{"id":2293,"date":"2018-09-18T08:15:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T08:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/i-dialled-into-work-and-prayed-my-baby-wouldnt-wake-up\/"},"modified":"2018-09-18T08:15:26","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T08:15:26","slug":"i-dialled-into-work-and-prayed-my-baby-wouldnt-wake-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/i-dialled-into-work-and-prayed-my-baby-wouldnt-wake-up\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I dialled into work and prayed my baby wouldn’t wake up’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n

\"MelissaImage copyright<\/span>
\n Melissa Brooker<\/span><\/p>\n

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Image caption<\/span>
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\n Melissa Brooker and her daughter, Isabelle, now aged five
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Melissa Brooker had been in her job as a senior HR director for 10 years and “loved every minute of it”.<\/p>\n

Then she had her first child. <\/p>\n

“Sadly, the year I returned took the shine off for me,” she says. “Gradually, it became obvious that my employers still needed a lot of face-time. I could see that I was going to be left out of key meetings and opportunities by rigidly sticking to the hours I was paid for.”<\/p>\n

So she tried to find a way around it. “I accepted meetings and calls on my days off. I dialled into calls while my baby was asleep, praying she wouldn’t wake up. <\/p>\n

“I worked in any snatched moments I could find. No matter what your hours, there was an expectation that if you wanted to progress, you had to be ‘always on’. It just wasn’t sustainable.” <\/p>\n

“Sarah” also works in HR. She doesn’t want to use her real name because she’s worried about losing her job.<\/p>\n

Although she loves what she does, she says, “The isolation I have felt at work since going part-time shocked me, and has been soul destroying. I feel punished for not being there five days a week.”<\/p>\n

‘Tough cookie’<\/h2>\n

This is not the way the flexible workplace is supposed to be. Since 2014, the law has been that any worker has the right to apply to work flexibly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s no surprise Sarah and Melissa’s stories are so similar. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Image copyright<\/span>
\n Melissa Brooker<\/span><\/p>\n

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Image caption<\/span>
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\n Melissa Brooker and her second child, Ethan – she has since quit her job and set up on her own
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A survey by flexible working experts, Timewise, found two-thirds of part-time workers feel isolated and struggle to make professional connections.<\/p>\n

Sarah returned to work after a longer gap than usual having had two children close together. “I’m a tough cookie, believe you me, but there have been occasions when I have cried. Friendships I have built over five years have simply dissolved.”<\/p>\n

As flexible working is the way most of us now work in the UK, this is a major problem. <\/p>\n

‘Flexism’<\/h2>\n

Timewise’s report, Part-time Work: The Exclusion Zone?, found: <\/p>\n