Have you ever had to take a medical leave from work? If you have, then you know it’s not as easy as one would think. The law states that covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for designated purposes, but is it really that simple?

Whether you are getting ready for adoption or a new baby, taking care of a family member or yourself with a serious medical condition, there will be a lot happening in your world. For me, taking family leave was definitely worth it, but it certainly wasn’t easy. The mental and financial preparation was quite an experience.

The first step is to pitch the leave to your HR dept and your boss. You need to prove to them that your job will be covered while you are out of the office and out of touch. This is not an easy task and can cause some serious mental anguish because, in reality, it is not 100% possible. Your ‘master plan’ involves coercing your team to help cover you while you are out, setting up adequate communication between the team and your manager, telling your business associates who to go to while you are out, and setting some reasonable goals for the team to achieve while you are gone.

However, a good plan may not be enough. What about all the day-to-day things that change? Everything might look good on paper but what happens when something unplanned comes up? Even if HR and management signed off on a great plan, flexibility is needed to deal with how the unexpected gets handled.

My advice: be ready for the plan to change and have some alternative scenarios set up. You know your team, your workplace and your manager, so consider the possible realities. Also, don’t say you’ll be available if something comes up right away because, in reality, you won’t be able to. You may think you can handle it, but you’ll have other priorities… You could be comforting a 1-week old baby, trying to breastfeed, or terrified that you are doing something wrong — a call from the office about any BS will not be welcome. Be real and let it go.

Things likely won’t go according to plan and the best you can hope for is that (1) your team will move forward in some aspect — they will because there are some great people on your team, right? and (2) you will still have the same job when you return. After a few weeks of being out, you may want to touch base with the office in case some damage control is needed.

Now the financial preparation for leave isn’t much easier. If you are eligible, you may have some vacation or sick days you can use for part of the leave. If you are lucky, you work for a company that provides a paid leave. (If you work for a company that does, please tell us so we can promote them!) Most likely you will try to work additional hours prior to your leave to help cover your missing salary while you are out. This will help pay for the bills that keep coming even though you aren’t working. The down side is that you are trying to work more when you have a lot of personal preparation to do. It may not be the best time to work more, but the additional funds will relieve some of the financial burden of taking time off.

As you plan your leave, create a budget immediately so you can see how you are – and will be – spending. Understanding your finances is important to reducing the stress of your situation. The impact of not bringing a paycheck, combined with additional costs related to the reason you are taking a leave, can be immense. Look for ways to cut costs now and in the future. Once again, face the reality and do the best you can. In the end, it usually works out somehow.

I don’t want this to a deterrent from people taking a leave, but consider it a reality check. In the end, it is worth it — life is about family and giving back. For me, being able to spend time with a newborn and getting to know each other was definitely worth the difficulties. We are lucky that we can take a family leave and still be guaranteed a job at the end, especially in today’s economy. We can only hope that our employer will work with us to helps make this life transition easier in some way.

In the recent OIWC Career Satisfaction survey, the highest ranking benefits relating to family are paid family and/or medical leave (76% said this was important) and allowing her to work flexible hours following family/medical leave (77% said this was important). If you are currently employed with a company that has these benefits, rejoice! Not all of them do. If you don’t, encourage your company to work towards these benefits so that employees can keep the jobs they love while caring for their families.

 It would be nice to hear about experiences people have had regarding medical leave. Tell us the good, the bad and the ugly. Even better, let us know about the companies that offer great benefits to their employee so we can give them the kudos they deserve. What is your advice on how to make taking medical leave easier?  Please share!

One of my pet peeves about job hunting is being asked what my salary expectations are when I am applying for a job. It irks me even more when they state: “those without salary expectations will not be considered.” That's cold — it's a bit like saying I won't even consider dating you without knowing your weight; they are asking for a single piece of information without any context.

Of course, we all have an idea of what we think we should be paid, but there are many other factors that we take into consideration — it's not just salary but the entire compensation package: benefits, bonuses, other company perks. In addition, “quality of life” can be impacted by other things such as location and commuting distance, hours of operation, travel requirements, etc. Without knowing more about the company and the position, it is impossible to come up with a salary figure that is balanced against all these factors.

For example, I used to work for a company that was located about 6 blocks from my house. For 5 years, I walked to work everyday, regardless of the weather, and I loved it! Aside from the physical and mental benefits, it meant that I barely drove my car — my mileage dropped to a few thousand miles a year. Not only did I have more time and less stress from not being stuck in traffic, it saved me money thanks to reduced insurance and operating expenses. Together, these factors might have convinced me to take a lower salary to work at this company rather than a similar position at a company requiring a commute by car.

Career advice will tell you to never reveal your expected salary until you are seriously being considered for a position. Negotiation strategy says don't be the first to show your hand. So what do you do when a prospective employer insists that you state your salary expectations?

My thoughts:

• Avoid answering if possible — if you want to acknowledge the request, include a comment about being happy to discuss the matter once you have a better understanding of the position and its responsibilities and/or the overall compensation package.
• If they really insist, do your homework — learn as much as you can about the company and the position, ask smart people for advice, look for examples at similar companies, check out online resources.
• Before you answer, consider what's important to you — what do you want to make, what do you need to make, what benefits or perks are important to you (and what would it cost you to get them elsewhere if they're not provided), how interested are you in the position or the company.
• Provide a range — depending on the salary, a range of $10,000 – 20,000 is probably appropriate; depending on the position, you may also want to comment on what you expect for a bonus (whether you provide a dollar amount or a percentage, give them a range for it as well).

Most companies already know what they are willing to pay for a particular position. The cynic in me believes that they ask the question in order to weed out those who expect too much (or too little) or to determine how low they can go if they were to make an offer. Personally, I would prefer to have a dialogue on the subject when both parties have a better idea of what each has to offer. The optimist in me thinks that this would give both sides the opportunity to negotiate a satisfactory solution.

What do you think? How have you handled this issue? I'd love to hear your thoughts — particularly from those on the recruiting side. Give us you ideas and suggestions!

Earlier this year, OIWC released the findings of its first Industry Compensation Survey. The results offered some insight into how women in the outdoor industries feel about their work, the companies they work for and their compensation.

One question asked women to identify her most important career issue:

• The work-life balance provided by my employer: 47.3%
• I have a meaningful role within the organization: 24.9%
• The career progression provided by the organization: 18.1%
• I work in a comfortable, inclusive environment: 6.3%
• My company's commitment to important issues: 2.3%
• My company is open about sharing knowledge (cross training, financials, etc.): 1.3%

Clearly, work-life balance is number one, but what is interesting is that having a meaningful role within the organization and career progression are both much more important than other issues identified by women in the survey.

In January, Ali Sacash-Johnson presented an overview of the survey findings at Outdoor Retailer and SIA. At both events, she also provided some great suggestions on how companies can address the top three issues identified by women in the survey and increase the satisfaction of the female employees – for little or no cost.

Given the current economy, it seemed like a good time to review these ideas. Companies of all sizes are under pressure to do more with less. But while companies may be willing to make changes, they are likely to be increasingly risk averse, particularly when it comes to anything involving money.

Ali's ideas provide inspiration for both managers and employees on how they can improve employee satisfaction without having much of an impact on a company's hard costs. Programs such as mentoring or skills development and policies such as flexible work schedules and time off in lieu of additional pay are creative and desired ways our industry can retain and attract committed female workers.

For a summary of Ali's suggestions, check out “5 Ways to Improve Women's Satisfaction” on the August professional development resources pages.

For more inspiration on how to create change in your organization, take a look at the other resources for this month, including the SNEWS article on “Innovative and positive ways to rock the boat in your workplace”.

And, of course, if you have any thoughts on the best ways to create change, we'd love to hear from you. Just add your comments below.

I'm curious as to what the standard seems to be for company policy regarding salaried employees who work events outside of the normal 40hr work week, i.e. giving up a weekend, etc.  Is there an equal allocation of days put forth into the employee's vacation time?  Are there laws that support an equal amount or is this just considered part of the job?