Francesca Lang
What difficulties do working parents face in the workplace?
As an employee, feeling undervalued and unappreciated in your workplace is never a good thing. When you also become a parent, you may feel even more pressure to prove your value to your company and to demonstrate that you are an asset to an organisation.
All too often, companies can dismiss parenting as a hindrance to an employee’s productivity, as if it were a second job. However, raising a human is not a recreational side hustle and should not be treated as such. I feel truly privileged to be both a parent and a successful career professional.
How does being a working parent affect women often affected at work ?
Women are a key part of the growing portion of the workforce that are freelancers, consultants, and part-time workers. Despite numerous government policies to attract more mothers back into fulltime roles, retention is still a significant struggle. Research shows women don’t necessarily want to work fewer hours after having children, they want the ability to be more in control of their hours.
In my personal experience, after a previous employer revealed they weren't able to support my part-time work request, after 10 months of maternity leave, I felt the need to look for a new job to be able to conciliate being a mother and career woman.
Being a working parent at Empiric
I started with Empiric in April 2020, during lockdown, feeling out of practice and nervous about starting a new role. I had a confidence crisis; doubts about my ability and how I would cope without seeing my son.
Despite these doubts, returning to work was the only option for me. I have never seen myself as a stay-at-home mum. I love my job: it keeps me active, mentally stimulated and gives me things talk about besides being a mum.
At the end of the day, I was a successful professional before I had a child, so why shouldn’t I continue the same way after? Plus, no matter how much I love my son, I like a break and often looking after a child is harder than work!
When I joined Empiric, I immediately knew it was the company for me. I felt welcomed and appreciated from the start and received a lot of support.
During the lockdown, Sam Kamyar, our Empiric CEO, was very mindful of the difficulties that working parents were facing. Mums and Dads had to cope with remote work, as well as attending to their kids while they were remote schooling (and of course keeping them entertained!). Sam was extremely thoughtful and respectful, even giving working parents vouchers to treat/entertain their kids - a lovely gesture.
Empiric's parent-friendly culture
I have also been able to connect with other successful women who have kids here at Empiric, which has created a community spirit that every working parent needs.
“I feel like the culture here is very supportive of families - things like the summer party, where partners and children are invited to attend, and the Halloween bring your kids to work day”
Emily Hall-Strutt, Director of Next Tech Girls and Working Mum
It’s crucial for employers to support teams with their working and family lives, and Empiric’s embracing of work-life balance has been a huge help to me as a working mum. With the right support and resources, I feel I can thrive both as a parent and as a professional.
If you are a working parent who would like to know more about working for us, click here.
