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Career success increasingly means complete commitment. This may not sound so strange. Reasonable even. But put it in the context of a human life that has more in it than a job- such as family, friends, mundane errands- and it gets a lot more complicated. We’re not saying that you shouldn’t work hard. We’re saying that you should work hard and advance in your job without having to sacrifice every other part of your life. And you shouldn’t have to completely sacrifice your career in order to have a family either, if that’s not what you want.
 The traditional way to build a career is by putting in long hours at an office in order to climb the ladder within a company. In today’s globalized information society, it seems passé to say that this is the only way to do it. Though the economy, technology, and the make-up of the workforce has changed (more women, more dual-earner households), the American workplace hasn’t changed much. Employers still expect that all employees are willing and able to perform as “ideal” workers. Many can't. Yet, there is very little structural support to help people make it work in America. What's more, we appear to be unaware that out choices between a career and family are much more limited than the options available to our European peers. And gender inequity persists in our contemporary working world.
Wait! Come back! While women still face gender inequity, we’re convinced that men are subjected to gender bias and discrimination as well. After all, in society’s (and most employers’) eyes, it is not considered appropriate for men to take even short leaves to spend time with children. Often men don’t have much of a choice in life besides being a primary breadwinner—and with today’s standards for the ideal worker, that’s a lot of weight on your shoulders and a lot of time out of your lives. We think both men and women should have the opportunity to excel at work and enjoy fulfilling personal lives. Call us naïve, but we believe that our generation really should get it all. But how? Enter The Lattice Group. To learn more about the problem, check out the Work-Life Conflict Overview.
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