I read a social media post by female manager saying how as soon as she had her first child she regretted how unsympathetic she’d been to her staff when they’d presented with family issues. My immediate thought was ‘so she should!’ Because its hard! Its so unbelievably hard to leave your baby with someone else, while you drag yourself into work after zero sleep, to try and work as hard as you possibly can, only to get a phone call at 11am to come and collect them because of illness or an accident. Then to have to take an unpaid and unexpected week off!
Don’t forget you’ve still got to pay the nursery fees so they “don’t lose their place”. Arrrrrrgggghhhh!
Even with 2 parents at home, a bug going around the house can effect each child differently, and at separate times so it takes a good month to clear your home. Let’s say you’ve had to take 2 days off one week with with your eldest, and 3 days off the next as your youngest caught it worse. Then let’s imagine you’ve booked 3 days off in half term to split the childcare. How are you going to hit targets?! The stress about performing in work, on top of the worry about paying bills after unpaid time off, can be unbearable!
Scandinavian countries are well known for taking a completely different approach to work life balance. In Belgium it’s normal to take a month long vacation to coincide with school holidays. Can you imagine putting that annual leave request in to your boss?!
Something as simple as a flat tyre making you late for work after a few days off with a sick child, can land you firmly within the corporate disciplinary procedure.
In the UK, staying home to raise your children has long been viewed as a luxury if you’re part of a couple, or lazy if you’re a single parent in receipt of benefit. Stressing yourself to the very edge of your mental and physical wellbeing is the socially acceptable way.
How do we manage the stress? Ahhh yes, alcohol! A couple of glasses of wine in the evening to take the edge off… Its slippery slope. It’s said the UK loses £10 billion a year due to work related stress, yet the framework of the 9 to 5 hasn’t been challenged since the industrial revolution. Until now…
According to the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), the self-employed sector now includes approximately 4.8 million people, with freelancers comprising 42 percent of that population and 6 percent of the UK workforce as a whole. That simply wasn’t possible 15 years ago. With their smartphones and WiFi, Millennials have been leading the force for some time. But now that almost every company has been forced to provide remote working facilities whilst instilling the fear of god into staff about the safety of their job, aren’t we all freelance?
If the pandemic’s taught us anything, it’s that literally any rule or law you can think of can be changed in a moment, with the governments say so. So all we have to do is say so, right?
The pandemic’s given a lot of people the opportunity to explore their creativity and utilise their network to find alternative ways of making money. People into fitness have completed personal training qualifications and started taking on clients to make extra money. People who were a dab hand a baking at weekends are now stocking gift shops and florists with their creative delights. Lots of people who’ve embellished their side-gigs won’t want to go back to full time, in-office working. Weather you’ve discovered macrame, make up artistry, or a penchant for creating the best graze boxes or party balloons in town, go you!! I’m routing for your small business!
One of my best friend’s left her full-time, well paid teaching job, as she was simply fed up of feeling like a bad worker and a bad mum at the same time. It’s soul destroying to constantly feel like you’re doing nothing well. She got handy on the sewing machine, started selling non-disposable face masks for a fiver each… she paid off all her debt by the end of last summer!
Parents simply want to find a pace for productivity that doesn’t kill them. So is it over for corporate? Of course not! Corporate jobs pay well and still come with a lot of social status. But that 1960’s thinking is old fashioned. Nowadays, people are less drawn to salary and title and more focused on prioritising mental health, enjoying nourishing rest and being able to actually be there when our children need us.
Lots of companies have sold their office space and intend to continue remote working. Both to save money and to remain attractive to employees. Companies intending to pull everyone back to their desks may struggle to recruit.
It’s predicted we’ll see a huge increase in flexible working requests this summer. As people choose to dedicate more time to their alternative and more flexible streams of income. Employees being asked to resume in office working over the next few weeks will certainly be evaluating their choices. There is a post pandemic entrepreneurial spirit in the air, and I for one LOVE to see it!
Have you always wanted to start a blog, vlog, make clay earrings or sell vintage clothes, but worry some of your friends will roll their eyes and bitch behind your back? I’ll be honest, they probably will! But those people have never paid a single pound towards your bills, waited outside the school gates for your kids in the rain, or been there to see them collect an award or show a performance.
Forget everyone else! Go ahead and show the world your talents, because I promise you, there are people watching who’ll pay to use them.
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