Recently, The Labour Party announced that it was officially getting the ball rolling on the 4-day week in the UK. Along with all other kinds of flexibility as part of Angela Rayner’s ‘Make Work Pay’ initiative.
In contrast, last week Amazon’s chief executive delivered a memo stating that staff will soon be expected back in the office 5 days a week, a push that has previously been met with protests.
As I settle back into the post-summer return-to-work, I’ve been reflecting on Seed | B Corp™ Performance Marketing Agency. And how it isn’t an overstatement to say that working with them has changed my life.
(Sounds bold, I know).
A key moment that stands out is the morning that I managed to royally ‘eff up’ the school run by simultaneously forgetting packed lunch, a book bag and that Green Team had won the bloody house cup before half term, thus declaring it a non-school uniform day.
I ended up doing the school run three times.
And we have a commercial meeting every Monday at 9.30am.
In a past life this would’ve sent me straight into an instant spiral of stress. And I’d have probably felt guilty for the rest of the day for taking my disorganisation out on my daughter whilst also making her a social pariah. When in reality, I’m actually a professional, capable, but busy parent to two young children. And there’s only one of me. And I’m only human.
And I needn’t have worried because I work for a company in a ‘fast-paced environment’ that is ‘results-driven’ and ‘progressive’ and which also genuinely, truly believes that everybody does better if its team is happy. This isn’t a world that I’ve always been accustomed to and sadly many companies are still miles off.
The reality is that most people at some point might need to finish early to get to that doctor’s appointment, or can only meet a friend who’s having a tough time at lunchtime, or just don’t want to be working 50+ hour weeks and running themselves into the ground instead of doing more of that ‘work to live’ stuff all those motivational posters promised us in the nineties.
How can parents in 2024 possibly be expected to drop their kids at school at 8.40am, pick them up at 3.10pm and still manage to work a 9-5 job? Sure, those parents have chosen to have children but the set up doesn’t quite fit the reality any more.
78% of employers believe that a shorter working week will be fully in place by 2030. It’s not even an argument at this point, it’s more a case of do it or you’ll be left behind.
So ‘life changing’ probably does sound a bit much, but if only more employers realised that they have the ability to make or break a family dynamic. To make or break a person. To me, having a job that has flexible start and finish times, that doesn’t add pressure if you need to move things around a bit, means that my kids get the best out of me as a parent and have a much happier, more balanced childhood. It really is that massive. And in return, my employer gets a not-stressed, efficient, loyal team member that’s happy and will tell anyone who’ll listen how great they are.
Anyway, this was all a rather dramatic way to say that Seed is hiring. 🚀
So if you fancy seeing for yourself and have experience in PR, SEO, PPC or Social Media, please do get in touch.
