Work-Life Balance Tips Every Working Mom Should Know

After 20 years in the payroll and human capital management (HCM) industry,  Nicole Young has been leveraging her expertise as senior director of managed services at UKG for almost five years. As a senior director, she leads a team of 70 in the U.S. and 25 indirectly in India. Her teams — spread across time zones, both in-office and virtual — focus on customer consultancy and configuration for payroll and HR and provide employee-level support for payroll and benefits. 

Given her significant responsibilities, managing a work-life balance requires deliberate effort, especially as a mom to a seven year old. However, Young relies on her support system, family, and colleagues to make it happen. 

“My main tip as a new mom or even a mom adding a new baby to the family is to make sure you foster strong relationships and engage your [community] in the process,” she says. “Make sure to have date nights and dates with yourself, and remember that, to do these things, you must be okay with letting others help you.”

Young and her husband are equal partners in keeping their family moving forward. Their partnership, coupled with UKG parenting resources, school programs, a babysitting service,  and her mother-in-law’s help, means that she gets to spend quality time with her partner (whether that’s going ax throwing or to beer festivals) and coveted time alone (whether that’s a solo date night or a monthly massage).

Here, we caught up with her to learn more about how she allocates her time and leans on others to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Here’s what she had to say.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up and the last thing before you go to sleep?

Typically, I start between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. since I have people across the U.S. and India. As soon as I wake up, I check emails and chats to see what happened overnight. While getting ready, my husband and I tag team, working through the list of things my daughter needs to do to get ready for school. My husband handles most of the things, like packing lunches and backpacks for us all and taking my daughter to school, while I handle meetings and transition to our company office three times a week.

Once we are all settled at school and work, I spend a good portion of my day handling projects for our department, working with other leaders, and having virtual meetings with my employees.

At the end of the day, I pick up my daughter from her after-school programs. I take the primary responsibility of preparing dinner and helping with homework, while my husband enjoys doing housework and playing with my daughter after dinner. We both handle bedtime as we enjoy reading and covering our “roses and thorns” about how our days went. Then, it’s a wonderful one to two hours of folding laundry and binge-watching TV before bedtime!

What does “balance” mean to you, and in what ways do you feel like you’ve achieved it?

I prefer to think of myself as well-rounded. I’m on my daughter’s PTO board, so while I cannot always attend everything, I can help plan, finance, or bring my professional experience to her school’s programs. I co-chair our parent and caregiver employee resource group, NEST, as an opportunity to network, connect, and create impactful experiences for my co-workers.

What’s one misconception you think exists around work-life balance today?

The idea of balance is something unachievable in its truest sense. It’s more about being where you need to be. That means showing up for my daughter’s classroom gingerbread house decorating when I can and asking if my mother-in-law or husband can go when I cannot. It means digging into a project for work when I can and asking for help from my manager or team when I need help. One cannot perfectly balance and do it all, but I strive to rely on support systems and take a break when needed.

How did you prepare for maternity leave, and what advice can you offer to other moms expecting their first child?

I held regular discussions with my manager and team. I made an Excel spreadsheet with information for my manager by topics in my 2nd trimester and kept building out as things came up or as I remembered them (pregnancy brain fog is real!). 

On my due date, I worked all day, went to my doctor’s appointment, and they sent me right to the hospital. I totally stepped away from work and made sure to focus on my growing family during my time away. 

My advice to other moms would be to ensure you prep others just as you’d prep your hospital bag. Make a checklist, do what you can to prepare others, and then leave it behind. This is a beautiful time you cannot get back, so enjoy it.

Let’s talk about UKG’s culture. What’s your favorite aspect of it, and how does UKG aid you in achieving balance?

UKG’s company culture is about being there for people. UKG offers flexible, best-in-class benefits to support employees wherever they are, including 100% Employer Paid coverage (medical, dental, and vision) for myself and my whole family!

Even before realizing a pregnancy, UKG offers financial support for surrogacy and fertility treatments. Throughout pregnancy, our NEST ERG and our Wellness team are fantastic resources. Our Leaves team guides the expecting parents through coverage and pending timelines before, during, and after baby bonding time. UKG offers eight to 12 weeks paid for maternity, paternity, adoption, surrogacy, and foster care in the U.S. Best of all, our people leaders become the expecting parent’s best resource for navigating the transitions.

Additional UKG benefits follow you through your journey of parenthood and beyond, including reimbursements for child camps and activities, home internet, gym memberships, tutoring services, and an annual scholarship program. Our DE&I also supports ten different ERGs that truly embody inclusion for all. From PRIDE (LGBTQIA+) to CARES (long-term or chronic illness for self or caregivers), we can find a community of those with similar interests or be allies for each other. 

What are you especially good at as a mom? What about at work?

I’m really good at being calm and patient with my daughter. As a leader of people at UKG, I have gained great EQ skills to stop, listen, repeat what I have heard for understanding, and then offer feedback or try to remove obstacles for my daughter. 

This same process is what has helped me be successful at work. I have taken risks several times at UKG to take on new teams or join new business units, and each time, the most important part for me is to create personal connections with each person so they always feel heard and supported.