perfect sense

Preoccupations: For a Working Parent, an Arrive-Late, Leave-Early Schedule

A COUPLE of years ago, a well-intentioned friend, hearing me describe the horrors of my commute in Paris, said I should decide when I wanted to see my son each day: in the morning or at night, but not both.

The mythology of my fellow commuters is of the same ilk: either come in early (the crack of dawn) and leave early, or come in late and leave after the late (7 p.m.) Parisian rush-hour traffic. Neither is very satisfactory, but everyone seems to agree that only a large chunk of time at the office justifies driving so far.

As a new mother, I tried working more full days from home. But people at work said I wasn’t around enough, and I believe that my post-maternity-leave compensation reflected that perception.

Fortunately, a few months ago, I found a better way to divide my time between home and office. And it all started with a comment from a colleague.

He said he knew of a professor based in Paris who had made it a point to go in late to work so he could see his child first. This man used his office time very effectively, then went home early to beat the rush-hour traffic jams. He finished the rest of his work at home.

It had never occurred to me to come in later and leave earlier, but it made perfect sense. So I tried it. I started taking my son, who is now 6, to school more often, even when my husband was free to take him, too. Walking over as a trio is a delight that carries me through the rest of the day.

As all working moms know, school mornings aren’t just a time to bond with your child. They offer an essential lifeline to all you need to know but that no one would think to tell you if you didn’t hang around the school for a while. I discovered a small circle of parents who gather over coffee near the school and trade stories about the tribulations of parenthood — all before dispersing to their respective tasks after 9.

I also started coming back home from work early enough to help my son with his homework. And I do much of my writing — a major part of my job — from home, early in the morning and in the evening. I still work very hard, but I now have more energy for both my family and my work, and I’m more productive. Thankfully, by avoiding rush hour, I also spend less time in my car.

As a result of my new work schedule, I feel more connected to the members of the group I lead. It’s not just a simple matter of putting in face time. As chairwoman of my department, it is my job to spend time with my colleagues.

A FEW weeks after I started my new approach, I read an article by Erin Reid, a Harvard Ph.D. candidate who studies men’s professional identities. A large proportion of the men she studied bought into the traditional ideology, the one that requires a partner — that is, a wife — to hold down the family fort. A second, smaller group did not subscribe to this ideology and were looking to change careers to align their lives with their values.

More interestingly, she found a third category of men, who were successful in terms of performance evaluations and compensation, but who actually worked fewer hours and were unavailable for the office on evenings, weekends and vacations. These men subtly and skillfully chose the projects and clients that would allow more flexibility — and surrounded themselves with kindred spirits who would cover for one another. But they had also learned that it was better for their careers to remain discreet about their strategy, and so they weren’t role models for the rest.

Much research has shown that women bear the brunt of today’s “extreme job” work culture. In her book “Selling Women Short: Gender and Money on Wall Street,” Louise Marie Roth reports that while parents tend to work fewer hours than nonparents, fathers are seen as more effective and committed to their work than mothers and so much better able to pull off an unconventional schedule successfully, free of suspicion that they are coasting toward a mommy track.

As an academic, I’m lucky: I can come and go as I please as long as I keep publishing my work. I wish that there were a way to extend this flexibility to more men and women.

Our work practices and cultures were built during the time of the single-earner family. We expect modern workers in a variety of life situations to conform to this traditional standard, as if it’s the only way to stay motivated. Maybe it’s time to change that expectation — especially as executives try to stem the loss of talented people at the middle and upper levels of their organizations.

Herminia Ibarra is a professor of organizational behavior and chairwoman of the Organizational Behavior Area at Insead, the business school. E-mail:

preoccupations@nytimes.com.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/jobs/for-a-working-parent-an-arrive-late-leave-early-schedule.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Cigna to Sell Health Insurance in India

The joint venture, which the companies expected to announce on Monday, comes as Indian policy makers are trying to increase the use of health insurance in the country. About 15 percent of Indians have some form of health insurance, according to industry estimates, far less than other large developing nations, like China, where about 90 percent of the population has at least basic health coverage.

Cigna’s venture will be set up in partnership with the TTK Group, which is best known in India for its popular Prestige brand of cookers but which also administers insurance policies and makes drugs and medical devices.

Officials from the companies did not put a value on the deal nor say how much each would invest. They said they hope to sell insurance policies beginning in 2013 after obtaining regulatory approval.

Though small now, India’s health insurance market is growing fast. In 2010, private insurance companies had 6.8 million policies covering nearly 55 million Indians (or 4.6 percent of the population), up from fewer than 9 million people five years earlier, according to the government’s Insurance Information Bureau. The Indian government also provides subsidized health coverage to 25.3 million poor families.

Bill Atwell, president of Cigna International, said Indians pay out of pocket for 64 percent of health care expenses, which suggests to Cigna that there is a huge untapped market for insurance. He said the company’s partnership with TTK would help it sell personal insurance products directly to consumers, rather than through agents or employers.

The company plans to sell policies at 1,500 TTK retail stores, on the telephone, over the Internet and through other partners like banks.

“Matching up with a retailer makes perfect sense,” Mr. Atwell said in a telephone interview from Bloomfield, Conn., where Cigna is based. “It allows you to think more broadly about how to reach the customer.”

T. T. Jagannathan, chairman of the Bangalore-based TTK Group, acknowledged that the companies’ venture was an “experiment.” “If we are able to put it in box and sell it to the consumers,” he said, “it would be a revolution in the health care business.”

Cigna has been one of the most aggressive American health insurers to expand overseas. The company has been selling insurance in China since 2003 and now has nearly one million customers and $250 million in annual revenue there. It operates in 12 other countries.

Cigna is not alone in looking at the Indian market. Raja Rajamannar, chief innovation and marketing officer at Humana, based in Louisville, Ky., said in a recent interview in Mumbai that his company is thinking about coming to India. Munich Re, the German insurer, and Bupa, a British firm, already sell health insurance here through joint ventures.

Still, foreign insurers have struggled to build big business here because Indian regulations limit their ownership of their local operations to 26 percent. That restricts the amount of money they can invest in India and makes them more dependent on local partners who do not always have the ability to invest substantial sums in these ventures.

Lawmakers have delayed for several years a proposal to increase the ownership limit to 49 percent, but policy makers have hinted that Parliament might vote on an increase in the coming months.

Mr. Atwell said Cigna was willing to start operations at the 26 percent limit, though it hoped to increase its stake in the future if the rules changed.

Another hurdle will be simply getting a license to start selling insurance. Mr. Jagannathan said Indian rules require TTK to first sell its third-party administration business that serves other insurance companies before it can apply for a license.

The company sought permission to sell the administration business a year ago but has not yet received an answer from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

The two companies say they will primarily focus on the urban Indian market, which is much more affluent and has access to more hospitals, clinics and doctors than rural areas that are home to about 70 percent of India’s population.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d758d003ceb8a536cff1b7243bff407f

Preoccupations: For a Working Parent, an Arrive-Late, Leave-Early Schedule

Cigna to Sell Health Insurance in India

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