Like most working mums, I regularly get asked how I balance my career with my family. For me, the answer always comes back to the fact that I work for a company that has family values deep within its core. In this day and age especially, there’s no room for employers that don’t respect women and working mums. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not ‘easy’ to juggle a career with a family, but for me and so many other men and women, it’s not only a necessity but an enjoyable part of life.
HTG
When it was time to tell my bosses I was pregnant with my first little girl, I had no hesitations and shortly after I was discussing my return to work for after I had the baby. I had seen our senior managers come and go to have three kids, and others come back on a part-time basis after their first babies, so I wasn’t worried about what the reaction would be.
Before working at HTG, I saw having a baby as a ‘way out’ of working for a long time. It wasn’t until I was about to take maternity leave for the birth of my first little girl that I became scared of losing part of myself to ‘mum life.’ My fears were based on losing the responsibility I had in my role and the family that I had at work. I was asking myself, “What about all of the events I’ll miss out on?”, “What if they forget to do this, or miss that?” It was a classic case of FOMO (fear of missing out) which my lovely daughter has inherited from me.
I planned on 12 months off, but after eight months the opportunity arose for me to return to work in a new role 2-3 days a week. As sad as I was to leave my little girl I knew it was best for my family, so I took the opportunity and ran with it.
Family Values
There’s a bit of a running joke around HTG that there’s something in the water because there always seems to be one or two pregnancies at any given time. We celebrate pregnancies, births and returns to work after leave and even have a ‘feeding’ cubicle at our Head Office for any mums who may need to express milk during their workday, how cool is that?
With the cost of living in 2018, being a working mum is a necessity for the vast majority of Australians. If you’d asked me eight years ago before I started working at HTG if I planned on working while being a mum to small children, my answer would have been very different to what it is now. But the reality is the right employer can make juggling a rewarding career and a family possible.
I’m now in the first six months of pregnancy with my second child, and I couldn’t be happier. The fact that I’m going to miss my work tells me how much I genuinely love my job and indeed have a fantastic employer to return to when I’m ready. So, if your looking to make the next step in your career with a company that has a strong focus on family values, then check out the current openings at HTG.
Jessica Middler