Bronwyn Boyle

21 June 2023

1 Comment

Being a parent at Redgate

As a Talent Acquisition Coordinator at Redgate, I have a job that’s rewarding and fulfilling. I’m also a mother and, like many parents, it can be a challenge juggling both roles. Fortunately, Redgate is committed to supporting every employee, including those with dependents, and providing as much choice and flexibility as possible around childcare responsibilities to help balance work and family life.

I’ve experienced that personally, from the support I received from my team and line manager during my pregnancy, to the maternity coaching and flexible working request I put in on my return from maternity leave. I can honestly say I have felt safe in my role and valued as a colleague, throughout the whole journey.

I was supported in the decisions I made when putting in my flexible working request, and how I would need to approach this, and the parts of my role and team I would need to consider. This helped me feel confident when making the request that I would be able to fulfil my role part time. I was really grateful for this support, as it’s not something I’d ever had to think about before.

Now I have two children, the flexibility and understanding that Redgate has about parenting responsibilities has (and not to sound dramatic) transformed my life. Being a parent and working at Redgate means I can meet the needs of being a parent and still ensure I’m giving my all to my role as well. To me, this is invaluable.

And I’m not alone. Redgate has actively adopted the flexible-hybrid working model, so I thought I’d ask other parents about their experiences of the flexibility and understanding Redgate offers.

Renu Martingale – Sales Enablement Manager

When I first joined Redgate, I wanted to do a compressed working week to accommodate my family responsibilities. Redgate pushed back on this as it wasn’t in line with our commitment to a sustainable work-life balance and pointed to our flexible working policy instead.

It’s allowed me to lean on our dependents leave policy when we’ve been hit by chickenpox, etc. My child also interrupted me mid-presentation once during lockdown and EVERYONE was a dream about it, so it stopped me worrying about looking unprofessional.

I’ve recently reduced my hours, despite being in a relatively senior role. The business was supportive in exploring how to make this work and retain rather than lose me. I’m hoping to use my sabbatical next year to take the kids on a six-week road trip around France. It feels like such an amazing life experience to be able to offer them.

Sam Spark – Sales Manager

As a new father in 2021, it’s been an adjustment trying to balance work and family life. However, I’m grateful to work at Redgate as they’ve been incredibly supportive during this time.

One thing that stands out to me is that due to Redgate’s flexible-hybrid approach, I’ve had the opportunity adjust my schedule and work from home so that I can spend extra quality time with my daughter. Overall, I feel like Redgate truly cares about my wellbeing and that of my family. It’s a great feeling to know that I have their support as I navigate this new chapter in my life.

Beca Parker – Software Engineer

My team often take a natural meeting break around the school-run time – quite a few of us have that commitment to fulfil! Working from home for most of my week means I’m in the house when my son arrives home from school. I make sure he’s had an okay day, fix him a snack, and then dive back into work knowing he’s safe and happy. If ever there’s been a problem at school, I know that my Redgate team wouldn’t flinch if I said I needed to take some time to prioritize that. Home-working and flexitime (without having to explain yourself in triplicate, weeks in advance!) is something I value highly, having worked for much more restrictive employers previously.

I’d love some more visible examples of people working part time, particularly in engineering roles. The world is full of people with blended careers – fulfilling their skills and passions through two or more jobs split across their week, one of which may be parenting or caring for relatives.

Ulrike Hack – Lead Product Marketing Manager

“This won’t work!”, “Hormones will totally change your brain!”, “Are you really sure?” – just a few examples of the reactions when my husband and I decided that he would take care of our baby as a full-time dad and I would return to work eight weeks after our son was born.

And in fact, it wasn’t easy. Our lives turned upside down, I was overtired, unfocused. It was far from being a cool TV series ‘Workin’ Mom’ (don’t laugh – I had imagined it that way).

Fortunately, I did find a good routine very quickly and that’s mostly because Redgate is a very family-friendly employer. Redgate does so many things to make it easier for employees to combine work and parenting – flexible working hours, hybrid/remote work, maternity coaching, personal ‘maternity-leave-return buddies’, and more. As a result, lots of parents work at Redgate. And that’s what helped me most in settling into my role as a working mum.

I have so many amazing colleagues who I can ask for advice on all things parenthood and the work-parenting life balance. It’s invaluable to learn from the experiences of other parents and to know that I am not at all alone with my challenges.

Ryan McNitzky – Regional Sales Director Mid-US

Redgate is an excellent company to work for if you’re a parent. The bottom-line matters of course, but the focus is more on delivering results vs. dictating when and how the work is done.

I have two children, one who has a disability, and I have the flexibility to take my children to doctor’s appointments during the day if I need to, adjust my working hours if they’re sick, or attend school functions without the worry of someone asking where I am multiple times per day.

We’ve also got the benefit of leave for non-birthing parents, which was critical as any new parent needs all the help they can get! What’s more, after five years of service Redgate offers a six-week sabbatical. I took mine last year and the best part was spending every day with my two children. This is not an opportunity I’d be likely to have at another organization.

Leave that supports parents

As well as offering flexible-hybrid working, Redgate offers a variety of leave that supports parents and individuals with dependants. These include:

• Maternity leave
• Paternity leave
• Parental leave
• Adoption leave
• Shared parental leave
• Emergency dependants leave

If you’d like to learn more about how you can achieve a work-life balance at Redgate, discover the opportunities we have available.