Marta Gonçalves do Couto, Finance & Operations Executive at Locale Group, discusses how embracing equity has helped her as a mother and ignited her passion for work
Today, as I rushed to get my kids ready, I had no choice but to text my teammates – “Sorry guys, we had a bit of an accident. Will be 10-20mins late.”
You’re probably thinking I need to be more organised, or I need to wake up earlier, but I promise you, I do wake up early, and despite having the luxury of working from home, getting two kids ready in the morning on your own is no mean feat and often means some rather unexpected and even nasty surprises.
I assure you though, having my children is the best thing about me! For a while, I was raising them alone and whilst it was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, last year, I knew I wanted to come back to work. I love my job and I feel like I am such a better mother when I am working – I need the balance between being a mum and being “Marta at Locale.”
Embracing equity, this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, is a stark reminder of how hard it could’ve been if I worked in a different company. Having joined the business whilst living in Oxford and then heading off on maternity leave and then deciding to return to Portugal, I expected to say good bye to Locale forever. But the fact that both the CEO, Guy Windsor-Lewis, and COO, Toni Delli Compagni, recognised that there was a way for me to come back was so special.
A number of my fellow mum friends working in Portugal have encountered numerous issues since they fell pregnant. Some have lost their jobs or were moved to schedules that wouldn’t allow them to keep up with their kids’ needs; other’s feel judged every single day when they need time off because their child is ill or because they have a medical appointment. Sadly, in some cases, there is an expectation that, to be a good employee, you must work as if you don’t have kids!
At Locale, it’s understood how important it is for me to be present for my kids, and it’s this recognition that helps me to continue to be fully committed and passionate about my job.
Can you imagine being ready to work at 9am when you have two kids who had absolutely no sleep, cried the entire night and suddenly fell asleep around 6am? Me neither! – thank you to my wonderful team who allow me to jump in later if I need to. The kids feel much better, I feel much better, and I am actually able to be far more productive instead of being a zombie for the rest of the day, making mistakes and tying myself in knots over the simplest of things!
If the kids get ill or if they have a medical appointment, I am fortunate enough to juggle my hours around that to be there for them or I can take time off work – and no one will judge me for one second!
Being a parent is probably the toughest gig out there and tends to turn up the guilt-ometer – I feel guilty for not cuddling them enough, because I got mad over the smallest thing, because I didn’t feed them enough vegetables and the list goes on. But the last thing you need is to feel guilty at work – because all I’m trying to do is raise these tiny humans in a stable and loving home whilst teaching them the value of hard work, conquering the world one nappy at a time!