Bosses Who Lighten Employees Mental Loads Do These 5 Things

Bosses Who Lighten Employees Mental Loads Do These 5 Things Youre writing emails, on hold with the insurance company that wrongly billed you and checking homework with dinner in the crockpot. Meanwhile youre peppered with relentlessquestions from your family about where you put their things when you were cleaning and what time their doctors appointments are.Thats called the mental load all that mental list-making and planning you do to manage your life and that of those who depend on you. Its the running commentary in your mind, the constant talking to yourself, the racing how-am-I-going-to-get-all-of-this-done thoughts and all the invisible work youre doing to manage all the work youve got to do. As a woman, the mental load can be rather hefty society still puts the bulk of the burden of home chores on us, so were expected to be super-humans who could work full time and handle all the housework on our own. Its not right and its not always this way for all women but its certainly a reality for a lot of working women.Some workplaces do offer perks and benefits that can lighten the mental load of working mothers, however. Here are five things bosses who lighten employees mental loads do. Does yours?1.Allow Families to VisitBy allowing mothers to bring their children to work, even just on specific days or for specific events, it allows them time to cater to both work and their families. It also allows them to save on childcare costs, which, on average, rack up to $11,666per year (or $972 a month) in the United States, according to the National Association of ChildCareResource and Referral Agencies.2.Offer Paid Sick TimeWomen live in a world where being sickis too often perceived as a weakness, and were therefore expected to grow a pair, like a man and power through a days work, even if were under the weather. Working mothers with heavy mental loads can be quite prone to sicknesses, given that theyre likely sleeping less and stressed out more.The U.S. is among t he minority of developed countries that does not mandate sick leave at the federal level, unlike so many European countries. In France, for example, sick leave is linked to social security. But, for millions of Americans, skipping work means losing a days pay. Bosses who allow for sick days take the brunt off the bank account a little bit.3.Actually Allow LunchBreaksIn 2012, employees in Hong Kongs financial district protested because their 90-minute lunch breaks would be shortened to just one hour. In America, an hour lunch break is virtually unheard of. Research showsthat only one in five people steps away for a midday meal, and most workers are simply eating at their desks.A study by CareerBuilder found that women executives are the worst about taking their breaks. More than half of women polled said they brought their lunch from home, compared to 36 percent among their male manager counterparts. Perhaps its because women have to work harder to prove their worth. And a lot of wom en feel that skipping lunch makes them look more productive.There are no federal laws mandating lunch breaks its instead regulated on a state-by-state basis. So bosses who allow their employees to actually take lunch breaks without penalties not only help their employees by allowing them to take much-needed breaks, but also benefit their companies by preventing burn out.4.Give Paternity LeaveMost American fathers dont receive any pay during the period after their child is born. New parents rely on federal law (called the Family andMedical LeaveAct orFMLA) to protect their job for up to 12 weeks after a birth or adoption, so new fathers are entitled to return to their positions after a period of absence without penalty in pay or position. But theFMLAdoes not guarantee any pay during this 12 week period and it does not apply to everyone.Offering only maternity leave suggests that women are to be the primary caretakers of their children. Yes, women need parental leave perhaps more so t han mensome would argue, because of the physical stress of pregnancy and child birth on their bodies, but both parents should share childcare duties. Employers who offer paternity leave help alleviate some of the mental load for working mothers whomight otherwisebe asked to take care of their children largely alone.5.Offer Flexible Work OptionsA report from FlexJobsandGlobal Workplace Analytics,2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforce, found that 3.9 million U.S. employees who make up 2.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce work from home at least half of the time.Telecommuting has become so popular that theres actually been a 115 percent percent increase between 2005 to 2015.Forty percent more U.S. employers offered flexible workplace options in 2017 than in 2010, which means that women with already serious mental loads could have a lot more freedom and time to balance work and personal/family obligations.Working motherswho can work remotelycan often spend less ti me commuting and more time with their families, and they might spend a heck of a lot less time mentally preparing for their days ahead.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solotravel. Shes an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.