Angela had worked hard her whole life. During high school she was a waitress on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. Marketing Research and Data AnalysisDuring the weekends she worked at her parents’ dry cleaning business. She fit in friends, school, and sports around the edges as she saved money to help pay for college. She went to her local state school, taking advantage of the in-state tuition and strong work-study programs. By the time she graduated she had only $15,000 in debt from school and began her career in accounting. Over the next 10 years she held various jobs in the accounting field, working her way up the ladder and gaining more expertise and seniority. She paid off her loans and felt well on the way to a successful career. During that time, she met her future husband Jimmy. He was painter and starting his own house painting business. During the spring and summer months he worked very hard and made a lot of money, but winter was slow and he eventually took up part-time work at Home Depot to help make ends meet during that time. They got health benefits from her job and largely considered her the “anchor” of their financial well-being. When Angela was 29, she and Jimmy had twin baby girls named Daisy and Rose. The girls were adorable and kept both of them very busy. However, Angela got only 6 weeks of paid time off from work and she and Jimmy were struggling with what to do with the babies when Angela went back to work. Making it more difficult was the fact that Angela wanted to breastfeed her babies, and she worked close to 45 minutes away from their house. She felt massively divided between the demands of her family and new children, and the financial reality that they needed her income and benefits to survive. She was stressed all the time because she was not around her children as much as she wanted, and she was so tired at work that she was not performing at the high level she was used to. She felt like she could not win. Toward the end of maternity leave, they decided to have Jimmy watch the babies, and during the first couple of months back at work he drove them to her office once a day to visit mom and get fed. With Jimmy trying to take care of the babies on his own, things started to break down. Unfortunately, Jimmy was having a very difficult time and did not know if he could continue for much longer. He had very little experience taking care of children and moreover did not find it fulfilling to be the primary caregiver for the babies. Although he loved them very much, he yearned to get back to work he enjoyed, painting houses or doing other handiwork.

1. What should Angela and Jimmy do about taking care of Daisy and Rose?

2. What could Angela’s employer do to make the transition back to work easier for Angela?

3. What do you think the impact of this stress will be to Angela’s job performance? What resources are available to help her?

4. What could Angela and Jimmy have done prior to the birth of the twins to address the challenge of work/life/parenting balance?