Key Learning Points:

1.The challenges faced by working parents as they juggle being a parent and having a career

2.What employers can do to help support working single parents

3.The need for employers to plan for the impacts of their policy changes to ensure the policy works in practice

In this episode, we speak to two single working parents, Sonya and Amanda, about juggling life as single, working parents. Sonya wears multiple professional 'hats' as a Board Advisor, Accredited Coach and Insights Discovery Practitioner and Amanda has recently joined Element Materials Technology as their Global Senior Manager for ESG.

We begin by asking Amanda and Sonya to talk about their experiences as working parents - from having kids to getting divorced and their relationship with their employers during this time. Sonya explains that she is a mum of two and step-mum to another two, all of whom are now grown up. She tells us how after her divorce she felt the need to fight for promotion to earn more money and support her children as much as she could. Amanda, who is mum to a little boy called Harvey, left a life in Switzerland after her divorce and moved back to the UK. She had to adjust to the lack of flexibility in childcare services and juggling working full-time as well as commuting early to pick up her son. Amanda goes on to talk about how the opening hours of nurseries are much shorter in the UK than in Switzerland, making it much harder to fit her long working hours around the care of her child.

Sonya then tells us that she couldn’t afford childcare, so, instead, had to rely on lots of help from friends and family. She explains how she suffered from years of mum guilt as a working parent, especially as she missed many school events such as sports day and parents' evenings. She explained that the teachers and other parents at the school barely knew who she was, which was challenging. Sonya speaks about how she was a part of a toxic and inflexible working environment, where, for example, she couldn’t take a day off to pick her sick child up from school and take care of him, she had to drop him off to her mum’s and head right back into work.

We go on to ask them both about what employers can do to better support single working parents. Sonya talks about how many companies have policies in place, such as allowing their staff five emergency days, but that they don’t often plan well for the operational and financial implications of these policies, meaning they don’t work in practice. In fact, employees can be left feeling unable to activate them for fear of repercussion. Essentially, allowing employees greater flexibility requires planning and infrastructure that goes beyond the policy alone. For example, if a business wants to give all of their employees time off for parents' evenings and school plays, then they probably need to hire more people to cover that. She then talks about how senior roles should lead by example; if you have a sports day to attend then mark it in your calendar as exactly that.

Reflecting on being single parents, they both go on to say that it’s about balance and give-and-take between work and personal life, you have to be realistic about your expectations and that goes for both parties involved. They also emphasise the importance of having clear boundaries in all areas of your life.

Finally, we ask both Sonya and Amanda for their top parenting tips. Amanda says ‘be present’ when you are spending time with your children: do it with intent and fully engage with the activity, and the same goes for work. Sonya tells us ‘don’t beat yourself up’. You are still teaching your children valuable life lessons through working full time.