Gordons parenting forum

During my time at Gordons, there has been an increased recognition of the role of parenting and/or caring in colleagues’ lives and how this can affect their work life and overall wellbeing.

I joined Gordons as a trainee in 2015 and qualified into the corporate team in 2017. Within my first year of qualifying I had my first child. On my return from maternity leave 11 months later I was a little apprehensive of if/how taking maternity leave early in my career would affect my career progression as well as how I would balance family life with work. I had my second child in 2022 and returned from maternity leave in 2023. I wanted to support others going through this challenging time and was encouraged by the Wellness & Inclusion team to set up the Gordons’ Parenting Forum.

The forum came about through the observation that many of the discussions and events surrounding ‘women in law’ often threw up the topic of children and childcare. However, it felt like this very prevalent issue, wasn’t, or shouldn’t, just be shouldered by women – after all many of the male workforce were parents too! Therefore, the parenting forum was borne out of an ambition to support colleagues if and when they assume parental or caring roles, and thus, change the perception that this was an issue just for mothers.

Since the launch of the forum, the team have worked hard to change the narrative on parenting so all colleagues, particularly mothers can feel more confident to air their personal challenges without being worried about any impact that might have on their career progression or assumptions made about their commitment to work. This has also encouraged male colleagues and other carers to be more honest about their pressures and desire to be more flexible and present in their family life.

The parenting forum is there for any colleague with caring responsibilities to feel supported by the firm. We are aware that some colleagues may have no support network outside of work and everyone should feel comfortable to talk about family life and share experiences. The parenting forum has been successful in helping colleagues feel supported. The split of attendees is about 50/50 male/female and it is great to see senior male colleagues being open and honest about their family commitments.

To support the feedback derived from the forum, we have introduced some really great initiatives. We looked specifically at the return-to-work journey and balancing that with family life, introducing phased financial targets for the first couple of months, the launch of a ‘buddy’ scheme alongside regular 1-2-1s and the promotion of our quiet rooms, that are often used for prayer, but can also be booked for expressing.

Many colleagues with caring responsibilities, where possible, have the opportunity to work more flexibly now, and as mothers we don’t feel like we’re the only ones who have to leave at odd times to meet the needs of our families and work effectively around these obligations. Just being able to be open and supported by all colleagues is a huge step in the right direction in normalising this common work/life balance.

The most recent forum topic was on online safety. It was helpful to open a discussion on this and share ideas and experiences from parents with older children to help those with younger ones. There were some great tips about how to manage screentime and monitoring usage and hearing other people’s understanding of various social media platforms. Future topics will be added to the agendas based on suggestions from the group.

Overall, the forum has made a big difference to those involved and is a real demonstration of Gordons commitment to supporting and celebrating working mothers.