Syndicate content Subscribe to the RSS feed
Home
 › 
Kate Rimer's blog

Mentors and role models

Mon, 29/09/2008 - 10:36 — Kate Rimer

Kate RimerFlexibility is not just a women's issue, but the lack of support and outright antagonism from some senior women does not help the cause for change and continues to be a great disappointment.

In my last two blogs on Open Forum I talked about some of the challenges and support I received as I navigated the straights of a challenging career and motherhood.

In this last piece, I would like to talk briefly about the roles of mentors in managing work/life issues and flexibility, which we will come back to later. I have managed to combine work and family through the support of some key people, especially the mentors I have had along the way.

The week I returned to work after having my first child, I had a visit from Prue, a senior legal counsel in my client group, who took time to connect with me about being a working mum (she also promised to let me know if I came to work with puke on my shoulder). Prue was always talking about her kids and showed me that it was OK to bring "the whole person to work" and seek out support from those who had traveled the path before me.

I also got great advice from my friend Debra, a mother of 3 and senior executive with a major industrial company, told me early on: "It is really hard making it all work. Each of us do it in different ways. You don't have to justify your way to anyone else. But when you work part-time you've got to be organised so you have to have Plan A, B and C to cover all eventualities with the kids".

I see mentors such as these as hugely powerful enablers to successful flexible work. They help provide the emotional resilience. They show how to minimise the road blocks and are the sounding board on the realities of childcare, chicken pox, homework, cakes stalls and vacation care.

Unfortunately, there are also some women; "the queen bees" who still don't get the need to support other women around work/life issues. Flexibility is not just a women's issue, but the lack of support, in fact outright antagonism from some senior women does not help the cause for change and continues to be a great disappointment. Perhaps I am just an old fashioned feminist and expect more.

Tired old cliché's the greatest obstacles to flexible work practices

Thu, 21/08/2008 - 11:05 — Kate Rimer

Kate RimerWomen can balance challenging interesting careers with motherhood so long as their employers are willing to look at different arrangements in terms of work practices.

Since joining then workforce in the mid 1980's, I have often experienced the mindsets and assumptions that are barriers to combining work, family and flexibility - often through recruitment processes.

In 1988, I was shocked when in an interview for my first role in HR and I was asked if I planned to have children and what did my husband think of my working if I had a family.

I was saddened when 15 years later in 2003, these questions were asked again. I was being reference checked for my role at Mallesons and a referee was asked if having a young child (Ben) had hindered my efforts or quality of work.  My referee explained that I had  volunteered to go on secondment to London for five months with Ben (who was 2.5 yrs at the time) to work on that major project.

I think they got the message.

And I was really furious (which of course I didn't show at the time) when again this year, yes 2008, I was approached by a search firm about a role and in the first meeting I was asked if was I married, did I have children and ‘How did I make that work in a senior role?"  Why does this still happen? It can only aid as a barrier to working mothers advancing their careers!

Reasons for Optimism

Thu, 07/08/2008 - 10:42 — Kate Rimer

Kate RimerMany women with children who take on the big roles, have a secret weapon - flexible husbands.

For almost 20 years I have worked in financial services and professional services. I am also mum to Ben (6 yrs) and Abbey (2yrs). I have been the main breadwinner for my family the past 7 years. What I share today is one person's experience but I think the themes are common to the experiences of many women (and men) across many industries. We are in still in the first or maybe for some second generation of flexible work for most organisations. We have a lot to learn, but essentially I am cautiously optimistic about the ability to bring greater flexibility to the workplace.

Why am I optimistic? Over the last 20 years, in one generation (the length of my own working life), I can see how far we have come in terms of opportunities around work/life issue. I also look around and see the challenges and barriers regarding flexibility in my workplace for different business models and see how far we have to go.

I am yet to see a critical mass of women in very senior roles who say that there roles could readily be structured as part-time work, especially if they are in client facing roles or on senior leadership teams. Many women with children who take on the big roles, have a secret weapon - flexible husbands. This is true in my own case, my husband is self employed, and works largely from home.

It seems dual career families are still very difficult. Many couples agree or evolve arrangements where one has a "full-on" fulltime career the other has the more flexible or less demanding work structure. Is this just inverting the traditional family and economic structures. I don't know if this is a satisfactory solution more broadly speaking, but it's one which works for my family.