Program Coordinator Corner – June 2018
Dawne M. Vowler
Endocrinology & Metabolism Fellowship Coordinator
T32 Training Grant Manager
University of Michigan
dvowler@med.umich.edu
A few months back, Maryann Dundon shared with us a very informative PC Corner about Wellness and her institution’s approach. I thought I might talk a bit about this in the area of Work/Life Balance and my own personal journey.
Anyone who knows me knows that if asked what is the most important thing in my life, without a second’s hesitation I will answer, “my family”, and I mean it emphatically. I love my job; I really do! However, my family is what makes me tick. With that said, I strive to do an exceptional job in my professional life as well. I believe women especially, but not exclusively, are under increasing pressure to be “available and on call” for work, friends, family, church, you name it 24/7/365. This takes a real toll on our minds, bodies, and souls. Study after study addresses this. Throughout my career, which has spanned a longer time than I care to admit now, being an outstanding employee and wife/mother has been extremely demanding at times. I am lucky, however, in that I was able to strike a work/life balance that few heard of back in the day when I was raising my children. So here is my history, how I worked with my employers to strike this balance, and some tricks and tips to help succeed in both work and home areas of your life while balancing both.
- I took on the Med/Peds Program Coordinator position at a large community hospital. I established the office for the first time and developed the policies and procedures for the office and organized a system for running the program. This took about two years or so.
- When I had my first daughter, I worked full time for the first three years of her life. I worked early; my husband worked late, so her daycare was a short day. Her daycare was so close and my work was so flexible that I spent my lunches at her daycare so I could nurse her. As she grew older, I spent lunch hours with her, so we had time in the middle of the day together, and I picked her up right after her nap each day. This flexible situation gave me a good work/life balance, even while working full time.
- -When I was pregnant for my second child I knew I would not be able to be the mom I wanted to be and work full time. However, I wanted to keep my same position that I loved, if possible. I approached my PD. He had already been thinking of it too. He wanted to keep me as well. We worked out a schedule of three days per week – M, W, and F. Administration agreed. I had some minimal clerical coverage on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It worked famously!
- When I took the job here at the University of Michigan, I started out at three days a week as well. I have slowly worked my way up to full time plus – four 10 hour days (theoretically). This has happened as my family has “flown the coop”, the fellowship has grown, and I have been ready to tackle more professional challenges.
Looking at Strengths and Weakness of the process:
Weaknesses:
- Income
- Of course, I didn’t earn as much as my counterparts because I wasn’t working as many hours. This was very hard on our household income, but we made up for the financial loss in time spent together.
- Respect
- Some people didn’t consider my job as important as theirs, if I only had to be there part time. (See strength for the answer to this.)
- Missing Things on Days I Was Gone
- I was willing to move my days around for major meetings. However, there were times that I did miss someone stopping in or a visitor from out of town, etc.
Strengths:
- Time With My Girls
- Priceless! Years of time at home and volunteering in classrooms, etc. with my girls. Also, I worked an early schedule, so I could pick my girls up from school and minimize any latchkey time for them and be there for them after school.
- Efficiency
- I was able to learn the skill of ultra-efficiency. I had to accomplish five days’ worth of work in three. This began to change the minds of many regarding the respect issue (see above).
- Best of Both Worlds
- I was able to be a stay-at-home mom and a maintain a career at the same time. With the M, W, F work schedule, every day that I was at work, I knew the next day I was home with my family. This also was the best of both worlds for my children. It gave them the advantages of having a stay-at-home mom, as well as the advantages of having a working mom – both absolutely do have advantages and disadvantages for children as well!
When my youngest daughter was 16, I started adding time to my work schedule, and by the time she was starting University, I went to full-time employment. Besides the income advantage, this extra time is FULL with the added responsibilities of the new requirements of the ACGME and our own GME. I have also been able to spread my wings a bit and do things like volunteer for this Newsletter Committee, work on several task forces within our own institution and nationally, as well as become TAGME certified and mentor incoming new Program Coordinators. These activities are professionally and personally fulfilling, and help fill the gap since the girls are away. Despite all of this, if the phone rings, and it is one of my almost-adult daughters and they need me, there is no contest where I will be!
So, if you are on the other side of the professional horizon, meaning the much younger side, and you are thinking this sounds interesting, but….. “My institution will never allow it.” “I can’t afford it” or a host of other things. You might consider at least re-examining it.
- Perhaps it is not financially feasible, but perhaps your employer will allow telecommuting one or two days. If so, there is a lot of our work that can be done day or night – MedHub evals, minutes from the PEC, etc. That will allow time with your children when they are awake. It will allow time to go to classrooms and volunteer – I still miss that! It will allow time for after-school activities – I loved having the play dates at our house!
- Another suggestion is flex time. Maybe your institution feels you need to be at the office for your work. What about four tens, like I do? That puts you at the office, but gives you one day to be at home. I come in REALLY early starting at 6:00 a.m., so I can still be home fairly early. I still have one day at home to get things done.
- If you can financially swing less time, but the job doesn’t allow for just one person, what about job sharing? Is there another person that might be interested in the same thing? I worked as an Office Manager in a private physicians’ office for about four years between institutions. I job shared and I learned so much. Get creative and think outside the box to make things happen!
I think the biggest takeaway is that there is no right answer for how to choose work/life balance. What works for me might be totally wrong for you. Everyone has to do what is best for them to meet their own needs. My suggestions are only to think about what balance you want, then work with your employer to achieve it. I have been fortunate enough to always have worked at institutions that valued me as a person and a professional enough to work toward our common goals on both sides of the work/life equation.
Good luck!
Dawne M. Vowler