Articles From the Team

Becoming a dad – how work can help

In December my wife and I became parents for the first time and we are now the proud mum and dad of a beautiful baby girl called Lily.

We’d been to all of the NCT classes and read lots of books but nothing quite prepares you for parenthood than when you first leave the hospital and you realise that it’s now happening to you and you have to jump in feet first and, to some extent, let instinct kick in.

Like many novice parents-to-be we were certain that “the baby would fit around our lives” and we often thought ”how hard can parenting be??” Well, we’re now eight weeks in and I can honestly say that it is hard work and Lily most certainly has us wrapped around her little finger! Life after Lily is very different to our pre-Lily days.

So why am I writing this blog? I’m actually working from home today as I wanted to give my wife moral support on “vaccination day” and I realised that my work life balance is now ever more important to me. Family life is my priority and I work hard in order to provide for my family. I’ve had the luxury of being able to bath Lily every night because my employer has set up our company so that we can all work remotely as and when required. This may sound like old news but in the recruitment sector there are many companies who do not allow their employees to enjoy such freedoms.

We always talk about the win/win at work and so in order for me to work from home I get up early and commute in from Weybridge in Surrey to our Liverpool Street office. I’m usually in the office for 8.20 and logged on working through the day. As long as there are no emergencies to deal with I leave the office at 5.40 to enable me to get the 6.02 train back to Weybridge and home to bath and feed Lily before bed. This time to me is priceless. Because we are cloud based I can log on from home should I need to and catch up on any work once Lily is sound asleep.

I’d never really considered a work life balance before I became a dad but it’s nice to know that I have the ability to work with a degree of flexibility to enjoy seeing my daughter grow.

We’re always on the lookout for new talent at BCL Legal so if flexible working is appealing then get in touch.

For more information contact BCL Legal or call 0845 241 0933.