Bosses responding to special needs
Second in a two-part series on caring for children with disabilities
In the past, some of Kajuana Ezell's bosses and colleagues hadn't understood when she had to drop everything and leave work to care for her 17-year-old autistic son, who was mute until he was age 5.
"Everywhere I went, I felt like I was educating everyone around me," says Ezell, a Hartford-based senior administrative assistant. "That's my most vivid memory: I can't go to my child" when he needs me.
Now, working at
"If my son is having a bad day, I don't have to explain in detail what I need to do," says Ezell. "Children with special needs have bad days. You need the freedom to leave and come back." At Prudential, she's had various managers, but each time "it wasn't a difficult conversation to say to my boss, 'This is what I'm dealing with, and this is what I need.' They already had that understanding."
Slowly, the hidden work-life challenges that parents such as Ezell quietly face are moving onto corporate radar screens. It's partly because the issue is harder to ignore: Nearly 14 percent of kids up to age 17, or about 10.2 million children, have special healthcare needs. And with diagnoses of childhood diabetes, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other chronic conditions growing, more families are affected.
One sign of the expanded interest in the issue: On Dec. 5, Care.com Inc., a Waltham-based online caregiver listings service, launched a dedicated service for special needs parents and caregivers, and within two weeks, 10 percent of searches by job-seekers on the site involved the special needs category.
Prudential has had an "affinity" group since 1998 for employees with disabilities and those caring for people with special needs. The group has 100 members. But because the company is expanding further into the special needs consumer marketplace and more employees themselves are affected, it has significantly bolstered supports for employees in this area in recent years.
In the past two years, the financial services company held four financial planning and parenting forums and a number of smaller seminars in various locations, including Hartford, for parents with special needs children. An informational website has been expanded on the topic. In 2009, a teleconference seminar series will be held over several weeks, and new questions will be added to a companywide work-life survey to assess the scope of the issue.
"Special needs situations and adult care issues - these are issues that our employees are increasingly dealing with," says Maureen Corcoran, vice president of diversity. "If we closed our eyes to that and didn't provide assistance to employees, we'd be hurting our employees and hurting ourselves as well," she said.
Lost talent is one risk for inflexible companies. In nearly a quarter of families caring for children with special needs, one or both parents wind up reducing their work hours or quitting their jobs, according to government surveys.
One challenge employers face in responding is the spectrum of different conditions in the special needs community, from fragile health to behavioral disorders. As is often the case in the work-life arena, one size does not fit all. That's why assessing employee needs regularly, and tailoring supports accordingly, is crucial.
At Ernst & Young, the network of parents caring for special needs children used to hold a single, all-encompassing conference call each month. But two years ago, organizers added five condition-specific monthly calls for those touched by Down syndrome, autism, mental and cognitive health issues, cerebral palsy, and fragile/rare medical conditions. There is also a company point person, Christine Young, to help affected employees with work-life and other issues and facilitate the calls.
While progress has been made, not all parents in the company's "high-performing" culture feel comfortable speaking openly about their situations, says Young, who is based in Cleveland. She hears people dialing into the monthly calls, yet remaining silent. "They don't want to disclose to their team or boss because they don't want the bias. It does exist."
Still, the company's expanding support helps many feel they don't have to hide anymore. "I feel like I can talk openly at work about my situation, and I've not always felt that way in other companies," says Laura Eisenmann, a Boston-based associate director of knowledge management whose 22-year-old daughter, Sarah, has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, and ADHD. "When people have to hide anything about themselves, that eventually has an impact on work," she said.
Ernst & Young was an original corporate participant in an influential study carried out in 2003-2004 by the Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. The center's surveys and teaching boosted awareness and inspired pioneering programs to help special needs parents at a number of participating companies, including Waltham-based
In the future, more of us will be living longer, while facing chronic health conditions that medical advances cannot yet cure. We're becoming a nation of caregivers. That's why the corporate "early risers" who do more to support, inspire, and retain caregiver-workers will steam ahead of the competition economically.
"We want a career just like everyone," Ezell says of fellow parents with special needs children. "It's just that our 100 percent may not be the standard 8 to 5. Companies that can't give the flexibility, or allow us career opportunities, companies that aren't open to change, we can't work there."
Maggie Jackson is the author of "Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age." She can be reached at www.maggie-jackson.com. 