Ten years ago, Dalla-Camina worked 16 to 18 hours a day and"literally lived on a plane". A senior executive at IBM, Dalla-Camina gave up her job handling a $ 50 million budget as head of marketing to figure out a lifestyle that didn't make her feel like she was drowning. Forget the ideal of"having it all". Despite working for a company that gave her flexibility with her schedule, the single mother was barely surviving. Dalla-Camina had a sense that she wasn't alone. Her new study now proves it. The Australian native polled 1,000 American working women aged 18 to 55 and the results are discouraging. Roughly 70% of women don't believe they have the support to make themselves happy inside and outside of work and 75% don't believe they can"have it all". In fact, over half of respondents described their life in the past year as"hanging on by a thread". What's more is that the results are hardly affected by age or whether a woman had children or not. "The fact that we are having discussions about leaning in when women are saying they are barely surviving is astonishing,"Dalla-Camina says."There are so many women who think that if they keep their head down and continue working hard, someone will notice and opportunities will come to them." Dalla-Camina's study points to a severe gap between what working professionals need from their employers and what employers are providing. A recent Boston College study discovered that workplace flexibility is decreasing and less than one-third of employers felt they gave options for employees to have alternative work models. Even if a company offers flexible work arrangements to employees, 70% of women think it's not possible to be successful in work and home. Too many companies are stuck in a face-to-face employee model as opposed to an outcome-based model, says Dalla-Camina. Until alternative work plans like working part-time or working from home become rooted in the DNA of corporate America -- as opposed to being viewed as special treatment -- nothing will change, she adds. Jody Miller, CEO of the consulting firm Business Talent Group(BTG), was hardly surprised by Dalla-Camina's findings. Miller sees firsthand the benefits of building a company that thinks about work differently. At BTG, half the employees work from home, so there is no shame or punishment for not getting in face time with the boss; indeed, employees are rewarded for the quality of their work, not the amount of time spent on tasks. And a majority of the employees are part-timers and work in a project-based model. Productivity has"gone through the roof"since BTG improved its unique work environment, according to Miller. But"telling workers to 'lean in' is just tinkering at the margins,"said Miller."We need fundamental structural changes in the workplace to make it manageable for all workers." Which of the following may be contrary to Dalla-Camina's opinion?
What employers do for women is far from enough. Most of the professional women are struggling to survive. Many women try in vain to get their desired opportunities. It should be a privilege for women to have alternative work plans.