The challenge in balancing work and family

Mother of two Nur Diyanah Zainuddin

PETALING JAYA: Working mothers find it difficult to find a balance between work and family, but flexible work arrangements can provide some relief.

Administrative executive Nur Diyanah Zainuddin, a mother of two, said she has limited energy and time to divide between her responsibility as a mother and as an employee.

“It starts off with the morning rush, where I have to ensure that the kids wake up ‘happily’ for school, while also ensuring that the traffic does not make me late for work after sending them to school.

“Once school and work end, there is the battle to keep up my energy for our night routine – which includes cooking dinner, assisting the children with their homework and spending quality time with them,” said the 32-year-old who lives here.

Mother of two Nur Diyanah Zainuddin

She added that she often feels guilty when she is not able to care for her children when they are sick due to work commitments.

“Sometimes it’s because of meetings or the limited emergency leave offered, and not being able to work from home,” she added.

However, Nur Diyanah said her employer allows her to work from home when her child is sick, depending on the situation.

“I’m also relieved that the company’s health insurance covers the whole family.

“The working hours are also acceptable, since we get enough time to send the kids to school and to pick them up. The only bad thing is the traffic,” she said.

Nur Diyanah said she may have to quit working to have more time to focus on her children’s development but would have to weigh in the rising cost of living.

To ease the burden on working mothers, she suggested companies consider allowing working mothers to work from home, other than providing an onsite daycare centre.

“Companies could also provide extra leave or emergency leave for working mothers if any emergency arises over their kids, which should be separate from their annual leave,” she said.

For single mother and clinic assistant Deborah Anne Vince, a working mother’s responsibility and commitment is constant and endless.

“From the moment I wake up, I am tending to the kids and at work, I have other responsibilities.

“As a working mother, we can’t spend enough time with our kids. The moment we come back from work, we feel tired and just want to rest and go to bed early.

“Our responsibilities are endless and we are unable to do anything for ourselves as women,” said the 31-year-old mother of three who lives in Taiping.

Single mother and clinic assistant Deborah Anne Vince

She said that due to financial constraints, she needs to work to provide for her children.

“The company I work at provides flexibility in terms of shift arrangements and this is important for me as I can bring my children for check-ups in the morning," she said.

Deborah Anne suggested employers increase the pay for working mothers so that they do not need to do overtime for extra pay, which would result in less time spent with their family.

A mother of two and marketing executive who only wanted to be known as Lee said time constraints are her main struggle as a working mother.

“I missed all the precious moments when my children first crawled and walked, and their first words.

“I also don’t have time to prepare dinner if I work late so the kids have to eat outside food,” said the 36-year-old who lives in the Klang Valley.

Lee said she wanted to quit her job when she delivered her youngest child to focus on caring for her, but decided otherwise when her employer allowed her to work from home.

“I wanted to take care of her myself rather than put her at a childcare or with a nanny, as children can easily get sick when exposed to these places,” she said.

Lee added that she was lucky that her employer had also given her three-month maternity leave.

“I hope that employers would be more considerate to working mothers by not enforcing overtime work or after-work entertainment activities.

“I also hope they are more understanding when working mothers take emergency leave,” she said.

Business journalist Harizah Hanim Mohamed said she continues working due to financial limitations, but faces constraints in balancing work and managing her children.

Business journalist Harizah Hanim Mohamed

“I hope more companies would introduce flexible working hours and daycare facilities within the office area,” said the 28-year-old mother of two, adding that she was thankful for having hybrid working arrangements to ease her situation as a working mother.