The Parenting Juggle: Hybrid Working and Finding the Balance

As we head towards 2023 at lightning speed, I wanted to take the opportunity to consider a subject close to my heart and, by doing so, look back at some of the significant changes that the last few years has brought. The definition of work-life balance has been totally overhauled and yet can still not be clearly defined. What we once described as flexible working (often in reality this meant allowing new mothers to work from home on a Friday) gave way to a modern movement of a handful of companies offering unlimited holidays and a ‘work from anywhere policy’ saved for only the coolest of companies leading the way in talent attraction. Fast forward, and we have been faced with an incredibly tough few years where many of us were forced to shift our normal working pattern to the extreme. This time allowed many of us to take the time to re-think what really works both for us as individuals, for our families and for our wider team, workplace and productivity. Now, we can look back at what the turbulent years that followed on from spring 2020 have brought with them, and the changes that have taken place to our work-life balance - especially for parents.

So to delve a little deeper into this topic, I reached out to my network for their experiences and collated them below for you to get a flavour of how the sector you work in approaches this subject.

Laura Walters, Executive Search Board Director, The Candidate

Matt Holmes - Head of Digital Marketing at Card Factory

One of the few benefits of the coronavirus pandemic was the seismic shift in attitudes to remote/flexible working which has helped working dads like me to achieve greater balance. For a working parent this flexibility isn't about being able to work from my house in my joggers (although that is a massive plus), it's about enabling further bonding time with the people I love and my local community. My daughter was born during the first lockdown and working from home has allowed us to bond more and for me to play a more active role in the avalanche of household duties that come along with parenthood. Knowing I have the flexibility to finish a little bit early when I need to (without that commute) means I can coach my son's football team and help build lifelong memories for him and other families in my local community.

Victoria Swalwell–Tolley - Senior Account Manager at tmwi

My personal view on working from home / hybrid working is that it’s important to get the balance right for the individual, not to force anyone to feel like they have to move from completely remote to hybrid. This is especially important for parents who may have found a routine that works for them around childcare and working and by making this change unnecessarily may cause more stress than it's worth. Being able to work remotely is a great thing, and something I can’t believe we hadn’t really done before. It's given time for people to do the things they may not have done if they were commuting and it’s important to give people time back at home to spend it with their families. I know that it made a massive difference to us at home with my husband seeing our son every evening now whereas if he was in the office he would be missing out on bath and bedtime. Being hybrid suits me as I personally need that social interaction with other adults, but it offers flexibility in ways that we wouldn’t have had before.

Sam Farhall - Head of Digital Operations at Pets at Home

The last couple of years has normalised the role of "dad" in the workplace, especially within the context of childcare; remote, flexible and hybrid working has made it easier to "share the load" - and I've certainly noticed more and more dads at the nursery pickup. But I do think this is hugely impacted by the culture of the Business, companies that have failed to adapt to post-covid ways of working are perpetuating the gender "norms" where the onus often falls on the woman to deal with childcare arrangements. Not only is flexible working more beneficial for work-life balance, it creates a more level playing field where parental responsibilities are more easily shared and can enable female colleagues to remove the historic sole burden of childcare.

Hannah Campbell - Senior Director & Women's Coach

People are whole beings. Work is an important part of what we do, but it shouldn't be everything about us. I've done the 15/16 hour days before and it is mentally and physically draining. We don't get the best out of people when they're working on fumes. Similarly parents have such a massive mental, emotional and physical load on their shoulders. Having an employer that's open to work being more flexible around your life, in my experience, usually means you give 110% rather than working at a suboptimal level because you're on the verge of a breakdown!

Toby Wilman - Lead Talent Partner at Infinity Works part of Accenture

I feel incredibly lucky to be able to be there for my kids and partner and I've been able to share all the special moments of my little boys' first years which without the pandemic would have never been an option. I sometimes even feel guilty talking about it with working parents who missed out on all of this.

I'm now in a hybrid routine which allows me to be flexible, I can do one, two or three days a week in the office if I want but I don't think you would ever catch me doing any more than that. 

Natasha  Munro – Search & Selection Resourcer at The Candidate

The Pandemic has brought many changes to the traditional working structure, with many employers offering a more flexible approach to working from home, even with this in mind when my youngest tuned one and I made the decision to return to work finding an opportunity to suit seemed an impossible task! 

With a very busy household of five children aged from 1 to 14, the ever growing schedule of school plays parents evenings and after school activities played on my mind. 

As any parent knows finding that work life balance is the most important factor when searching for suitable opportunities and in my opinion the key to a long and successful tenure with any company. 

Luckily for me I found a role which matched my busy home life perfectly, a position which provides me with elements of flexibility to a traditional working week. 

I appreciate offering working from home/ flexible working is not one size fits all and can be a challenging feet for employers to manage but with the willingness to have an open conversation regarding the subject this will attract a more committed and sustained workforce. 

Leah Tillyer - Ops Director and Career and Confidence Coach

After having my little boy in 2019 I returned to work, 4-days a week, for a tech company based in Alderley Edge. Not long after returning to work I was promoted into the position of Ops Director - the pressure and responsibility I felt stepping into this role was huge. I was battling with my new identity as a Mum and trying to figure out how I could show up in both roles.

I eventually returned to work full-time - I believed that this was expected of me as an Ops Director. I was the only female Director in the business and only mother within the wider leadership team. I felt like I had to run at 110% just to keep up. Eventually I burnt out. Trying to do it all had taken its toll and I had to take some time off. 

After this, I built some really clear boundaries around my work and home life that were vital. What shocked me most about my lack of boundaries previously was how the team had followed my lead and were also on the path to burnout. The impact of my lacking boundaries was far reaching.

What's clear to me now is that I held some unrealistic expectations of what being a mother and working looked like. I'm fortunate that I could be open and candid about my experience with the Directors within the business and we looked at how we could better the business for parents and carers. I know this isn't the case for all.

I think the pandemic has changed the way many businesses operate not only down to technological advances but through everyone seeing each other through a more human lens. There is a greater sense of empathy. What I'm also noticing is Dad's taking more and more shared responsibility for childcare and this adds to the noise of change needed within systems to support families.

I found once I was open and honest about where I was at, what I could take on and how the team could get the most from me, it worked for everyone.

Victoria Swalwell–Tolley - Senior Account Manager at tmwi

Work-life balance is not something that comes easy and it took a lot of hard work for me to get it to a comfortable level. I went back to work from maternity into the first lockdown which was a shock to the system. Losing the social aspect of work hit me hard and learning a whole new way of working was not something I was prepared for. Nurseries were also shut so me and my husband were splitting work shifts to look after our child, an added stress and something that made my back to work experience harder. This also meant we were working early mornings, and late evenings and the balance was not there, that’s really what taught me the importance of trying to split the two. 

Toby Wilman - Lead Talent Partner at Infinity Works part of Accenture

In my opinion it has also isolated people, and I believe it has changed the dynamic of company culture and work colleagues/friends for the worst. I don't think it's sustainable and needs to be addressed in the near future. I am a huge advocate of human interaction.

I'm not saying fully remote work doesn't work because for some people it really does, and it has done way before the pandemic and will continue to do so for years to come. The option to go fully remote has become too easy for people to choose even when they don't necessarily need it.

Sam Farhall - Head of Digital Operations at Pets at Home

The hardest part of working from home is - unsurprisingly - the isolation and the lack of opportunity to build cross functional relationships with other teams. You also lose the separation between "work and home", so setting strict boundaries with yourself and keeping space to decompress is vital.

Victoria Swalwell–Tolley - Senior Account Manager at tmwi has kindly shared her top tips on staying productive when working from home, whilst also prioritising your wellbeing.

As you can see, there are many opinions when it comes to hybrid working, and each parent is different. It’s worth noting at the current parents of this generation are setting an approach that is likely to impact the younger workers of the future – for example, if their parents were able to work remotely or on a hybrid model when raising them, they will expect this when they finally venture into the jobs market. Company views and initiatives relating to this will be interesting to observe going forward.

Personally, I have found such happiness in hybrid / connected working, it is something that I value more than I could have ever imagined. 5 years ago I would never have been able to support my daughter in the way that I do now and productivity at work is not suffering. Productivity and wellbeing go hand in hand.

I spend a lot of my time in my role as Recruitment Board Director advising companies of all sizes on their working policies. Of course not all employees have children and everyone should be treated as an individual with employers carefully discovering what works for each person and the business.

If you would like any information about roles that offer hybrid working, or how to best implement similar policies when building your team, then please get in touch with us today.

Read our latest news here.

Check out our digital jobs here.

Take a look at our marketing roles here.

Check out all our job opportunities in Technology here!

Fancy a new analytics challenge? Click here!  

If you're looking for a new role, get in touch with us today! 

If it’s creative roles that you are after, click here.

Progress your career with a brand new Contract role? Click here!

To get the very latest jobs, news and blogs follow The Candidate on Linkedin here!

If you would like to feature on our blog, get in touch!