Protiviti Parental Leave — Jacob Bosden

Jacob Bosden on Protiviti’s Parental Leave Programme

Jacob came to Protiviti through our grad programme. Recruited during a career fair, he has been working in our Brisbane office for over seven years. Jacob taken advantage of Protiviti’s parental leave twice, and he was kind enough to share his perspective and insights about the programme.

Q. Tell us about your experience with Protiviti’s Parental Leave programme?

The experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I found the process of applying for parental leave very easy. There were no sour looks or negative feelings the team and management was all very supportive and worked around the timing of my leave both before and after.

I also appreciated that the programme is quite flexible. My arrangement was that my wife took about eight months off work following the birth, and then I came in afterward and took four months off.

Q. How did the Parental Leave programme help you achieve work-life balance?

I think the parental leave policy helped me get my head around looking after kids. Having that time off was great because I got to spend time with my son and see him develop, and I wouldn’t have gotten to see that otherwise.

As far as work-life balance, it also gave me a bit more insight into what my partner’s role is like while she’s on leave for our second child and how I can better help to look after the kids. That insight helped me plan out my days a bit more when I came back to determine when I need to switch off a bit sooner or work different hours to make sure I can support her in the home environment. That was a picture I didn’t have before taking those four months off.

Q. What was the process like integrating back into work?

Administratively, it was really easy to integrate back into work. I kept in contact with a the couple of key people that I needed to, and once it was getting close to the transition, it was a pretty easy process.

From an actual work perspective, the process went reasonably well. The team had already scheduled me on a few projects for my first week back, though we had a few gremlins with my laptop not working and having to get a replacement sorted. So, the lesson we learned, on reflection, was to have a slightly softer start during the first week back to allow the team member to get back up to speed after being away for an extended period. We’ve had another child since, which I took a month off for, and applied this exact approach and that worked out really well.

Also, while I was on leave, I was still attending social events with the team. So, that constant contact was still happening between the team and myself which made it that much easier to integrate back into the team when I came back.

Q. Was it a benefit to stay connected vs. being completely disconnected while you were out?

I do think it was a benefit to stay connected. Our office is quite close with a family feel to it. Being able to maintain that contact throughout was very beneficial. They also got to hear what was going on in my life and a little bit of vice versa. It helped with that transition back into the workgroup.

Q. What advice and insights do you have for parents or soon-to-be parents considering working for Protiviti?

You still need to be prepared for parental leave to end — there is still a full-time job coming after it. But know that the company is very supportive of your parental leave and your transition back, whether you’ll be back full-time or if you need another arrangement.

Be open and communicate your needs and expectations with the business. When you are looking at leave and at what your arrangements will be, the business is very open and flexible to what will work for you, but you’ve got to communicate that with them so they can support you.

Also, the team environment is very supportive. To help reduce the stress of worrying about leaving unfinished work when the time comes, we implemented handovers and had transition plans in place. This meant that the night I had to start my leave I simply sent a message to my boss, and that was it. It was done. There was no one harassing me afterward. The team just jumped in and pulled together to pick up everything where I left off.

Q. Did you have any concerns about your position or being held back while you were away on leave?

I didn’t. In fact, while I was on leave for four months, the promotion I had been working towards was approved. So, I had no real fear that the company would hold me back because I was taking a couple of months off, which is good because I think that would be a concern a lot of people would have elsewhere. There is none of that concern here.

Want to hear more from Jacob? Get in touch with him. 

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