Life at Wilson | Balancing work with parenting

My name is Kelly Scarpenter and I'm an account director here at Wilson. I've been here for 14 years now, I essentially act as the bridge between strategy and execution. So working with a number of different clients across the globe and ensuring that those TA strategies are delivered operationally on the ground. On the personal front I live in a place called Epping Forest which is just outside of London, about 14 miles, and as the name would suggest it gives me the best of both worlds, so the forest on the weekend and the city if I'm travelling during the week.

As with everything, Wilson are so supportive and understanding and I think I'm testament to that, There's a lot of support for parents. We've got our My Time policy, employee belonging groups, especially set up for parents, which is great and a huge resource that we use to support us. But yeah, I think that understanding, that awareness is great. The remote working is a game changer. And it enables me to be at school drop off and school pick And I'm not missing out on those important milestones. And I think for me, what I've realized with Wilson is that you don't have to make that choice. A career or a family, you can absolutely blend the two. The unlimited PTO is fantastic. it means that if I have to take a day for childcare, I'm not then worrying that I won't have enough for my family holiday. And naturally, that's subject to what's going on in the business and within the team. But knowing that that option is there is a huge weight lifted and yeah, certainly a huge pillar of support to working parents, especially.

I absolutely love that group. There's so much back and forth and it might be somebody asking for advice. It might be somebody sharing a funny story. but it certainly feels like such a close knit support network, which is great considering that that group is made up of parents across the globe. It makes me feel quite nostalgic at the moment. My sons are now nine and 10. So I'm not in the zone of sending cute pictures and Halloween dress up and so on. So it brings a smile to my day.

It was the realization that children get sick a lot and especially after they start at a daycare provider or at school, they bring everything home and then kindly share with the rest of the family. And that can be a real challenge. If you're working to deadlines and you're working with clients and your team are needing you, it can be incredibly tough. The supportive nature of the teams that we've got around us, the unlimited my time. It's all of those things that come together to make that a little bit easier, but certainly a challenge and one that I didn't expect. So I stepped back from a recruitment operations manager role into a recruiter role temporarily. And that was mainly due to the ops manager role at that point in time. It involved travel and I just couldn't make it work with two very young sons. Wilson were hugely supportive, enabled me to step down, supported me when I was ready to step back up. And I was glad to do that. I also have adjusted my working pattern over the years, reducing from five days to three days to four days. And again, Wilson have been very accommodating, supportive, and within the pandemic as well. That flexibility of being able to condense and look at different options and be creative in making it work for me and making it work for the organisation at the same time.

I would be lying if I said it wasn't tough, but I have a dedicated space for work at home, I try to shut the door at the end of the day and sort compartmentalise and leave the office, And then I've got two young sons who keep me incredibly busy. And by default help me set those boundaries with their afterschool schedules and so on.

Think being a parent has helped me to prioritise what matters most. And that's a lesson that I take from my personal life into my work life and really thinking about, what is the most important thing right now and prioritising and looking at, where can I make the most impact? Where am I needed the most at this point in time? I think it's given me a deep understanding and empathy probably of what other people are going through and the pressures that people are sometimes bringing to work and just being mindful of that and being supportive, being a supportive leader as my leaders have been to me.

Parenting taught me pretty quickly that people watch what you do more so than listen to what you say. And that is a lesson that I've absolutely carried into the workplace. So always try to lead by example. I try to stay focused, set boundaries, stay calm, then roll my sleeves up. I'm willing to get stuck in and to help my teams, but it's really important for me that I remain seen as that pillar of support so that my team know that they can come to me if they do need help, support, guidance in any way, So being that safe place, but willing to get stuck in and support at the same time.

I have a phrase called being my future friend. And essentially it means making decisions and taking actions that your future self would thank you for. And I do that at home, I do that at work. And it has saved me on many occasions.

Think enjoy it, try to find that balance, find that rhythm that works for you. What will work for one person won't work for everybody else. So you need to find that rhythm and routine that absolutely works for you and for your family and for your life. And I think finally, I think there are weeks where I have to focus on progress and not on perfection. And there will be weeks like that. And I think it's the acceptance of that, that not every week is going to be perfect. But if we can make progress, then that's good enough.