Success Story!

 

 

The Client:

 

Breakthrough M2 is a health and Wellness company focused on a proprietary weight loss and supplements program. The founder wanted to expand her business by creating a franchise sales model. She needed help structuring an incentive driven sales model driven that ensured success for the salespeople and the company while retaining brand control.

 

The Quote:

 

“I had not worked with someone like Sandy before and she was great!  I hired her because I didn’t know what I needed and she wasn’t waiting for me to keep telling her what to do.  She gave me ideas, took the lead on looking things up, researching, asking friends for input, and letting me know she was doing a few extra things to add to what we were doing. ”

 

The Hire: 

 

Breakthrough M2 hired Sandy Nuwar, an expert in sales and business development with a background in  packaging and cybersecurity start-ups. Even though her experience was not in the wellness space, Sandy understood how to redesign a sales team and create process and procedures to roll out the new model while strategically re-thinking margins and the technology needed to ensure success for the salespeople and the company.

 

 

The Quote: 

“The M2 Breakthrough project was a great chance to work on revising a sales structure, marketing and overall strategy. Second Shift allows me the freedom to discover new challenges and think creatively for clients.”
The Second Shift Member Sandy N.

 

 

Want your own success story? Post a job now! 

 

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The Second Shift x GroupM Partnership on Parental Leave

 

Second Shift Co-Founder, Gina Hadley ,and WPP Chief People Officer, Jennifer Remling, “attended” the 10th annual 3% Conference to announce a partnership between our two companies focused on parental leave.

 

The 3% Movement seeks to bring in more women into creative roles at advertising agencies and is closely aligned to the mission of The Second Shift. Before her move to WPP, Jennifer held the same  role at GroupM (part of the WPP family of agencies) where she and Gina brainstormed  a partnership to bring The Second Shift’s program, Let’s Be Human– Parenthood at Work, to GroupM by creating a best-practices guide to family leave for employees and managers before, during and after parental leave. The Second Shift will also provide fill-ins for employees who have taken parental leave. It’s an exciting time to be making big moves in for working parents!

 

Watch Jennifer and Gina’s conversation about parental leave and retaining talent in this shifting landscape.

 

If you would like to learn more about our Let’s Be Human program and how we can help your company navigate parental leave with efficiency, communication, and humanity please reach out to Gina@thesecondshift.com

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The Lost Art of Connecting

 

Social impact communications and marketing strategist Susan McPherson is proud super-connector. She says it took her a long time to realize it was her superpower and figure out how to harness that for her own benefit and to help others as well. She’s written a book, The Lost Art of Connecting, to teach all of us how to intentionally make meaningful connections online and in person and strategically being useful and helpful to others.  In the end, she says, it’s all about helping others and the help will come back to us. Here are some of Susan’s tips from her Gather, Ask, Do method. For the more info you can watch our entire interview and buy her book!

Gather:

  • Connecting with yourself.
  • Audit your goals– who do you want to connect or re-connect with to help you reach those goals.
  • What is your superpower– How can you be of service.
  • Widen your networks to meet people outside of your comfort zone.

Ask:

  • Ask meaningful questions of others to find out how you can be helpful to them.
  • Learn to listen carefully

Do:

  • Take all of those details and start to find ways to help others and ultimately yourself.
  • Be strategic about it and focus on achieving the goals you set for yourself.

 

 

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Featured Member: Rachel Brown

Featured Member Rachel Brown is a seasoned digital marketing and communications specialist who is also a holistic nutritionist and yoga instructor and in her free time launched a corporate wellness consultancy. Nothing says Second Shift member like a turning a personal passion  into a side gig turned entrepreneurial venture. Go get it Rachel!
Tell us your story : Who are you and what do you do?

 

I’m Rachel. I’m a born and bred New Yorker who loves to travel, connect, soak up culture wherever it lives, and spend time in fresh air. My career story isn’t entirely linear. But whose really is? My expertise falls under the umbrella of digital marketing + communications specializing in influencer marketing, content marketing, artist management, corporate communications and public relations. I have 10+ years on the agency side, in addition to regularly volunteering with organizations such as I Give a F*ck, Frontline Foods, etc. where I spearhead strategic VIP/influencer partnerships and grassroots community collaborations. The other hat that I proudly wear is that I’m the co-founder of The Wellness Project NYC, a creative corporate wellness consultancy.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment?

 

 

My company: The Wellness Project NYC! When we first launched in 2012, bringing creative holistically focused wellness programming to companies was unheard of. We were early adopters in the space, took on enrollment conversations with confidence, and built a company that allows me to truly connect with thousands of individuals on a daily basis, while getting paid to do so. Along with my co-founder, we self-funded and built a profitable small business that not only changes peoples lives for the better, but we have developed a solid reputation amongst Fortune 500 companies around the world in doing so.

What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?

My conviction to use our collective creative voice with intention and to be a force for positive change is the driving force behind much of my career path and personal journey. My success in building TWP and running global advertising campaigns stems from my ability to delicately balance client expectations, maintaining alignment on business objectives, and producing meaningful, human-centric experiences for the shared end user.  This conviction is perhaps my greatest asset, but also presets me with my greatest challenges. It means that often times, I’m pressed to look deeper at the “why”, not just at the “how”, question the status quo and do things differently — and often times without a roadmap.

How do negotiate the balance between life and work when you are the one setting the boundaries?

 

I know that when I’m depleted, my work will be too. When I’m feeling personally inspired, connected, confident and healthy, that is the energy I bring to “the office”. The truth is, we don’t have a “work life” and a “home life”. We have one life and who you are in one area of your life will most definitely show up in all areas of your life. To me, boundaries are not something to be ashamed of. They help to bring priorities into focus and hone in on the things we truly want to achieve in life, and are an integral part of managing personal and professional expectations. When things slip up and feel chaotic or out of alignment, I think checking boundaries and priorities is a great first place to look.

How do you make work work for you? 

 

I connect to the good! At this point in my career, I am so grateful to only work with brands and/or people I feel aligned with. This turns work into a tool for me to learn and grow which tends to be both invigorating and rewarding. Each project and client is different and one of my favorite parts of the journey is to determine where I can bring the most value to the work I’m doing and team I’m collaborating with and lean into those strengths for the good of the greater team, and end deliverable.

 

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The Second Shift Solution

 

 

While explaining the exodus of women out of the workforce and how that exacerbates the current labor shortage, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Suzanne Clark said “It is one of the biggest problems threatening the country. When demand outpaces supply, then any CEO has got to think about what they’re doing to retain workers, to be sympathetic to their workforce, to be a best-in-class employer—whether that’s wages, benefits, flexible schedules, access to childcare, better training.”

It’s a vicious cycle– without affordable childcare, paid leave and a pathway to better pay and future success, women are leaving the workforce in critical numbers and adding fuel to an already burning fire.

The Second Shift is one solution for companies to employ in their toolbox:

  • We provide opportunities for women to work flexibly and remain in the workforce.
  • We provide fill-ins for parental leaves– a proven way to attract and retain working parents when it costs employers  150% percent of a full-time salary to replace an employee.  
  • We consult with companies on their diversity, flexibility and hybrid work strategies.
  • Our Let’s Be Human: Parenthood at Work platform supports companies by creating ESG groups for parents and training employees and managers on best practices around parental leave.
  • We work with political advocacy organizations to fight for government policy and funding to support working mothers and families.
  • We help many female founded start-ups get off the ground by connecting them with high-level project-based talent to grow and scale quickly.
  • We help women make work work for themselves! 
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Paid Leave is Important– Make Some Noise!

 

 

 

Nearly 3 million women dropped out of the workforce in the past year and a half as families were hit the hardest in COVID.  A jobs report that came out last week surprised many who thought back to school would alleviate the child-care burden on mothers and families–but we knew the truth– school is one pillar keeping women in the workforce and without easy access to affordable childcare, universal pre-k and paid leave the balance tips and it falls, primarily and historically, on women.

Our friends at PL +US are pushing for paid leave to be part of the Biden Build Back Better bill and they need our help. The Second Shift community is made up of working women and families who understand first hand the critical need for government policies to help women regain the momentum we’ve lost in the fight toward gender equity in the workforce.  The private sector can’t do it alone, families can’t do it alone– we are the ONLY industrialized nation without paid leave and it’s up to the federal government to show up for women. We need to make some noise so our voices can’t be ignored!

 

Here’s what to do:

  • Post Post Post!
    •  From IG stories to Twitter to TikTok, every bit helps.
  • Tweet at Members of Congress and TAG them.
    • Especially if you live or know people in key states like Arizona, West Virginia,  New York, Washington, & Oregon.
  • Share your own story and experience with Paid Leave.
  • Be sure to tag @paidleaveus
  • Contact us if you want to do an IG Live or collaborate on content!
  • If you have a podcast or a blog talk about paid leave and encourage your followers to make noise! 

 

We are doing an event with PL+ US on Oct 26th to walk through what the bill means and why it is so important to speak up, now!

Join us on Zoom: https://bit.ly/pfml-briefing

 

 

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2021 Women in the Workplace Report

 

 

The 2021 LeanIn and McKinsey Women in the Workplace report is out and, unsurprisingly, it’s paints a pretty bleak picture.  Here are the highlights:

The Bad

  • 1 in 3 women are thinking of leaving the workplace or downshifting their careers (last year it was 1 in 4).
  • 42% of women say they are “often or always” burned out and 35% of men agree.
  • Women of color are not being promoted at the manager level at the same rate as men leaving a critical hole in the pipeline to more later promotions.

The Good

  • For the first time Women of Color were promoted to manager at about same rate as all other women.
  • Women managers are stepping up at higher rates than men to support their teams and focus on DEI efforts.
  • Women managers are showing up as strong leaders while steering employees through this tumultuous time.

The Takeaway

This is nothing we didn’t already know– women are stepping up! We are taking on additional emotional labor at work and at home.  Women managers care for the welling being of their teams and are managing overworked and overburdened employees. Women understand the critical need for DEI in the workplace and they are spending extra time at work on these efforts. Working mothers historically take on 3-6 hours a day of unpaid labor at home. Add in the lack of affordable childcare and stable in person schooling and it’s no surprise that so many working women are burned out and thinking about leaving the workforce.

If that sounds all too familiar– don’t walk, join us! Hire part-time expert women through The Second Shift  to take some of the burden off your employees, and ultimately you! If you are thinking of leaving or going to a part-time role, consider joining our membership to find high-value flexible work with companies who value your experience and expertise.

 

Let us make work work for you!

 

 

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Success Story!

 

The Client:

Club Franchise Group is a boutique fitness organization looking to build their fast growing company on a solid foundation. They turned to The Second Shift to find an HR expert to recruit and onboard new hires as well as create and implement new policies and benefits for the rapidly expanding team.

The Quote:

“The ability to have a partner with access to professionals with a wide variety of backgrounds, skills, and abilities is critical in today’s ever-changing business landscape. Knowing we have professionals to partner with has really been a game-changer. Being flexible about our hiring means we can achieve our corporate goals and continue to expand in seamlessly.”

Nancy D. CFO Club Franchise Group

The Hire: 

Club Franchise Group hired HR veteran Erin B. to recruit and onboard new hires in new locations as well as create and implement new policies, handbooks and benefits for the rapidly expanding team. As they expand, CFG  particularly liked  Erin’s prior experience working for a company opening new locations across the country.

The Quote: 

“Working with The Second Shift has allowed me to form relationships with companies that I wouldn’t have had access to or met otherwise.  The team at TSS is supportive, friendly, and easy to work with. They take building their community seriously and once you are in, they are serious about providing you with the support and tools that you need to be successful in working with clients. I cannot recommend them enough and have had a great experience being part of their team!”

Erin B. The Second Shift Member/ HR Consultant

Want your own success story? Post a job now! 

 

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The Second Shift- The White House- The CARE Economy

 

Exciting day at The Second Shift! We are thrilled to be working with Vice President Kamala Harris to pass the Build Back Better infrastructure plan that would invest heavily in home- and community-based services, higher caregiver wages and Medicare expansion. The Second Shift was quoted along with leaders of companies such as Microsoft, Airbnb, Etsy, Salesforce and Reddit in a White House press release supporting CARE spending as a way to promote equity in the workforce by supporting working parents and caregivers. As a company whose mission is transform the workplace by giving women control over their own careers we are proud to continue this fight on the federal level to #makeworkworkforyou!

Here is what our founders Gina Hadley (she/her) and Jenny Galluzzo had to say:

“As a company founded by working mothers, representing thousands of working women across the country, and dedicated to giving women control of their career journeys, we know that funding for CARE is a crucial component to re-building a strong and equitable workforce. The pandemic exposed the structural fault lines in the lives of working families and with federal government action, along with cooperation from the business community, we will create a solid foundation to support women in the workplace today and for future generations.”

Thank you to TIME’S UP for including us in the CARE Economy Business Council and your continued work for women and equity!

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Childhood Mental Health and Resilience in the Pandemic

In case you missed it– we hosted a webinar with parenting expert and childhood developmental psychologist Dr. Aliza Pressman. The topic was focused on building emotional resilience and treating anxiety as we transition from remote school to offices and summer schedules. You can watch the whole webinar (including some technological hiccups…) here! 

We highly recommend Dr. Aliza’s podcast, Raising Good Humans!

Aliza is also the co-founder of Seedlings Group if you are looking for group or family therapy.

 

 

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