Tedx Talks— Lattice as Lifestyle

We’ve all heard of the “career ladder,” but Yelizavetta Kofman '07 and Astri von Arvin Ahlander '07 advocate another model: the more flexible “career lattice.”

The ladder, Kofman and von Arvin argue, is set up for “the ideal worker”: the worker who can work year-round and overtime, and who has little or no home responsibilities.

“The ideal worker is a man,” Kofman said. And although over 70 percent of households see both parents working, “people still expect an ideal worker to show up to work.”

These self-proclaimed work/life-balance advocates and founders of a nonprofit called The Lattice Group compare the U.S. to other countries in terms of their work policies.
The U.S. is one of four countries in the world that doesn’t offer paid parental leave. The others are Lethoso, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea. (In contrast, in Ashlander’s native Sweden, a couple receives 16 months of paid parental leave, with at least two months used by each parent.) There is no guarantee of paid vacation or sick leave in the U.S..

“Does this seem outdated?” Ashlander asked. “Because it really is.”

And what does taking time off for work mean for working women? A year and a half off work means a 16 percent average drop in salary for those in the medical field, representing the smallest loss in any field; in the financial and consulting fields, the statistic rises to a 41 percent salary loss.

While the situation may seem dire in the U.S., Kofman maintains that, “whole industries can change. Whole cultures can change.”

With a career lattice model, Kofman and Ahlander hope that couples can find a way to continue their careers outside of a rigid path, and that employers will realize that more flexibility means more commitment, and a more equitable society. In the end, this change will take women, especially, being firm with their employers and discussing these issues with their partners. After all,

Ahlander quipped, “If you can’t talk about, don’t do it.”