Posted on: Monday, March 3, 2003

Focus on career shifting to family

By Maria Cortes Gonzalez
El Paso Times

Just a few years ago, Veronica Saenz Segura was a financial analyst focused on her career and moving up.

But when the 43-year-old lost her job at a big corporation a year ago and her mother died around the same time, Saenz Segura's view of life underwent a big change.

"I was pursuing the traditional career ladder. ... You buy into that for a while — that more money brings more prestige and happiness. But that's not so. With the job loss and these other things, your values shift, and you begin to realize that life is too short to live to work."

She now works part-time to devote more time to family.

Saenz Segura's shift in lifestyle is becoming more typical in America as employees rethink their loyalties to companies. Perhaps no longer secure about their future, people are re-evaluating the balance of work and family life — and deciding family should weigh more.

In May 2002, a national survey by the administrative service company Office Team found 32 percent of employees ranked balancing work and life as their top concern, well above salary or job security.

Debra Ness, executive vice president for the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington, D.C., says the shift has been a steady movement.

"Our culture has begun slowly to catch up to the reality of today's working family ... that you no longer have one primary caregiver — usually a woman— in the home, taking care of the family needs," she said. "Family-friendly workplace policies (are) not a novelty anymore. It's almost an expectation."

Sept. 11 also motivated people to rethink their lifestyles, experts say.

According to a Martiz Research study in January 2002, 41 percent of working adults changed their work and life priorities after the attacks, placing less emphasis on work and more on family.

Although Saenz Segura eventually was offered a full-time position at another company, she was no longer interested in what money could bring. She would rather have time for her 13-year-old son.

"Now I have time to do things like paint my house or make sure that my son gets to his mariachi performances. And I'm not all stressed out, yelling at him to hurry up," she said. "I even have time to do some volunteer work, and I value that."

Eric Brown, communications director for the Center for the New American Dream, said the decision to leave jobs that leave no time for family is becoming much easier with public role models.

"We're seeing high-profile people who are stepping off the corporate ladder because they see the value in their home life," he said.