Interview with Rachel Humphrey, Director in HR, Barclays Wealth
Rachel has a 22 month-old little girl and works full time in a demanding role which also involves some travelling. Despite this, Rachel is doing well in her career and is happy with her work/life balance. Parenting for Professionals met with Rachel to find out how she manages to maintain this balance.
What can women do during maternity leave to make their return easier?
Stay connected during your maternity leave. Otherwise, anxieties start to build into fears, which will mostly be unfounded. Maintain formal and informal networks and don’t read into it if you haven’t been contacted – people are just busy. Agree a communication plan in advance and make it work for you personally.
Agree up front with your partner at home and your chosen carer what your requirements will be. Have a full trial period with your baby in childcare, before you even go back to work.
What about when you get back to work?
Be direct with your manager and team about the childcare commitments you have. Don’t over-commit, especially on your first day – so don’t book any 4pm meetings if you have to be out for 5pm. When I came back, after a month or so I asked my manager directly if my inaccessibility at certain times had been an issue for my clients, but my manager said no, which boosted my confidence.
The handover period back into your role is so important – be challenging to make sure you get all the information you need.
Did you consider flexible working?
Coming back to work full-time was a very conscious decision. I still wanted to be able to progress and develop in my career and I think I would have struggled working part-time in a client-facing role. Just make sure that once you have made your decision that you look forward.
I am also lucky that I have a very supportive partner – if I had full responsibility for managing the child care myself it wouldn’t work. We make it work by planning ahead with our calendars together and doing our best to cover things like travelling. You do need contingency plans though – think about who you can call on when things go wrong. I do love the challenge of a full-time role, though, and I don’t have any regrets.
How do you feel about your career now?
I still have aspirations to progress and develop. When I came back I guess I made a lateral move. There is still scope in my role to progress.
My confidence did suffer when I first came back. Not knowing the corporate history to everything as I did before I left made me feel less confident to contribute in meetings. But with regular feedback from my manager on what was/wasn’t working, I soon got back into the swing of things.
How do you manage your time now?
At home, I make sure that I have 7-7.30am every morning with my little girl. I feel that it’s important to set boundaries and stick to them. This is the time every day that I am able to ‘hang on’ to my time as a mother. I outsource the cleaning at home and do online shopping. My time with my daughter is too precious to be doing household chores.
At work, you have to be really clear with your clients on priorities – you really don’t have time to get distracted by irrelevant details now. Time is so much more precious now.
How do you feel about your image as a working mum now?
I see it as positive. I like the dual identity; it’s like having two elements of my persona. It gives you an added dimension and challenge to life and you can see you are achieving in two completely different areas.
More support whilst I was going through the transition from professional to parent would have been useful. If I were to do it all again, I would have made my position and intentions known to key stakeholders before I went on maternity leave.
Rachel concludes by reminding us that it can also be really hard sometimes. ‘You have to be the one to stand up and say ‘I want to reset the boundaries’; you have to be tough’. When the going does get really tough, Rachel reminds herself what she is getting out of her work/life balance – ‘as working parents, the sacrifice we are making is just too great to not get 100% value from the time you spend at home and at work.’
Parenting for Professionals would like to thank Rachel for her time and her valuable advice. If you have any comments on this article or questions for Rachel, please visit our forum.