“My passion is equipping people with the
tools and tactics they need to get the flexible work arrangement they
want.”
Pat Katepoo started her flexible work options advisory service in 1993 with a
desire to help working mothers and others carve out more time for personal
priorities. Her own work-life integration story is described
further down.
Her skills in writing, negotiating and problem-solving were honed during her
first careers as a registered dietitian and in business development.
Realizing that every client would need a proposal to pitch flexible work—a
daunting task for many—Pat figured she'd better write it for them. In August,
1993, the first edition of the WorkOptions Proposal Package was released.
Pat was an early Internet user and shifted her services online in 1997 as
WorkOptions.com. Through the widespread sales of the Proposal Packages, she has
guided thousands of career professionals through a successful negotiation of a
flexible work arrangement.
As a work options adviser, Pat has counseled hundreds of people individually.
Her expert advice has been featured in Smart Money, Business Week, Working
Mother, Employment Review, Fit Pregnancy, Parents,
Essence and Sales & Marketing Management magazines; The Wall
Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press
newspapers; on NBC Nightly News; online features; and several
regional parenting magazines. (Listings found in the
media room.)
And then there's the personal side...
I was in my early 30's when marriage and motherhood came along. So I had 10
years as a single, career-intense registered dietitian/manager and healthcare
marketer to observe what my full-time working friends went through when children
were added to the mix.
It looked like more than I could handle along with my career: very hectic and
tiring!
At the time, I was Director of Nutrition Services for a 40-physician outpatient
medical group in Honolulu. I negotiated 30 hours in a five-day workweek—before
my wedding day! Can you tell I like to plan ahead?
Shortened workdays really made a sanity-saving difference in managing both work
and home.
A few years later, along with being a wife and mother, I was in a new job as a
marketing director for a business law firm, working three days a week.
One quiet morning in January 1993, as I enjoyed a weekday off, a question
quietly surfaced:
“Why can't all my friends do this?”
Work Options Resources: A Services is Born
That thought triggered a six-month fury of intensive study on all types of
flexible work including flextime, telecommuting, job sharing, part-time and
compressed workweek. I read books, trade journals and research abstracts. I
telephoned experts around the US.
My goal: to learn as much as I could so I could advise others on how it could
be done where they worked. I started Work Options Resources to do just that.
One recommendation was consistent: have a detailed, written proposal when
requesting a flexible work arrangement.
But in all that I read, there was a lot of what-to-do, (“Present
the business case for telecommuting”
“Position yourself as a valued employee”), but no
how-to-do-it guidance.
First Edition of the WorkOptions Proposal Package is Born
I knew that crafting a proposal would be a solid roadblock for the multitudes
who don't like to write. Especially when they have to sell an idea.
Where to start? What to say? The how-to-do-it component was
missing.
Figuring that a lot of people wouldn't get past that step, I thought, How
could I make that process easier?
I started writing for them.
In August, 1993, I completed the first edition of my proposal template and
planning guide, (formerly known as Flex Success), in self-published print form.
Real small-scale, Kinko's type of booklets, but it definitely filled a need for
my early customers, most of whom lived in my community.
Meanwhile, I continued my regular part-time job for several years. Because of
the reach of the Internet, WorkOptions.com eventually replaced “regular”
employment. What started as a passion to help others grew into a viable online
business.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
WorkOptions.com Goes Online in 1997
Virtually all the action shifted to the Internet when I went online with
WorkOptions.com in 1997. With that broader audience, I saw an increasing demand
for my Proposal Package to be delivered now (“I'm meeting with my
manager on Monday”). So soon it became available in electronic form only.
It's hard to beat instant digital download! Annual refinements of the
Proposal Package, based on new information and customer input, are easier, too.
The Internet amazes me. Most WorkOptions customers are from the USA, Canada and
Australia, but...
...thanks to the World Wide Web, I've had satisfied Proposal Package
customers from the Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Croatia (Hrvatska),
Cyprus, England, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel,
Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, The Netherlands, New
Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea,
Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands. (I get
excited about this, so I keep a log.)
Personal Tidbits
I'm now a middle-aged empty-nester. My husband (a carpenter, originally from
Thailand) and I live in the home that we built ourselves in Kaneohe, Hawaii on
Oahu. We occasionally take in foreign exchange students for short-term stays
and, of course, we're happy to have relatives and houseguests make their way
through.
We're active in our church,
Kailua Assembly of God.
I'm originally from Enfield, Connecticut, graduated from the University of
Massachusetts, and completed my dietetic internship at Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago. I've been a Hawaii resident since 1980.
Tell Me Your Flexible Work Success Story
Getting your manager to say YES to any type of flexible work arrangement
(including maternity leave) is my strength and specialty, so please delve into
the tools and tactics found here.
WorkOptions is the beginning for many happy,
flex success story endings. I hope to hear yours soon.
All the best,
Pat Katepoo
Founder, WorkOptions.com
Author, Flexible Work Proposal Packages, Max Maternity Leave and
virtually everything else you read on the site
