Fuzzy brain? Don’t worry, it’s just stress!

 

A friend recently made a visit to her Ophthalmologist because her eye was twitching so often she could barely drive. Convinced she had a brain tumor she made an emergency appointment only to be told that no, she was just burnt out.

 

Sound familiar?  We are nearing the year anniversary of the pandemic and women’s mental health is in a state of crisis. Anxiety, depression, sleep issues– women are burnt out from the constant stress of childcare and work.

 

In February, we partnered with Alma, a platform that connects people to licensed therapists in the New York metro area, to do a study of our members and what they are feeling right now; unsurprisingly 77% say their mental health has worsened over the past year— the two most common reasons– feeling overwhelmed by work and family.

 

The Second Shift and Alma hosted a talk with Dr Laura Athey- Lloyd, a clinical psychologist, to normalize what people are feeling, discuss mindful solutions and how to ask for help when you need it.

 

 

The need for therapists across the country is outweighing the supply and finding someone to work with can be a difficult and long process. 72% of members surveyed say they would like to hire a therapist but going through the process of finding one feels like too much additional stress. If you are looking to find someone to speak with quickly Alma will do the work for you and connect you directly with a therapist that has time and availability.

Fill out this form to get matched!

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Feature Career Coach: Gabrielle Garofalo

 

Meet Career Coach, the lovely, Gabrielle Garofalo!
Gabrielle is a certified life coach who helps individuals and companies bare their truths, discover what’s stopping them, and live their wildest dreams. With Gabrielle, clients learn how to activate their desires in the areas of their lives that matter most: health/wellness, joy, sensuality/sex, work-life balance, body image, building wealth, peer pressure, school and career concerns, smashing goals and so much more. She works with businesses and executives to unlock hidden or blocked potential, expose blind spots, discover areas for growth, and overcome challenges with integrity and focus. “Your life is happening every second and I want you to live life fully right now,” she says. 
Get in touch with us to get in touch with Gabrielle. She can’t wait to meet you. Email members@thesecondshift.com to #makeworkworkforyou!
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Women and Work in the Pandemic: A Second Shift Report

From the start, it was clear to us that Covid would have a major impact on our member community because we are working women, the majority of whom are married and have children under 18 years old (including our team). The destructive force of Covid on the lives of working women was confirmed by the recent Lean In/ McKinsey study of Women in the Workplace, which shows 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting or leaving the workforce because of the impact of Covid. Unfortunately this correlates to the trends we see within our community, so we surveyed you to find out why.

 

Here is what we learned:

 

Over the past year we tracked a decline in women applying for membership—in April 40% fewer women applied than the same month in 2019. That made sense to us because the world was shutting down and things were unstable. However, in August we saw 62% fewer applications for membership than the previous year. 

 

This led us to the same conclusion as the Lean In study—that childcare, remote schooling and uncertainty about planning anything in the near term is leading women away from the workforce. Our survey showed 47% of members say remote school is a major factor in their job choices and 56% say the same about childcare. 

 

The Lean In study found mothers spend 20+ hours a week (or half of a full-time job) on household chores and childcare. That could explain why more than 30% of our members say they passed up a job opportunity because of responsibilities related to Covid. 

 

All of this is to say that we feel you. The struggle to find work, along with anxiety about taking on anything new, is real. There is so much uncertainty right now but The Second Shift is here to provide projects that will keep you going through these turbulent times. There is good news too—we are seeing more jobs coming in every day. As clients see the benefit of remote work, we are ready to meet their hiring needs with an army of professional remote working pros! 

 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out our member survey. We wish you all good health.
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How You Doin? Member Survey!

We want to hear how you are coping with work and life and remote school and survival and everything… Please take a minute to fill out this survey so we can learn how the pandemic and parenthood is affecting your work life and the choices you are making about your current career path.

Link is HERE! 

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Career Coaching Platform is LIVE!

 

The end of summer and return to school is akin to New Years for working parents. There is so much excitement around new beginnings, but this year feels so different, as it does in every area of life. Instead of focusing on work and encouraging you to get back to a work/life routine, we hope you will double down on yourself and invest time and energy into optimizing your career journey.

Today we are excited to announce the launch of our new career coaching platform where Second Shift expert career coaches offer their services to their fellow members at discounted rates. We’ve received a lot of interest so far and are thrilled to have an opportunity to strengthen our member ecosystem.

Here is how it works:

Unlike our normal process, in this situation interested members are the clients and the coach is the member. This is new for all of us so please have patience, feel free to ask questions and send feedback!
Email members@thesecondshift.com if you are interested in being matched with a coach. We will respond with:
  • A list of all of our coaches, profiles and rates.
  • An outline of the steps you need to take post your job, how you will be matched with coaches and the invoicing and billing process.
Looking forward to helping you find a Second Shift member to optimize your career strategy!
This is open to people outside of our member community so please spread the word!
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Tips to set yourself up for remote school/ work life integration success!

 

The stress and anxiety of the unknown is overwhelming many working parents right now. Speaking up for your needs to #makeworkworkforyou as we go into an uncertain school year is important for productivity, management and  maintaining some semblance of work/life integration. We hosted a webinar with HR consultant Karen Finckenor and workplace parenting expert Lauren Smith Brody of the Fifth Trimester to learn how to advocate for your needs and set yourself, your team, and your family up for success.

Here are our main takeaways from the talk and you can watch the full webinar here:

 

  • There are no playbooks for employers or employees and that leaves policy  vacuum and creates an advantage for employees to advocate tor themselves and ask for what they need.

 

  • Policies are rapidly changing and being updated so educate yourself on what is available to you and check in with your manager and hr rep.

 

  • Be honest about what works for you- when are you able to be most productive and focused? Set and meet goals and then deliver and over-achieve expectations. Show you can make your own boundaries and goals and then you have proof of your productivity.

 

  • Organizations are looking at their performance reviews because this is all new and have to reevaluate to address properly. Make your case.

 

  • If you want to ask for a promotion, raise or flexible schedule do the following: know what policies are available to you, get clear on your ask and make sure it solves your need, make a business case for it backed up with strong data, have a few options ready to suggest, be a partner on the solution.  

 

Some final advice that we think it very relevant:

“This is a long game…. Your career is an evolution and you need to think about your longer term objectives and invest in your career.  Do not make short term decisions. Look at your career, where are you right now, and where you want to go- then figure out how you get to your goals in the next 18-24 months to sustain that vision.  Get clear on what you can do now, what you are learning and how that feeds into your professional vision for the future.”

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The Pandemic is Driving Women Out of Work

 

 

Pleased to share a wonderful article in The 19th News (a wonderful media platform focused on women and politics) about how this pandemic is overwhelming working mothers and forcing them to make really tough choices about balancing work and childcare (if they are fortunate to have choices). Our co-founder Jenny was quoted as a representative of the women in our member community:

“Jenny Galluzzo, co-founder of the Second Shift, a platform that matches professional women with freelance and consulting projects, said the site has seen four times as many applicants since February as women try to make up lost work hours with part-time consulting work.

Beyond that, most women tell her they’re just waiting.

“You can’t plan ahead in any concrete way. And that stress manifests itself because you don’t know how to interact with the workforce. If you’re out looking for a job, how can you know what job to take because you don’t know in two months what your kids’ school situation will be?” Galluzzo said. “I worry for women because we’re taking an undue burden of all of the care and the invisible labor. I worry about all the strides we’ve made just being set back.”

 

One of our members, Mara Geronemus, a working mother of  3 young children and wife of a front-line doctor, is also featured because  the weight of her work and responsibilities forced her to turn down clients and take a step back right when her practice was taking off. It’s a relatable story and one that really captures the anxiety, stress, helplessness and disappointment many of us feel right now.

On the positive side, Jenny sees a silver lining if we can just hold our breath and make it to the other side…

“In many ways, though, coronavirus has served as a magnifying glass, bringing into sharper focus issues like child care that have long been ignored — and employers are responding. Companies that once resisted flexible work set-ups, and particularly remote work, are starting to embrace the idea. 

“We have been fighting for the ability for women to work remotely and flexibly for years. It’s the number one thing women want for employment and companies have now been forced to see that that model works,” said Galluzzo, from the Second Shift. “And when the economy comes back and jobs are more plentiful and our kids are in school, I see this as ultimately a benefit because you don’t have to convince people any longer that [flexibility and being remote] works.”

#makeworkworkforyou

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New Offering: Career Coaching!

Our community is a vibrant ecosystem of experts who work together and support each other. It’s so gratifying to us when we see members hire from within or refer us to their colleagues, friends and clients. Thank you so much for helping us to keep those networks strong.
We realize there is a lot more we can be doing to help each other and invest in our career development right now. We successfully launched our member- led webinar series and are now starting a career coaching platform. Expert career coaches are volunteering their time and discounting their rates to provide their services for 1-1 coaching.
If you are interested in hiring a coach please fill out this form and we will follow up with instructions.
Please take this opportunity to network from within our community by being a Featured Member, leading a webinar or signing up to be a coach.
Any questions, email us at members@thesecondshift.com
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The End of the Girlboss Era

 

Second Shift member Aliza Licht wrote a wonderful article in Forbes refuting the negativity around the end of Girlboss, cancel culture and female founders. Our co-founder Jenny Galluzzo participated and has the closing remarks:

“Doing good and having a good business are not mutually exclusive,” states Jenny Galluzzo. “The optimism and energy of post 2016 feminism created a wellspring of excitement to disrupt the status quo. There is nothing negative about trying to change systemic inequity by re-writing the rules and creating your own power and money. That is true feminism.” 

Now let’s aim to make that a reality for all women, not just those with a current seat at the table.”

Read the full article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alizalicht/2020/07/05/girlboss-may-be-over-but-the-woman-founder-is-here-to-stay/#3231893378cc

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