in the office or at home? What is the one chore you dread most when you get home from work?
Image: Stockxchng
I guess it is because I am a working mother, but this doesn’t seem shocking at all to me. It seems like a no brainer – something that certainly didn’t need a study to figure out.
Having an assistant at work might allow me to get more work done, but I still wouldn’t get to go home any earlier, so what’s the point? An assistant at home – I would have more time for my family, more time for myself, more time for healthy dinners, etc.
My first reaction is of total confusion. Maybe a self emloyed working mom would want an assistant at work…why wouldn’t either rather have an assistant at home?
I get the drift, but it doesn’t really make sense for employers to provide people at-home assistance. Seriously? This is just a humorous twist of an idea, right? A better concession might be 7-hour workdays or every Friday off or something—with the same pay, natch : ) Personally, the reality of having an actual person in my house doing housework would be awkward and unpleasant.
The smartest money we spend is on a person who comes and cleans up our house once every two weeks. It has improved our marriage, helped me to chill out, and has given us so much more enjoyable time with our children. I am a high school teacher and LOVE my job. If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t quit, I’d hire someone to do my laundry and cooking as well!
@Carolyn My thoughts exactly!
Sorry, I had to repress a huge burst of laughter at the thought of my employer offering me assistance at work, let alone at home.
Carolyn… I too am a HS teacher… and we also just hired someone to clean every tow weeks. It is THE BEST money I spend every month. Hands down. I re-arranged our grocery/eating out budget to do it…and am so glad I did. I am like you. Much more relaxed…and generally more pleasant to be around because I’m not stressing about scrubbing a toilet!!!
instead of having an assistant I just wish my husband would pitch in more. He’s off for the summer so he is home all day. When I get home from work and there is still a pile of dirty laundry, crumbs on the counter and the never ending cycle of dishes. Seriously, what does he do all day?! Then he wonders why I don’t have time to sit down and watch tv in the evening or go to bed at a decent hour.
This is EXACTLY why my CEO asked her best friend to move in with us and be the Second Wife. I was working full/part-time and trying to take care of the kids and the house. My CEO said we needed two adults working full time, with another adult at home to manage the household, and take over for her at home when she needed a break.