Bureaucrat to Baby Steps

Category: career transition

  • Closing the Gap: Why the Future of Work Must Account for Caregiving

    Closing the Gap: Why the Future of Work Must Account for Caregiving

    Final piece in the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle For too long, the structure of work has assumed something that is no longer true. That most workers have uninterrupted availability. That caregiving happens outside of professional life. And that productivity can be measured primarily in hours spent at a desk. These assumptions are…

  • The Return-to-Work Cliff: Why So Many Mothers Don’t Come Back the Same

    The Return-to-Work Cliff: Why So Many Mothers Don’t Come Back the Same

    Part of the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle There is a moment that does not get talked about enough. It is not the moment a child is born. It is not even the moment a parent decides to return to work. It is the moment you actually try to go back. The other…

  • The Childcare Cost Trap: When Working No Longer Makes Financial Sense

    The Childcare Cost Trap: When Working No Longer Makes Financial Sense

    Part of the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle There is a moment many parents encounter, often quietly and sometimes with a bit of disbelief, when the numbers stop making sense. For me, that understanding did not come all at once. During COVID, I remember speaking with a relative who had been laid off.…

  • The Missing Middle of the Modern Workforce: Why Fractional Jobs Are the Future for Caregivers

    The Missing Middle of the Modern Workforce: Why Fractional Jobs Are the Future for Caregivers

    This article is part of a series, Work, Care, and the Missing Middle, exploring how motherhood, caregiving, and economic policy intersect with the future of professional work. Drawing from both personal experience and a career in public service, this series looks at the growing gap between how we work and how we live—and what it…