17: Insights from HR Dads

Parents At Work

In today’s episode of Parents at Work, Tom Spiggle and co-host, Lori Mihalich-Levin, introduce us to 2 working dads in the HR field: Wiley Simmons and Adam Calli. Human resources are generally a women-dominated industry, yet men contribute a unique and valuable perspective.

Wiley Simmons is a single father of 2 and came to the HR field through a complete accident. Having an executive and administrative assistant background, he took an admin assistant temp job in the human resources field, and his boss was so impressed with his work, he was offered a position as a benefits coordinator. What he found was that with being prior military, the rules and regulations of the HR profession, as well as his enjoyment of helping people and interacting with staff, turned out to be the perfect career choice for him.

Adam Calli is the proud father of 2 and an HR professional. He is also the principal consultant and founder of the human resources consulting firm, Arc Human Capital, LLC. Prior to working in HR and having children, hotel operations were Adam’s specialty, but it was not especially conducive to family life. He did something quite revolutionary for 2002: he saved up his leave time and took 3 weeks FMLA leave after the birth of his son. Both HR and non-HR professionals alike will enjoy hearing this discussion on industry trends, and finding that perfect balance between work and life. There’s something for everyone here. Please join us!

Show Highlights:

• Hard to trust HR personnel when you’re on the other side of the fence
• HR doesn’t get the accolades as a profession that it deserves
• Allowing time off to take care of family issues
• A support system is extremely important
• Parents need time off, too
• Mandatory leave law
• Talking to a therapist as a way to maintain balance
• Dealing with mental health issues
• Taking care of yourself and enjoying parenthood
• Watching other parents and deciding what kind of parent you want to be
• Why more companies are becoming interested in paid parental leave plans
• How the opportunity to utilize technology makes it easier for today’s parents to be more productive
• Why the “work/life balance” terminology is becoming obsolete
• The “work/life blending” concept is more practical for today
• Work and life is still just life
• Why progressive companies will accept and embrace the blending concept
• Old-school-mentality companies are in danger of fading out
• Hyper-efficiency as a brand new parent
• Which generations might be less accepting of this work/life blending
• HR availability to remote workers
• Helicopter parents
• Families being committed to everything but the family
• The value of committing to your children and your community
• Learning how to say no and understanding the commitment of saying yes
• Being a victim of your own success
• Encouraging employees to tap into the employee assistance program
• How a phone is critical technology when managing multiple people
• The benefit of family-shared calendars/apps
• How to teach our children time management as members of the family
• Time management is an incredibly valuable skill to have no matter what your field

Links / Resources:

https://www.spigglelaw.com/podcasts/parents-at-work/

https://www.mindfulreturn.com

http://www.archumancapital.com