As National Women's Small Business month wraps up, it's a time for us to reflect on what it means to be a small women-owned business and the culture and values we strive to provide at Echo Consulting to contribute to the growth of women in business. At Echo Consulting, we aspire to provide a different model that will create an environment with the flexibility and understanding we believe is necessary to retain and promote female employees particularly working mothers.
We've all seen it, women who are experts in their field and provide value to an organization often leave after returning from Maternity leave due to the constraints of childcare. Women are less likely to progress than male colleagues due to this large divergence in the career path following childbirth often leaving women feeling stuck in their employment from taking on childcare responsibilities. The 40-hour workweek with a strict 9-5 schedule is not conducive for working mothers and is a barrier for women achieving economic equality in the workplace.
Echo Consulting strives to create high impact jobs that offer flexibility in schedule to be able to maintain and nurture those female employees who are experts in their space. We believe that through creating a flexible and supportive space will allow women to retain and progress in their field continuing to add their value. We want to promote an environment that allows time to focus on their priorities at home which in turn will lead them to be more focused and impactful while at work as well as retain that passion and motivation for their job. We believe that people give their best work when they also give their best at home. We aim to create jobs and a culture that will enable people to succeed at both. Supporting the need to be fully present at home AND bring value to their career is an important step to harnessing the true power of all caregivers in our economy.
At Echo we are committed to creating jobs that work for families AND create the highest value for our clients and community. We know that these do not need to be mutually exclusive, but rather complement each other to elevate our economy by keeping talent engaged in the workforce without interruption. We recognize the need for a more flexible work environment for caregivers and the need to also be able to have a challenging fulfilling career. We also know that teams need access to high-quality project management even when they do not have a need for a full-time resource. As we scale, we aim to bridge these gaps.