The five mums, who came back into the workplace at the start of the year, are using a range of skills in their employment at the Les Ormes leisure resort in St Brelade, which is owned by the Bosdet Foundation.
By working flexible hours to fit around school hours and holidays, they are able to continue to support their children after school and be available at key moments in their children’s lives – a model they would encourage more employers to put in place.
Les Ormes managing director Mike Graham said: ‘Les Ormes is committed to being a flexible employer whenever we can, not just because it supports people in their total life environment but because it’s proven that when you can offer flexible work, you can end up with talented, committed employees who add to the success of our business.
‘We are really delighted that as we grow Les Ormes, we are doing so in most cases by employing people who live close by and who, in some cases, are also our customers, as their children learn to swim here.’
HR manager Jenna Cartright, who has a daughter at pre-school, said: ‘Flexible and family-friendly working are topics close to my heart and I know that there is a whole workforce of talented people in the Island who are perhaps not able to fulfil their career goals due to the desire and need to care for their family.’
Content marketing executive Elizabeth Talbot added: ‘My children are my absolute priority, but it is important for me to still have my own identity. Working part-time, term-time, is the best of both worlds and I feel very fulfilled in both roles.’
Also part of the ‘working mums’ team is volunteer administrative assistant Fiona Brodie, who works for the Bosdet Foundation charity. ‘They employ me to support two other charities supporting people with literacy – Every Child Our Future and Words and Numbers Matter. I am extremely fortunate – working term-time, part-time, enables me to fully concentrate on work when at work, and fully concentrate on home life when at home, creating a fantastic balance without being pulled in different directions.’
Accounts assistant Jeanette Trenchard added: ‘I feel very fortunate to have found a great job at an awesome place that benefits myself and my daughters’, while sports and activities administrator Katharine Searle said: ‘Being a mum of three girls, working 9 am until 2 pm daily in term time only, allows me to still enjoy a full family lifestyle. I can take my children to and from school every day and they can still go to afterschool clubs and have playdates.
‘If anything, being back at work has enhanced my whole family,’ she said.
