Being a working parent was hard enough in the olden days, before mobile technology stretched office workers’ days from 9 to 5 to 24/7. For many people who struggle to balance family commitments and professional responsibilities, even a workday that allowed them to leave the office and continue toiling online from home would be a refreshing change – but corporate cultures often demand face-time as well as productivity, leaving workers who’d like to see their kids out in the cold.
(Photo Credit: RDECOM/Flickr)
But, not every job is the same. As part of PayScale’s Best Jobs for You data package, we created a list of jobs that meet all the criteria working parents demand in a good job, including high pay, low stress, and job flexibility. The full list is here. These are the top five:
The “Sexiest Profession of the 21st Century” according to Harvard Business Review involves a lot of data crunching and requires advanced analytical skills and the ability to communicate what the average person might find incomprehensible. It also pays six figures, as a median salary, and offers relatively low stress and high flexibility.
2. Actuary
Possibly one of the most important jobs no one really understands, actuaries determine the odds that inform coverage and cost for insurance policies. They also make a median income of $85,000 a year, and have a high degree of job flexibility.
3. Research and Development Engineer
Want to create innovative new products and optimize the manufacturing processes for the ones we already have – and earn a median salary of around $80,000 a year to do it? Research and Development Engineer might be the job for you. Ninety-one percent of those surveyed characterized the job as having a high degree of flexibility.
Fifty-six percent of Healthcare Consultants are women, making this a rare entry on our list more likely to be held by working moms than working dads. It’s also high-paying, with a median annual salary of around $80,000.
More than half of Research Scientists say their jobs are low stress – not bad for a gig you can do in a lab coat and that allows you to potentially make exciting new scientific discoveries. Median pay for this job is $77,000 per year.
What do most of these jobs have in common? In a word: STEM. So if you want a future that allows you to work hard at something important, make good money, and still have time to see the kids, don’t be afraid of science class.
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