Gotta love The Good Wife
Posted December 6th, 2011 by Ruth MartinI’m a mom of a two-and-a-half year old and a three month old and I have a full time job. If I have any extra “me” time that isn’t spent shirking the gym and the growing piles of laundry, I’ll probably spend it sleeping. So a TV show has to be super appealing to make it on my very small “must see” list.
Enter The Good Wife. Oh how I love thee. It’s probably second only to my love of AMC’s Mad Men. I love them both, in large part, because of their strong female characters who are dealing with realistic life pressures for the times in which the shows take place.
Sunday’s episode of The Good Wife (Parenting Made Easy) was particularly appealing to me. Although the primary plot was focused on Alicia’s worry about whether her daughter had been abducted, I was mostly drawn to watching Alicia’s legal nemesis, Louis Canning (the incomparable Michael J. Fox) attempt to woo her away to his firm by touting the family-friendly workplace flexibility that he provides and himself values as a father. He tells Alicia she’ll be able to telecommute and spend more time with her kids. We may be cutthroat, he says, but we’re always home by 5pm.
Sigh.
Flexible work options like telecommuting are a great way to recruit and retain high quality staff, so Louis Canning isn’t just a super smart lawyer – he’s a savvy employer too. And all the better to see this message conveyed by a father and male employer.
You can read more about the benefits of custom fit work places for employees and employers alike here.
Would you take a job with your professional rival in exchange for flexible work options?
2 Comments
December 6, 2011 at 2:58 pm by Jennifer YorkThis is my favorite show!!! I don’t think it is as “sitting at the edge of my seat” as it was in the beginning so Alicia making a move to a rival firm might be just what it needs to make it more exciting. Although, she always tries to do the right thing and even though she would have more time with her kids she would be working for a morally challenged boss that will do what ever it takes to win.
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December 6, 2011 at 11:25 am by Ashley BoydI was screaming at Alicia to accept his offer and I think she’s tempted! His argument was true in my experience – the two name partners at her firm don’t have families and they live only to work, only a fellow parent can understand and respect her need to be there for her family. I’m more interested in what she’s going to do with this job offer than whether or not she’ll end up with Will!
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