Keep Families in Mind While Considering Office Flexibility

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions of Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, Patrick Llewellyn of 99designs discusses a recent internal policy change. Below, in his own words, he describes his goal of providing flexibility for employees—and the organizational learning curve behind it. The challenge Policies that normalize equal caring roles can have a profound effect on how both women and men balance families and careers. While a lot of focus is correctly placed on supporting mothers when they choose to return to work, organizations also have a responsibility to create policies and stigma-free environments that help balance the gender scales when it comes to caring roles. This month, we introduced a policy providing every new parent at the company 18 weeks of flexible leave at full pay, and—most importantly—removed all internal distinctions between primary and secondary carers, adoptive parents, those in surrogacy arrangements or any other family structure. Parenting is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Removing labels and expectations around what parenting should look like levels the playing field and encourages both moms and dads to feel comfortable making choices to adapt their work schedule in ways that make sense for their family. How we did it The process we went through in creating this policy has many parallels to how we approach product development. Within our own team, we were seeing clear signals that increased and more equitable flexibility was what new parents wanted. When we started out, we were a typical startup with a pretty young staff. As the business has grown and matured, I’ve had enormous admiration for a generation of employees who have grown up working here, who are doing things differently by taking a more collective approach to parenting. It’s been inspiring to see how many dads and secondary carers in particular have led the way in taking extended leave and choosing to work flexibly after becoming parents at 99designs, and this is something that we wanted to amplify through the entire organization in a meaningful way. On a personal level, seeing into people’s living rooms during this period of remote work has also been a reminder of just how challenging those early years can be. We’ve all had to become more adaptable—and to support our teams moving forward, we must ensure we don’t forget the hard learned lessons of the last couple of years. The new definition of what work-life balance means for people is still evolving. But, as employers, we have a responsibility to be the change we want to see in the world, and we’re excited to formalize policies that support and create flexible opportunities for all of our team. The takeaway While making this change is something we have been talking about for a long time, we know it’s a process—and that we’re still learning. By making parental leave options more accessible to more people and for longer periods of time, we have to get better at it. Ultimately, the payoff for us as an organization is when someone tells us they are going on parental leave and there isn’t even a flicker of panic—either from colleagues losing a teammate for a while or from a new parent worrying about missing out on opportunities and being left behind. That’s when we will know we’ve been really successful. To Smash Harmful Pregnancy Terminology, Parenting App Writes New Glossary

Columnist Network

As Brands Consider Workplace Flexibility, Keep Families in Mind

Inside the new parental leave policy at 99designs

The challenge

Patrick Llewellyn

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

The challenge

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Patrick Llewellyn