A culture of kindness
Jonathan Kirkby, Managing Director Instinct
At instinct, our senior leadership team is made up of three working mums, and me, the Founder, a working Dad. Not only is it vital we provide a flexible and supportive environment for working parents (after all, life with the juggle of kids is stressful enough). But it makes good business sense too.
The team are all incredibly experienced, have many years on the job, and are wildly efficient. Working parents are good hires. They are often our clients’ audience too and bring invaluable insight. And in an industry dominated by women, working PR Mums need to feel supported, valued and respected professionally and personally by their employer. We all understand as a senior team the joy our kids bring to us. And the importance of getting home for pick up or bedtime which I wholeheartedly support.
Personally, I split Dadding 50:50 with my husband Ian. And so I flex my working day around my sons, working the hours that work for me. We’ve built a culture of kindness, support and understanding at instinct, where we all work hard to get the job done, even if that’s working different hours sometimes to take kids to the park on the swings in the morning, or take them to a swimming lesson after school.
Mums leaving the comms industry after kids is a crying shame, and something here at instinct we work hard to avoid. We’re always open to flexible working requests and value team members for their output and commitment, not time sat at an office chair.