Stay-at-home moms working 15.1 hours per day, performing 20+ roles seven days a week amid the pandemic deserve fair pay equivalent to $184,820, according to Salary.com’s latest report.
Salary.com has been surveying tens of thousands of stay-at-home moms and working moms annually for the past two decades to determine the value of their job, if they were paid fairly. Its latest calculation, however, does not take into account the hazard pay for the increased intensity of the work that parents have reported in the past year; which would typically add a premium of around 10%.
The pre-pandemic average annual salary for stay-at-home moms was around $178,201 for approximately 96.5 hours worked per week in 2019, according to the compensation solution provider. In fact, mothers have been putting in an average of 96 hours per week, over the last decade.
MOTHERS PERFORM 20+ ROLES AMID PANDEMIC
Since March 2020, many moms have performing jobs across 20+ roles that make up a mother’s most time-consuming tasks from chauffeur to cook, and more. The most time-consuming and expanded roles were Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer (the role that makes sure everyone else is following the plan); which more than doubled to account for 20+ hours per week.
The rigour of stay-at-home multi-role mothers came into sharp focus during the pandemic; with the average number of hours totalling 106 hours per week, according to Salary.com. Additionally, working moms reported spending 54 hours per week on managing on the home front, on top of their regular employment working hours; for a total of 107 hours split between work and home roles. In fact, over the past year, the 75th percentile of mothers reported working an astonishing 117 hours per week.
“We saw that mothers spent considerable time managing financial concerns; and organising the schooling of their family during the height of the pandemic,” stated Lenna Turner, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Salary.com.
APPLAUDING MOM’S HEROIC EFFORTS
“In a year like no other, moms went to extraordinary lengths to keep things together on the home front; working on average 15.1 hours per day, seven days a week,” stated Mary Crogan, Vice President of Marketing at Salary.com. “That’s an incredible workload, and one that encompasses everything from C-level responsibilities, to help desk manager, to teacher. It’s fitting that their salary value continues to rise, nearing the upper echelons of Corporate America.”
The dramatic increase in average hours worked per week “could have resulted in even higher pay; but some of that increased workload was dedicated to lower compensated roles”, noted Salary.com CEO, Kent Plunkett. “We applaud the heroic efforts of mothers everywhere to guide their families through the pandemic. ‘Thanks Mom!’ might be the understatement of the year, but it’s a good place to start.”
MARSHALL PLAN FOR MOMS
Since the pandemic began, over two million women have left the workforce; and with the closures of daycares and schools, the care of children has largely fallen on the shoulders of women. But motherhood isn’t a luxury, it’s a job, argues Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code. Saujani recently founded Marshall Plan for Moms and has been lobbying hard urging both Congress and Corporate America in recent months to pay mothers to do the work they’re already doing at home; or support them if they wish to return to full-time jobs.
“Every mother I know is getting crushed, especially women of colour,” according to Saujani. She believes it’s time to put a dollar figure on the work that stay-at-home-moms, do. Salary.com’s latest study has done just that, and it amounts to at least $184,820.
She believes all mothers should be considered essential workers; and believes that a Marshall Plan for Moms could stimulate the economy. Check out Worth CEO Juliet Scott-Croxford’s interview below with Saujani on why the Marshall Plan For Moms is long overdue in the video below.
WORKING MOMS STILL STRUGGLING IN 2021
Life for working mothers is still too hard, according to a new US survey from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). Its latest survey highlights the challenges that working mothers are facing this year and reveals what they need to overcome them. According to IWPR findings, mothers want and need universal high-quality child care, paid leave, equal pay and employment that secures their economic stability. Click here to read more.
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