Kristen Anderson

Career Pauses and Caregiving Are Reshaping How Employers Define Ambition

At the WIN Summit in New York, author and Power Pause founder Neha Ruch argued that parents need a broader definition of ambition—one that allows people to change their hours or pause paid work without being treated as having given up on their careers. She said employers must make work compatible with caregiving across different jobs and stages of life, while recognizing that flexibility and leave are not equally accessible to all workers. W.K. Kellogg Foundation program officer Jonathan Njus added that policies need a culture of visible support, including fathers who take leave and care for their children.