Episode 52: Professionalism for Interns

Episode Descriptor

IIn this episode, The ROI of Moms in the Workplace, author Heather Lane Powers (The Power Lane) explains why retaining moms at work is an economic imperative. We explore how outdated systems, rigid policies, and lack of childcare push moms out of specific workplaces—not the workforce itself. With compelling data and a $1.5 trillion opportunity at stake, Heather introduces the REVS framework and five levers for driving measurable change. Listeners will gain practical tools, policy insights, and a clear path to creating workplaces where moms—and the economy—thrive.

Episode Recap

Kelly Callahan-Poe and Heather Lane Powers delve into the transformative economic impact of retaining mothers in the workforce—an opportunity that could boost GDP by up to 25%. In her book, The Power Lane: Why Keeping Moms in the Workplace REVS the Economy, Heather explores the post-pandemic resurgence in women’s labor force participation while underscoring the persistent barriers they face. From childcare access and workplace flexibility to pay equity, the conversation highlights critical areas for change. Heather outlines five strategic levers organizations can pull to support working mothers and drive economic growth: leadership development, flexible work structures, paid family leave, equitable compensation, and robust childcare solutions.

Episode Transcript

Episode 53: The ROI of Moms in the Workplace

Kelly Callahan
Welcome to the Two Marketing Moms Podcast. I’m Kelly Callahan-Poe. Today’s episode is called The ROI of Moms in the Workplace. I am joined today by Heather Lane Powers. Heather is the founder and CEO of The Power Lane, a consultancy that guides organizations to accelerate their business and revenue goals through more effective engagement and retention of working mothers. She’s a former corporate executive and now coaches, speaks, and consults on simple and systematic workplace changes that benefit both employees and the bottom line. Welcome, Heather.

Heather Lane Powers
Thank you so much for having me.

Kelly Callahan
Thank you for joining me, and thanks for giving me a sneak peek at your book. I was so excited to get a chance to read it on my iPad. I have so many questions, because this is such an important topic. Let’s start with a broad question first, and then I want to go a little deeper and talk more about the historical context of your book.

Your book is called The Power Lane: Why Keeping Moms in the Workplace REVS the Economy, and you have the word “REVS” in all caps—R, E, V, S. Your premise is that American moms lack the support to fully engage in the economy and solving this is a business imperative—not just for organizations, but for the economy as a whole. What inspired you to write this book, and why is this mission so important to you?

Heather Lane Powers
Yeah, so really, COVID is what got me interested in this idea and made me decide to jump into it. During COVID, I think we all realized that what we thought we had in place wasn’t really working—and it certainly wasn’t working for working moms. I experienced that firsthand. My kids were entering middle school and high school at the time, and we had a lot of conversations like, “Oh, thank goodness they’re not babies or toddlers, or launching into college or careers.” But still, everyone faced a challenge at some point.

I had been working before I had kids, and continued working all the way through, and I thought I had it all figured out. But I realized abruptly that what I had pieced together, or the structures I thought I had in place, weren’t that solid—and it all kind of came apart during COVID. That’s what started me down this journey.

Kelly Callahan
Well, I want to roll this back, because I feel like women around our age are having the same journey. A dozen years ago, this conversation really started in my mind—you tell me if I’m wrong—with Anne-Marie Slaughter’s 2012 article in The Atlantic, Why Women Still Can’t Have It All. It caused a lot of chaos at the time. But what she really meant, that didn’t come across clearly, was that yes, women can have it all—if they have a supportive partner, if they are already at a certain income level so they can afford childcare, and if they have a flexible job that enables it.

That article, to me, kicked off a conversation that women hadn’t necessarily been having. And then the pandemic happened—the “She-cession”—when 2 million women left the workforce because they had to help their kids do Zoom school. Since then, things have changed. In your book, you talk about the July 2024 workforce participation rate among women being back at pre-pandemic levels. Can you talk a little bit about that? Then I’ve got a couple more questions.

Heather Lane Powers
Yeah, that article was absolutely pivotal. I remember when it came out—my kids were young, either in preschool or elementary school—and I thought, “Exactly. We can have it all, but only with the supports you mentioned.”

Yes, we saw the She-cession—so many women left the workforce out of necessity. When it’s your family or personal obligations versus work, you choose your family. We left because we had to. But then, we realized—we needed to come back. We have to support our kids, pay for food, shelter, everything. And many of us had worked so hard to build careers that not contributing—whether to the family income or the community—felt disempowering.

It’s been fascinating to track this shift. From 2 million women leaving in the early months of the pandemic, we talked about that a lot. But now, women are coming back. Some of it is necessity—rents didn’t go away, mortgages didn’t stop, food prices rose. And some of it is about passion and ambition. Many women want to return because they’ve invested in their careers.

What’s shocking, when you look at the labor participation rate over the past 9 to 12 months, is that women—especially moms—are back at even higher rates. And it’s not just moms of teens like me. It’s moms of kids under 12—and even moms with children under age five. Those early years are so demanding; they need you constantly. So it’s incredible that these women are finding ways to make it work.

Childcare is still a major challenge. So how are they managing it? Somehow, they’re piecing it together. It’s individual. It’s creative. And frankly, the support structures that I had 10 or 15 years ago aren’t even there anymore. They’re doing this without the benefit of strong, systemic solutions.

Kelly Callahan
That’s true. I had an opportunity to interview Joanne Loveland, who wrote the book Power Moms, and she gave a stat that kind of blew me away. It was the whole idea of the motherhood penalty — over a 30-year career, mothers could lose as much as $510,000 in wages, assuming that earnings remain constant. That’s a pretty big slap in the face in terms of what that means over the course of a career. At the same time, you found research that shows the most productive women — mothers — are those with two or more kids over a 30-year career. Is that correct?

Heather Lane Powers
That is, yes. It was an interesting study done by the Federal Reserve, and it was pretty extensive. It wasn’t just a few hundred or even a few thousand — they looked at a significant group of employees and asked: who are the most productive? And it came down to, interestingly, moms — moms with two or more kids. When you dive into it, you’re like, well, of course, right? They have to be productive. They make the most out of every minute of their day, and they’re going to be as productive as possible at work to be able to go home and take care of their home and family responsibilities.

Kelly Callahan
Which is why we’re recording a podcast on a Saturday morning.

Heather Lane Powers
Right? We fit it in where we can!

Kelly Callahan
Let’s dive into the structural barriers to women’s participation in the workforce. I think we know the basics, but maybe you could recap?

Heather Lane Powers
Yes. We mentioned childcare — that’s a big one, and it’s an expensive one. I was chatting with some friends who have kids about the same age as mine, and they said, “Well, we figured it out. What’s the big deal?” And I said, just spend five minutes on it — spend five minutes looking at where we are today. Where you live matters, too. We’re not even back to 2019 levels of childcare availability — and 2019 wasn’t sufficient six years ago. On top of that, we now have extended childcare deserts — areas of the country where there is no childcare. So when you say, “Go back to work and figure out childcare,” it really depends on where you live. You might be lucky enough to have it available, but it might not be affordable — and probably isn’t. We’re also in a place where we don’t always have that village of parents or grandparents nearby to provide support, so we build our own villages. But childcare continues to be a huge barrier.

Kelly Callahan
And the other barriers?

Heather Lane Powers
Workplace flexibility is a big one. If we can find a silver lining in COVID, many in knowledge-based jobs — jobs that are a bit flexible in terms of where the work gets done — proved that we can be just as, if not more, productive with flexibility. Whether it’s working from home or integrating personal and professional life, that’s been a major shift. But now, many organizations are requiring people back to work. In many cases, these decisions don’t seem to be based on data or what makes the most sense for employees or the work. I was chuckling with some family members who work in federal government — many agencies are requiring people to come back, but there isn’t enough space. Parking is a challenge. People are sitting in closets or hallways because there’s no space in the office. But someone decided they had to be back. That causes challenges, especially when you’re still trying to piece together childcare or just manage life. Even running out for an appointment — personal or for someone you’re caring for — is more manageable with a little flexibility. So that’s a big one.

Heather Lane Powers
Another barrier is expectations. There are still deeply rooted assumptions around mothers being the primary caregivers. I’ve been lucky to have a very supportive partner — he’s been with me all the way. Oftentimes, the daycare would call him as much as they’d call me, or we’d get the call and decide whose meetings that afternoon were more important. I know I’m lucky. Not everyone has that — some partners aren’t as flexible, or can’t be. And for single parents — 80% of single-parent households are led by moms — they’re trying to balance the need to provide income and care for their children. All of those things add up to some strong headwinds for moms.

Kelly Callahan
One part of your book talks about how men frequently get a bump in salary when they become a parent, but women don’t — because men are seen as having more pressure to support the family. That’s such a double-edged sword that really hurts.

Heather Lane Powers
Yes — that “fatherhood bonus” can be upwards of 6 to 10% for every child they have. Whereas women lose 4% or more for every child they have. That adds up to significant losses in earnings and savings over a lifetime. And what’s the difference? Around here in the Mid-Atlantic, I know many families where the woman is the primary breadwinner. That’s a big shift, but we haven’t caught up to that reality yet.

Kelly Callahan
To me, the headline of your whole book is this: from a macroeconomic lens, how does retaining mothers in the workforce contribute to long-term economic resilience and innovation? What are the numbers?

Heather Lane Powers
The numbers are stark. If we were able to support women in the workplace at levels we had before the pandemic, we could see a 25% increase in GDP. That’s huge. It’s one of the reasons I wrote the book — to take that broader lens. We’ve already proven that having women in the workforce is productive and beneficial. Having women in executive and leadership roles leads to more resilient and financially successful organizations. But what we haven’t argued enough is that we’re in a talent shortage — across every industry. We haven’t solved it in the last five years. Immigration policy changes aren’t helping. But we do have this cohort of highly qualified, eager-to-work women — and we’re not thinking hard enough about what they need to stay in or reenter the workforce. We’ve got organizations that need talent and moms who are ready — but we need to figure out how to bridge that gap with things like schedules, support systems, and leadership training. Some of these changes sound big, but they’re completely fixable.

Kelly Callahan
That leads us to the five levers you talk about in your book — solutions organizations can adopt to make this a reality. You touched on a couple. Can you list out all five and explain what leaders can do to start having these conversations? Because we’re really talking about women ages 25 to 54, right? That’s the core group of moms.

Heather Lane Powers
Exactly. So I’ll start with what leaders can do: talk to your moms, your parents, your caregivers. Assess what they need. It seems simple, but it’s not happening enough. In some of the corporate work I’ve done, just having a few focus groups gives you incredibly rich data: “If only I had this, I could better balance work and home.” And most of these needs are not huge financial or time commitments. So I always say — ask.

Heather Lane Powers
Now, the five levers:

Leadership: This is critical. An employee’s primary connection to the organization is their immediate supervisor. But most supervisors haven’t received proper training when they were promoted — maybe a handbook or some admin instructions, but not training on how to support a team with diverse needs. This was highlighted during COVID — even the most experienced managers faced new scenarios they weren’t prepared for. We need to invest in good leadership training.
Workplace Flexibility: This could mean where people work, when they work, or how they work. These don’t have to be big or expensive changes. It might just mean establishing core hours that work for the whole team. That gives people the ability to plan around childcare or other responsibilities. It sounds simple — but it can be transformative.
Paid Leave: This is still wildly inconsistent across organizations and jurisdictions. We tend to think only about maternity leave, but it’s broader — PTO, sick leave, holidays. Moms want to use every day they have because they’re covering kid sick days, holidays, and more. But if you’re not a parent, you should take your leave too — that helps normalize a culture where everyone uses time off, which benefits mental health and productivity.
Pay Equity: We touched on this with the motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus. But organizations need to evaluate how they’re compensating all employees — salary, bonuses, benefits. Bias shows up, even unconsciously. It’s about evaluating the work, the impact, and compensating people fairly — not based on gender, family status, or assumptions.
Childcare: This is a big one. Understand what your employees need. Some organizations have done this well — like Whirlpool. They realized they were in a childcare desert, and many employees worked shift hours that didn’t match up with existing childcare options. So they built their own center — The Eddy — and it’s been a huge success. They saw a need, understood the barrier, and created a solution.

Kelly Callahan
And then going back to leadership — in your book, you talk about how people don’t leave organizations; they leave managers. So how can leaders make sure they’re getting that message across the board?

Heather Lane Powers
Yeah, I think several things can happen. Again, these aren’t huge or expensive solutions. First, making sure that frontline managers have the resources they need to support the teams they’re responsible for. A little bit of manager training goes a long way — and regularly checking in with them and with employees is critical. Skip-level conversations are a great way to assess how things are going and whether there’s a blind spot or an opportunity for more support or training. A handbook only goes so far, and I know a lot of managers fall back on that — “We gave them the handbook, so that should solve the problem.” But it’s more about fostering a culture of comfort around managing people. Employees need to feel comfortable coming to a manager and asking for help — and managers need to feel okay saying, “I don’t know how to handle this. Please help me help my colleague.” They don’t have to have experienced it themselves to support someone through it. It should be a combination — we can’t be expected to know every scenario and solve it solo. Unfortunately, many managers feel they have to go it alone, and if they don’t have the answer, the default becomes “no” — and that’s a problem.

Kelly Callahan
The title of your book includes the abbreviation REVS. Can you talk a little about those four gears — or action levels — that everyone can take to help moms?

Heather Lane Powers
Yes — it’s a little play on words, and I like to describe it in reverse because I think that helps. The S is for Self, and that means we all have a role to play. Let’s say you’re an individual contributor who doesn’t have children or caregiving responsibilities — you can still take your paid leave and reinforce a healthy culture. You can step in and offer to take something off a colleague’s plate when things are hectic. It’s about finding your voice and being a supportive team member.

V is for Village. We’ve all heard the phrase “It takes a village.” That applies at work as much as it does at home. You might be a manager, or maybe you’re someone who’s earned influence because of your experience or relationships. Use your voice to influence culture more broadly — again, reinforcing leave-taking, offering support, and building a culture of reciprocity.

E is for Ecosystem. This applies when you’re higher up in the organization or have broader influence. This isn’t always about title — it could be about your network or reputation. You can use that influence to highlight where improvements are needed or where systems can be strengthened to support employees better.

Finally, R is for Regulatory. This is a bit of a catch-all. It refers to policies, laws, and broader systems. It also refers to leaders who are in a position to influence beyond their organization — maybe within their industry or community. For example: “Hey, we implemented this program and it’s working well — how are you handling this challenge?” It’s about sparking broader conversations. So yes, REVS — if we all play a small part, we can collectively make the workplace better for everyone.

Kelly Callahan
That story about GDP — that if more women were in the workforce, they could significantly boost the U.S. economy — how do we get that message out? Is it your goal for this book to create awareness? Are you hoping American organizations and the government see the economic opportunity here?

Heather Lane Powers
Yes. I think we’ve all accepted that women are educated, capable, and want to work. We’ve talked about the value of diversity — but now we’re at a point where it’s impacting the bottom line. And that’s where organizations tend to pay attention. When revenue targets are missed or there’s a talent shortfall, suddenly there’s urgency. So in a way, we’re leveraging this ongoing talent shortage — which doesn’t seem to be correcting itself — to say, “Okay, how can we meet the need?” We can’t clone more workers. But we can support the skilled people — especially moms — who are ready and willing to contribute. Hopefully, the accelerators and solutions in the book help leaders see some practical ways to make that happen.

Kelly Callahan
Wonderful. How can listeners learn more about you or purchase your book?

Heather Lane Powers
Thank you! The best place is my website: heatherlanepowers.com — I keep it up to date. The book is currently on Amazon, and we’re expanding to other retailers. I’m also on LinkedIn and always happy to connect there.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-powers

Kelly Callahan
Thank you so much for joining me, Heather. I really appreciate the conversation.

Heather Lane Powers
Thank you for your time.