The Roche Report

For the past two years, I have worked from home a lot as part of an increased focus on limiting my travel to be home and present with my kids. As we all shift to an increased work from home schedule, I thought it would be helpful for me to join the chorus of posts on my own tips about work from home. #1 - Try to mimic a workday schedule and workplace environment-- or, with child care being dynamic, be intentional about when you are available for work and when you aren't. The easy answer (if you don't have kids) is try to have an 8-6 schedule where you have a time for lunch and have a time to get an afternoon snack, coffee, etc. It can be really easy to lose structure that a workday provides - and can be really easy to be hunched over your computer for 10 hours without moving (more on this in a minute) - so focus on getting up at the same time every day, getting dressed ACTUALLY for work (maybe not business casual but jeans, nice shirt, etc.-- again more on this in a minute)....

Last year, I wrote an impassioned blog post about why getting to equality is so hard; this year, I have a bit of a different flavor for International Women's Day. A couple of weeks ago, I attended a conference where one of the panels (for all attendees) was an interview with senior female leaders in utilities. One of the panelists spoke about the need for men to proactively sponsor junior female talent, highlighting how women and men sometimes have different styles in seeking mentorship relationships and so to be successful, men need to take an active role in seeking out these relationships too. After watching the panel, several male colleagues and I had a very interesting conversation about it. They mentioned that many of the industry events and conferences that they go to have sessions for women in {insert conference topic here}; but in general, the sessions are not open to men. Our conversation then continued about (my summary, not theirs) the perils of this subject as a man...

I haven’t written on this blog as much as I would like because the past several months have been pretty hectic .  This is primarily because things have been great busy at work, but the reality is that one of our challenges has been that as soon as we hit November, we entered the season of sickness, and seem to have been juggling one member of our family being sick. And when I say sick- I’m not talking about a runny nose- we’ve had two stomach viruses, Johnny and Charlie got the flu, two ear infections, and jack recently had hand / foot / mouth virus ( non parents : I don’t really suggest googling images of this, it’s a pretty gross kid virus). Johnny and I have kind of an evolving system of calendar scheduling of who has what work commitments and who is primary- when one of us has early / late meetings, work events, or travel; but at a time where both of us could basically be working most hours of the day (and sometimes are), we’ve also been forced to slow do...

Today marks exactly one month back at work after my parental leave with Jack. I have started to write a blog post each week that I have been back - and I have to admit that I've had a hard time writing one. I generally work to have a positive message or something positive that I am working towards in my posts (and in my life!) and I have to admit that being back at work has been an adjustment. But, the intent of this blog is to write about the ups and downs of being a working mom and so here I am, writing about the ups and downs of the past month. I will start with the good - coming back to work has been mostly great. I was laughing with someone who I work with that late Friday afternoon the thought came into my head, "Wow, I'm pretty good at my job!" I say I was laughing, because it's almost funny that it felt like a revelation. While I looked forward to coming back, I think that there is always a bit of anxiety as well, especially after a long period away, of ...

This week marks the midpoint of my maternity leave, which is both easy and hard to believe. There have been many times that I have thought about writing an update post, but time and life got away from me in the chaos of a new baby, a move (we may be completely delusional, but we moved into a new house 10 days after Jack was born. Subsequently, 10 days later, our basement flooded, so we had to move everything back out of the basement, which included a lot of boxes that we hadn't unpacked that were wet. UGH!), etc etc etc. Jack is an incredible addition to our family. We are so lucky because he is an easy, peaceful little guy who basically only cries to communicate with us about being hungry. Charlie LOVES him, and smothers “her baby” with kisses as much as she can. Charlie has stayed in daycare while I’m out, and it has been funny because all the kids in her class are fascinated by the baby but when jack and I arrive to pick her up, she stands on the side of the stroller and tell...

I haven't written a blog post in a while; as I prepare to go on maternity leave, the frenzy of wrapping things up, transitioning, and still having time for my family has meant that I have less time to indulge in my passion projects like this blog. Another thing that I had let drop recently, which is one of my favorite things that I do with my team is my Team Roche Book Club - but as I transition more and more to my team, I was able to schedule TWO book club meetings before I go out on leave. This had dropped because I felt the need to refresh myself on some parenting-related reading, including the new release Crib Sheet ; while this book is not necessarily appropriate for the Team Roche Book Club, which focuses on more professional development / leadership development type books, it is on my must-read list for any prospective parent (for the record, so is Emily Oster's other book, Expecting Better ). Both books focus on a data-driven approach to analyzing the common issues that...

Last week, IBM published a study about advancing women in the workplace . One key finding was that in spite of the increased discussion about the importance of gender diversity in the workplace, most companies are not actively prioritizing it as a strategic initiative. Two stats that jumped out to me as I read the study were: "58 percent say fewer women than men want to take on leadership obligations."  "Mindset matters. We asked survey respondents how long it will take for their industries to exhibit an equal balance of women and men across all leadership levels. On average, they estimate 54 years—more than two generations into the future."  54 years!!! W.T.F!??! And do we really think that women don't WANT to take on leadership obligations? IBM's study is likely not new news; but I certainly appreciate that my employer is contributing to the discussion about how to drive gender diversity in the workforce - and this is a topic I am passionate about...