Louisa isn’t afraid to get stuck in. Right since university she’s gone over and above her workload, getting satisfaction from mentoring others with her experience in marketing, design, advertising and digital. Now a Digital Engagement Manager at BNZ, one of Global Women’s Support Partners, she’s committed to furthering her learning and education by helping others’ both internally and externally to BNZ. Oh, and did we mention that she is also mum to a thoughtful, cheeky four-year-old? Little Ollie is a kind and considerate chap, who loves spending time with his grandmother, having his friends over for play dates and generally is happy to go with the flow (unless there’s an ice cream or sweet treat in sight!).
Inclusive Workplaces Attract and Retain Top Talent
Louisa is living proof that when companies offer a supportive, inclusive environment for a diverse workforce, they attract the top talent. Louisa actively sought to work at BNZ in part because they advertise policies that support this – such as flexibility – to new joiners.
Since joining, Louisa was impressed to learn about the wide range of working styles including BNZ’s policy around condensed fortnights, working from home, and domestic leave – to name a few.
For Louisa to balance her many responsibilities, Louisa comments that it helps that her team have a supportive and nurturing approach to life’s busy demands outside of work. These days, empathy goes a long way in how employers approach their employees’ various outside of work commitments. What is more, it’s a surefire way to retain great employees – both parents and others alike. It is worthwhile educating employees around the benefits of flexible working for everyone. To be truly inclusive, Louisa says, there can’t be one rule for parents and one for non-parents.
How Technology Supports Diversity
There is a quiet revolution happening, as companies realise that the time spent at your desk isn’t always the best measure of productivity when compared to results achieved. Depending on the profile of your workforce, think about how you could approach your employees value over time they spend at their desks.
Technology – including tools as simple as a laptop and phone – is supporting Louisa and the team she works in to be flexible in terms of when, where and how they work. Again, these are easy wins: many office-based staff already have a phone and laptop, and offering an easy-to-use flexibility policy is a no-brainer.
The Part-Time Problem (and Solution)
It hasn’t all been child’s play, though. When Louisa wanted to cut down her working hours to find a better balance with childcare, she found that very few positions to match her experience, were being advertised as part-time. ‘I took a pay cut in my previous role to compensate for the fact that I needed more flexible hours when I came back from parental leave,’ Louisa says of her career move.
How do we resolve this? BNZ has a simple solution with minimal cost impact; advertising roles as both full and part-time on job search websites opens up more senior roles to a wider pool of talent.
Balancing family life and work is never easy, but with a few simple changes to make your company more diverse and inclusive, you can ensure that the smartest and hardest-working staff have the same opportunity to contribute to the success of the business, whether they have kids or not.