Q for Moms that work in House/Senate

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to get a work life balance when you work in Congress? Does it entirely depend on who you work for or is that even being a little naive?

[Anonymous]

Two key things. You need an incredibly supportive spouse. I was "on" for child care in the fall but it is spouses turn to be"in" and getting home each night because fiscal cliff is my thing.

You also need to set reasonable expectations and limits. So, stay late Tuesday through Thursday when they are in session but refuse to on Mondays and Fridays (unless it is the silly season like now).

Some times the guilt is tough but if you love your family and yor job it is worth it.

[Anonymous]

No, not unless your idea of balance is rarely seeing your family awake.

[Anonymous]

So much of this depends on who your boss is and what legislative issues you handle. DH works in the House and the work-life balance over the last couple years has been pretty good for him. He is home most nights for dinner. The main thing is you have no control over floor scheduling so don't know when you'll be needed & taking time off while Congress is in session is very difficult. The other thing is the pay is pretty lousy.

[Anonymous]

Certainly depends on who you work for, and work with. Some offices are very young, so more clueless about family needs. Others with more seasoned staff have more kids, so less of a big deal. Helps to have a spouse with flexible hours, as the schedule can be out of your control.

[Anonymous]

Wife of a DH who works on the hill. The first year was tough, until we figured out a good rhytm. It does help that I have flexibility for the occasional emergency pickups, but overall we have made it work. He is generally home for dinner most nights, except a few weeks a year. The really busy times are usually predictable for him (although he works for a committee and not an office, so that might just be the cyclical nature of their work). But typically we know the times of year he is going to be busy, and we also know the times that it is going to be slow, so we schedule vacations and other family things accordingly. I have to say, recesses are really nice, and there are plenty of them! No, the pay is not spectacular, but it is interesting work that he enjoys doing (this is not a job you do for the money). I hate the travel part, but some of that is self-inflicted as well. A big pro is the very generous amounts of leave, including parental leave - his paternity leave was as long as mine, and paid! So it is definitely workable, you just have to manage your expectations.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips! I'd love to hear more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wife of a DH who works on the hill. The first year was tough, until we figured out a good rhytm. It does help that I have flexibility for the occasional emergency pickups, but overall we have made it work. He is generally home for dinner most nights, except a few weeks a year. The really busy times are usually predictable for him (although he works for a committee and not an office, so that might just be the cyclical nature of their work). But typically we know the times of year he is going to be busy, and we also know the times that it is going to be slow, so we schedule vacations and other family things accordingly. I have to say, recesses are really nice, and there are plenty of them! No, the pay is not spectacular, but it is interesting work that he enjoys doing (this is not a job you do for the money). I hate the travel part, but some of that is self-inflicted as well. A big pro is the very generous amounts of leave, including parental leave - his paternity leave was as long as mine, and paid! So it is definitely workable, you just have to manage your expectations.

The leave varies by office though. My DH is able to work fairly family friendly hours in the day to day when his issues aren't on the floor, but can only take time off during recess and even then it's 10-15 days a year tops. Each Member of Congress or Committee sets their own policy for their staff.

[Anonymous]

Do you work, PP?

[Anonymous]

22:58 PP here, and yes, I do work.

[Anonymous]

It definitely depends on who you work for. The policies regarding leave, hours, etc are set by each individual office and committee. As others have mentioned, the hours can vary widely, but it is generally predictable, and recesses are frequent. It is generally true that Committee staff are generally able to take more advantage of the recesses, as they don't have constituent mail, etc. to keep up with. I know Moms who have worked part time, but it's generally not a reliable schedule. It's more like Tuesday through Thursday, with Mondays and Fridays off. There will then be times, when you have a bill on the floor, or in conference, that you will work 20-hour days. On the other hand, people don't generally hang around, if they don't have work to do.

Email has actually made the Hill a much more humane place to work. It used to be that more staff had to hang around as long as the House or Senate was in session, which is frequently late into the night. Most members use email now, and as long as the staff is responsive when the boss reaches out, most don't really care where you are. The one exception would be the Legislative Directors, who generally are stuck in the office until they call "no more votes."

Bottom line -- you can actually have a pretty good work-life balance, but it's not going to be consistent, and you need a really supportive and flexible spouse.