“While being a mum worried me slightly, after learning about agile working it was nice to know I could be a mum and still have a career. My two boys and my husband are the most important people in my life. After a long day at work, seeing them when I walk through the door, happy and smiling, makes all the worries I may have had disappear. I hope my story can show mums that you can work a 9-5 and still be a boss mum at home.”

Chapter 1: Having both

My name is Debbie, I am married and a mum of two boys, I currently work as a recruitment coordinator. I was born and raised in Hackney, East London. I came from years working in charity, so I didn’t know what to expect coming into a professional service environment as a mum.

While being a mum worried me slightly, after learning about the agile working, it was nice to know I could be able to be a mum and still have career. This is what made me decide to apply to Grant Thornton. I was really into recruitment and wanted to learn more about it. I remember during the interview I watched a video of a lady talking about her day-to-day at Grant Thornton. At the end of the video, she mentioned that she could still find time to pick up her child from nursery. That was it, as soon as I heard that I knew this was the job for me!

Chapter 2: Balancing both

My two boys and my husband are the most important people in my life. After a long day at work, seeing them when I walk through the door, happy and smiling, makes all the worries I may have had disappear. Everything I do, I do it for them. I now understand why my mum worked as hard as she did to create a better life for me and my siblings.

Being responsible for two boys has allowed me to approach work differently. As a parent, you start to find solutions that are more creative and resourceful. Your mindset changes once you have kids and this mindset helps me excel at my job. I’ve also been able to organise mummy meet-ups with other professionals, discussing how we work around the kids.

I’m a happy person (I love to smile a lot), who loves to love and enjoys every day that comes. I’m a believer of not bringing work home with me. Because once you step through those doors it’s about being a wife, mum, dad, husband, partner, carer and whatever else you may be.

Chapter 3: An inclusive environment absolutely matters!

Working for an inclusive firm has really been important to the success of my career. Without it, I don’t believe I would have been able to achieve as much as I have. That includes being able to buy a house while on maternity leave. (Never thought that would happen!) Inclusivity allows people to bring their whole self to work and to be themselves. I love that I am still able to pick the kids up from school, while being available to any of my team at work.

Diversity and inclusion is an equation. Diversity plus inclusion equals positive business impact. You have to focus on both to see lasting impact. Diversity without inclusion won’t last long and inclusion without diversity is not true inclusion. It’s no longer just about seeing more women, carers, parents, disabilities and LGBT’s at the office, it's about designing a workplace that draws out the best from each person, not just regardless of their views and beliefs and cultures, but because of them.

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