Podcast

For Gaye Morris, working flexibly is something she’s been doing for decades over a number of different organisations. 

“I have a 20 year old child and I’ve been working flexibly the whole time. I’ve just come to expect it.” 

Now the Chief People and Culture Officer for Mercer Pacific, Morris says she speaks openly with her team about “being in charge of their own flexibility story and how they make it work” and she advocates for the “co creation approach” where employees help determine what their working life will be.

Listen to the latest Family Friendly Workplace podcast from Women's Agenda.

There are times in a toddler’s life where they feel overwhelmed or out of control and may exhibit aggressive behaviour such as hitting, biting and kicking either towards you or others around them. As parents this can be very upsetting to see our toddler behave in this way but there is help. This week we talk to our Toddler Clinic Experts who help parent’s everyday experiencing this behaviour and discuss possible causes and strategies to help.

Lion spent millions of dollars closing its gender pay gap. Now it’s going one step further on promoting workplace gender equality: removing ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ carer labels to give parents more flexibility around the leave they take after having a child.

It’s a move that outgoing CEO Stuart Irvine, who has also kickstarted a number of other gender equality initiatives during his eight years at the helm, has more than paid for itself in terms of the level of talent they’ve been able to attract and retain.

Listen to what Irvine has to share about this in this interview for the Family Friendly Workplaces podcast.

Business size should not be used as an excuse for failing to provide a great workplace culture and inclusive policies to support staff, according to Ben Schramm.

As the Managing Partner of Cube Group, a Melbourne-based consultancy employing around 30 people and offering generous employee entitlements including 12 weeks of paid parental leave to all new parents, he’s seen the power firsthand of putting culture at the heart of how the business operates and the role of small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in creating family-friendly workplaces.

We found that people love working at PEXA because of the connections. So we want to enable this. We also have ‘connect’ events and team forums. It’s about coming in for a purpose, to connect and engage and brainstorm -- then the rest of the week is up to you. You can come into the office every day if that’s how you like to work and get your energy, but equally you can work from home.” - Linda Hibberd, Chief People Officer, PEXA.

Hear from Randstad RiseSmart Managing Director Alison Hernandez on why she has become and Ambassador for Family Friendly Workplaces.

Hear from KPMG CEO Andrew Yates as he is interviewed by Angela Priestley from Women's Agenda on why he revolutionised the companies paid parental leave policy on his first day as CEO.

As the Australian managing partner of global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, Alison Deitz is open about some of the experiences she’s had juggling parenting with work.

She sees storytelling as an opportunity to share lived experiences and empathise with staff who are currently experiencing similar challenges in managing a family, in whatever shape or form that comes.

Alison speaks particularly about the early days, when she was one of the first partners to take parental leave and return to work part time – a rarity 17 years ago when she had her daughter.

Listen to Alison's inspiring story here on the Family Friendly Workplaces Podcast Series

“The research says that if a parent is going to be in the child’s life for the long term, the bonding in the first few months is incredibly important, so why are we so obsessed with the ‘primary’ versus ‘secondary’. A parent is a parent. You organise your parenting and family however you want.” ~ Melanie Evans.

ING CEO Melanie Evans speaks with Angela Priestley from Women's Agenda on how she banished the ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ carer labels in ING.

Menopause has traditionally been seen as a private matter or ‘a women’s issue’ and is not openly discussed in workplaces, with very few having any policies, adjustments or support programs in place. This can mean that many women hide their symptoms due to the fear of discrimination or stigma with some even leaving the workplace through lack of support. In fact a recent report stated that 1 in 4 women considered quitting their jobs during the menopausal transition, often when they are at the height of their career.

With organisations investing in gender equality outcomes, as well as health and wellbeing – why has the link not been made yet to supporting women (as well as trans gender and non-binary people) through menopause.

In this podcast Fiona Hitchiner, I am the Customer Experience Director at Parents At Work chats to Thea O’Connor, senior advisor on workplace wellbeing and productivity and founder of Menopause@work to discuss how to become a menopause friendly workplace.

 For your interest here are the links to her programs: 

• The program for women: The Change - a 7 week confidential online program for individual working women who can participate from the privacy of their homes.  https://www.thea.com.au/the-change/
• The Menopause@Work Training Program - I have a public training starting in July, with early bird ending on June 4th. https://www.thea.com.au/menopause/manager-training/