Mom Source managing partner Carlene Carrabino Vital speaks during a break-out session for Startup Week about employee retainment held at Lamp Post Group on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.The five-day, 40-hour workweek – a century-old legacy of American industrialist Henry Ford – is just as obsolete to today’s workers as the Ford Model T automobile.
That’s the pitch of leaders of the MomSource Network, a staffing and consulting company based in Knoxville, which is operating in several cities nationally including Chattanooga. Many 21st century workers say flexible hours – a measure of work-life balance – are more important even than meaningful work or higher compensation, MomSource managers say.
The company, which employees call the e-Harmony of the staffing industry, claims a database of more than 3,000 highly-qualified and vetted professionals who are seeking jobs with flexible hours. The three-year-old company says it has placed several hundred workers in its territories, which include Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta, Austin (Texas), Tampa and Chattanooga.
“There’s this magical pool of people who are smart, hardworking and have four-year (college) degrees,” says Beth Wright, director of communications for the MomSource Network. Wright explains that the company was founded by Courtney Jones a stay-at-home mom in Knoxville who recognized the pent-up demand for jobs with flexible hours that could be filled by stay-at-home parents, Millennials, retirees and so-called “sandwich generation” members who are juggling responsibilities for children and aging parents.
MomSouce Network representatives were at Chattanooga’s Start-Up Week in October leading a seminar called “Utilizing Benefits to Attract and Retain Talent for Start-ups.” Providing flexible work hours is No. 1 on their list of recommendations for start-up companies. Many talented professionals are effectively locked out of the workforce because that can’t do 9-to-5 jobs due to family obligations. Handing them control of their work-time unlocks their talents.