A job ad that was recently posted in Dublin became a global talking point due to the statement ‘Persons with young children need not apply’. Several people commented that whilst the individual who posted this had been naïve/stupid enough to write this there are many people who may be guilty of thinking it. We’re all…
You’ve told your manager and work mates that you’re pregnant and now you’re on a countdown to maternity leave. Ah, maternity leave….that special time where you think you’ll have time on your hands to go on afternoon strolls, have daytime naps and catch-up on your favourite box sets. As we all know the reality is…
For many working mums, going to work isn’t just about getting paid at the end of every month (although that definitely helps); a lot of us enjoy the work that we do. We often spend more time with our colleagues than we do with our nearest and dearest, but as a working parent, how would…
How easy do you find it to flick a switch in your brain to go from professional to parent? It never fails to amaze (and amuse) me how different our lives can be within the space of a few minutes. There we are signing off from a conference call or doing something equally important-sounding and…
If someone at work told you to ‘act like a man’ what kind of behaviour would you think the person wants to see? Risk-taking? Courage? Decisiveness? Confidence? Assertiveness? Let’s change the words slightly. What if the same person told you to ‘stop acting like a woman’. What kind of behaviours are they expecting you to…
I was chatting to a delegate on a training course I was running the other week. We were talking about balancing the needs of both family and work. When I shared that I’d be taking 2 months off over the summer they remarked ‘you’re so lucky’. I agreed. I am lucky. I have a very…
So you’re about to go back to work? Well let’s make a cup of tea, pull up a chair and have a chat about what you might expect. Here are the top ten things I’d like to share both from my own experience of going back to work and also from all of the mums…
I’ve been finding myself saying “no” to people quite a lot recently. As a freelancer turning down work is scary. What if they don’t ask me again? What if nothing else comes in? What if they offer the work to someone else, who’ll end up doing a better job than me? However now that I’ve…
Whenever anyone is behaving in a way that frustrates, disappoints or upsets us we have a choice about how we respond. We can: a) Do nothing and smile serenely b) Do nothing and inwardly seethe until you feel like you’re about to erupt c) React immediately and shout/cry/rant/storm off (or all of the aforementioned) d)…
Recently my colleague Tracy had an article published in the Journal.ie. The article was about how some women can feel sad or anxious about returning to work after maternity leave and Tracy offered some suggestions to lessen the anxiety and make the transition more bearable. At the time of writing this piece the article had…