#dadsflextoo

#dadsflextoo - An interview with Chris Haworth

Hi! My name is Chris Haworth.  I am self – employed and am the founder of Peak Performance massage. I have clinic’s both in Oxford and in our local Village, Milton under Wychwood.

#dadsflextoo - An interview with Matt Dupuy

Matt is a stay-at-home Dad, or how he better describes it, a full-time toddler valet to Finch, his three year old daughter. Prior to this, Matt was a full-time subeditor at a news website and tells us why being able to stay-at-home was the best decision for his family, the benefits of this and how flexible working is key to a better work/life juggle.

#dadsflextoo - A blog by Patrick Alleyne

My name is Patrick Alleyne and I am not a stay at home dad but very much employed in a busy and demanding role. I work flexibly but not for family/caring reasons unless caring for yourself and looking after your own wellbeing counts? I work for London regional government and my organisation is hugely supporting of flexible working.

#dadsflextoo - A blog by Phil Farr

Hi, my name's Phil and I work as a Senior Project Officer for the Greater London Authority and have done for 20 years. Yes, really! I have a partner and a lovely daughter who is 7. We live in the Home Counties and due to being able to work flexibly, I am able to balance the commute to work in London with some work from home days and this suits me because I can be there to do the school run and take my daughter to after-school activities.

#dadsflextoo - An interview with Andy Philip

Hi, I’m Andy Philip; self-employed freelance musician; Dad to six year old twins. My work involves live performance, recording sessions, arranging, composing and some teaching. Performance-work always tends to be in the evening which means leaving home around the kids’ dinner time to make the commute into the West End (I’m the contracted guitarist on the musical Wicked).

#dadsflextoo - An interview with Jonathan Sherlock

Hi I’m Jonathan. I currently work two days a week as a change consultant in Local Government and spend two days on a small online retail start-up which I launched with a friend of 25 years in March of this year called Ctrl and Shift. I am the primary carer of my two youngest children, Dylan (6) who is in Y1 at school and Catherine (2) who is in nursery. I also have a 13 year old son, Benjamin.   

#dadsflextoo - A blog by Greg

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Written by Greg, dad to two, husband to one...doing the best he can!

I spent last weekend with my family, enjoying the weather ( a lot) and the cut and thrust of Chessington World of Adventures (a lot less...). This weekend, however, I am working late shifts both days and will be home from work long after my two young children have gone to bed. And so it goes with shift work…

 

When most people hear that I work 6 on, 3 off shifts, they normally comment on working six consecutive days. Usually, it goes something like this:  “You work SIX days per week?! I couldn’t do that.” But it doesn’t take long for people to soften their view. As a result of my shift pattern, I work fewer days per year than someone on a more ‘standard’ Monday to Friday pattern and my leave goes further too. These two revelations get people’s attention but there are other benefits too… 

 

I’m sitting on my sofa, it’s a Thursday, and in addition to shoehorning in a bit of NETFLIX I have done half the school run, taken my son to his swimming lesson, enjoyed a meal out with my family, helped with homework, read a bedtime story, put the bins out and worked a 7.5 hour shift. Oh, and cobbled together this badly written diatribe... A good example of how you can make shift work...work, and work well. 

 

I have had a number of jobs over my relatively short working life most of which have maintained what you would call normal business hours, apart from the odd temp job in retail-there is definitely therapy in stacking shelves.

 

You know when the best time to do almost anything is? On weekdays. Everything is a touch less crowded, which makes the shops nicer, the roads quieter and taking my daughter to the park a little bit more peaceful (sometimes). Admittedly I quite like spending time by myself and also seek quieter environments with my family so perhaps I am a little biased but I find I spend less time in competition with others for space, or jostling for my place in the queue... 

 

I don’t know how people get to the doctor or dentist or get their car serviced etc when at work during the traditional work pattern, I find an awful lot more flexibility in my work rhythm despite essentially being contracted to the same number of hours a week. These more mundane tasks tend to be far easier to sort with my current regime.

 

If there is a downside, perhaps sleep patterns are one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I get enough sleep, but the timing can change depending on work. Some people probably benefit from greater routine on that front. Also, the rest of the world arranges many things for the weekend (obviously) which means I can regularly miss them unless I deem them vital enough to take annual leave... 

 

Work-life balance. I will finish with this as this is what most people strive to achieve when it comes to their lives. I certainly have it and consider myself very lucky as a result and get this, it certainly doesn’t involve a 9-5.