Maintaining a good work life balance

Guy Robinson, Deputy Director Innovation, gives his views on how working at the IPO helps him maintain a good work life balance:

I’ve been at the IPO since 1999 and, in that time, I have been able to help staff members manage their work commitments whilst supporting their family life. In February 2017 I benefited directly from our excellent family friendly policies myself by sharing parental leave with my partner after our son was born.  I took a full six months from August 2017 to February 2018.  This was a benefit I was able to take advantage of once again after the birth of my daughter, taking six months shared parental leave from March to October 2019.

I am a D1 in a policy and corporate role and I head up teams totalling around 20 people.  On both occasions my manager was very open to the idea of shared parental leave and we worked together to make sure we were able to cover my role during the period of absence.

My time with my children during these periods was fantastic.  When I took leave my ‘acid test’ was that if my children needed comforting they would not run to my partner as a default but feel equally comfortable with either of us; I can absolutely say that is now the case.

Having returned to work full time I have been supported in compressing my hours so that I can continue to look after my children for a full day once a fortnight.