One and a half years ago I decided it was time to move roles. I had a young family, a short-commute and was in desperate need of change.
The problem was, that all of the companies I wanted to potentially work for, were based in Reading which was a 50 minute commute, in rush-hour and soon realised that I needed a dynamic work environment that offered me the flexibility I needed to balance my career with my family - it was surprisingly hard to find.
I decided it was time to look for roles that allowed flexibility and not just an attractive flexible lifestyle or an early finish on Friday. I needed flexibility and relied on it to balance motherhood with work and became determined to find a company that would allow me to do so - It was my one and only, non-negotiable.
I spent several weeks actively looking for businesses that would enable me to work on a four-day week contract, with one of those four days spent at home. I promised to bring my impeccable track-record of building teams, my unrivalled work ethic and my commitment and passion for people and pledged to prove that flexi-workers, part-timers and working parents are just as capable and successful as any other.
Despite this, it was hard to find and in fact, Stanton House was one of very few recruitment businesses to see the benefits of flexible working and put simply, it was an easy decision to make.16 months later and the business is continuing to show me how invested they are in their employees through our newly-established Wellbeing Committee.
Just last Wednesday we sat around a table with our Board and pitched to them a long list of incredible initiatives, incentives and programmes that we would like to introduce to our business to help our employees thrive – inside and outside of work. It was both a surreal and memorable moment.
Our Board in unanimous agreement that we should go-ahead and implement this collection of short and long-term initiatives – all in a bid to improve the Emotional, Mental, Physical and Financial Health of our people.
I had gone from discussions with recruitment business after recruitment business, being told time and time again by senior management that they saw the benefit of hiring me but not a four-day contract to this. To a room where consultants aged 23 and above were pitching their ideas to the Senior Leadership Team and they were nothing but empowering and supportive.
For me, this is how you retain your employees, build loyalty and gain trust and I thought I’d share the story with you to encourage as much of my network as possible, to try and take the same message into their own environments.
Do you see the benefits of flexible-working?
