The importance of parenting out loud

“Parenting out loud.” I heard this phrase at a seminar I attended recently, and I loved it.

It means trusting your colleagues enough to talk to them about parenting, and being a parent, while you’re at work. It’s important: how can we be fully ourselves at work if we feel we should almost pretend we don’t have children all the time?

Do we talk about being parents at work? Do we let our teams know when we are parenting and how that may affect how we participate in certain activities?

Talking and being open about parenting is especially important for senior people because you lead by example.

So, don’t sneak out to that school event! You don’t have to be embarrassed about being a parent, we can all be human at work.

“Do we talk about being parents at work?”

That’s why I was so happy when I saw The Parents’ Network and how it promotes conversations around parenting at Enterprise.

EU IT Business Manager Zoe Lazell launched the Parents’ Network in 2022 and describes it as a ‘passion project’.

“I was balancing coming back to work from maternity leave in a new role during a period of continuing change,” Zoe told us.

“I realised there were other parents wanting to talk about how to tackle situations that we were all facing. I created The Parents’ Network to share resources and ideas and to foster dialogue. Enterprise is a family company – so many of us have kids. I thought we needed to talk about this more.”

A managers’ pack was created to help managers who may not have experience of looking after children to prompt conversations around, for example, paternal leave.

It is full of resources around a range of parenting and wellbeing topics.

The Parents’ Network also has a buddy programme to support parents through key family life stages, pairing people who have been through similar experiences.

“...there were other parents wanting to talk about how to tackle situations that we were all facing”

“Not everyone has a support network when they become a parent,” Zoe said. “Many people live far away from family or may need to move for a promotion. There are more single parent families. One person attended one of our meetings came to talk about IVF and wanted to find a buddy who had a similar experience. Having support from colleagues in similar boats helps make challenging times easier.”

I think The Parents’ Network facilitates an important co-parenting conversation. Why aren’t dads taking more parental leave?

Fathers matter! They are having a baby too but often leave it very late to access the support, leave and entitlement they need when their partner is having a baby.

Enterprise has several policies and programmes in place to help all parents on their journey.

We have a virtual coaching programme for parents, with diversity consultant Talking Talent.

Talking Talent offers support for parents to be as well as parents with children of any age.

The virtual sessions take place every month and all employees have access to Talking Talent’s online platform where they can access resources, read blogs about topical issues and watch webinars on how to manage parenting in the workplace.

Another opportunity is one to one coaching.

Line managers can also access training, which is a fantastic resource for those that manage parents.

Anyone can sign up to Talking Talent simply by speaking to their local HR team. It is important to plan sessions early because it connects you to other parents on the same stage of the journey as you, which could be planning to be a parent or at a later stage of your parenting journey.

“I know first-hand that parenting and careering at the same time isn’t easy”

Finally – if you don’t know me, I am a parent to a 16-year-old daughter, Alex. I know first-hand that parenting and careering at the same time isn’t easy. The more we share the more we can support each other. 

If you are interested in a career with Enterprise, please visit our recruitment website at careers.enterprise.co.uk