With so many people working remotely these days, the culture of flexibly working from home is stronger than it has ever been.
At Happity it was really important to our co-founders, Sara and Emily, that their business was built with flexible working patterns. As busy working mums, they knew the benefits of flexible working.
So here’s why we love flexible, remote and hybrid working here at Team Happity:
Looking for fun activities with your baby or toddler?
There are thousands of classes and groups on Happity. Find one you’ll love here.
1. Freedom To Work How You Want, When You Want
“I love the flexibility of my role. Having a nearly three-year-old (he was just turning one when I started) has allowed me to spend quality time with my son whilst having some independence with a job. The remote and flexible role meant I could work my hours around him. So there has never been any pressure if Hugh had had to be around or I’ve had to tweak my hours or days. It’s been a very refreshing way to work, not having fixed nine-to-fives where you must be here mentality. I have the freedom to do my hours at a time that suits.”
– Kate Falshaw, Happity’s Admin Assistant
2. Home Comforts And Productivity
“I personally love remote working as it means I can be home in a comfortable environment with my space exactly how I like it. It can be very messy so there’s the added bonus not having co-workers see my ‘creative process’). I have kids and dogs so it’s nice to know I don’t need to get back from an office to sort the dogs out or have to pick my boys up early from school if they’re ill.
“I’m a lot more productive from home as being a coder is about working alone a fair bit of the time and switching off the distractions around you. So I can turn my music up and focus so much better than I could when I worked in an office environment. The chorus of dogs snoring is very comforting!”
– Becky, Happity’s Coding Alchemist
3. Time To Live Your Life
“From my perspective, having the ability to work from home and flexibly really does help me to fit my work around my personal life (not the other way round, which my previous jobs often did!) I’m currently doing the same kind of hours that I was doing in a previous retail job, and yet I’m now spending a bit more time doing the things I love like my hobbies or spending time with my loved ones. Plus, I actually have more energy to do them. Now that I’ve started flexible/remote working, I’m keen to carry on doing it!
“Working fully remotely helps me with my productivity, but there are times when it really helps to see your colleagues in your work day. Zoom calls are great, but they lack the chit-chat that can really help to relieve stress. We’ve started using a co-working space this year and it’s been really lovely to have one day every week (or every other week if schedules get busier) where a number of the Happity team can meet up and just work alongside each other. I always come away from those days feeling pretty positive (makes it worth that jam-packed London commute!)”
– Leanne, Happity’s Marketing Specialist
4. Flexible Childcare
“It’s different for me now that the kids are older, but basing this more on when they were younger.
“Firstly, it is really really hard to work from home if your kids are also home. You definitely need a childcare plan. Secondly, I would flex my hours so that I could spend some time with them during the week to help reduce childcare requirements. This involved doing some of my hours at the weekend, early morning or late evening where possible, or reducing working hours overall and taking some unpaid leave (parental leave).
“For childcare, I used grandparents, playdate swaps, Bubble babysitting app (basically someone to come here and entertain them whilst I was working) and holiday camps. We had childcare vouchers in those days(!) so would save those up to cover the holiday camps. I’d typically aim for three full days of childcare each week, one day with the kids myself or with my husband, and one day with grandparents or a playdate.
“Lastly, for the summer holidays, we’d plan for two weeks of family holiday and annual leave in the summer period. Even though travelling is more expensive versus other times of the year, I figure you’re at least offsetting the cost of childcare in those weeks anyway.
“Incidentally, when you have younger nursery-aged children this isn’t really a problem because nurseries are generally open all summer anyway!”
– Sara, Happity’s Co-Founder
5. Stealth Working
“I pretty much agree with Sara but like you say everyone’s experience is different so…
“Totally agree that you can’t work with young kids around (hence our policy on that to arrange dedicated childcare!) When my son was younger I’d arrange grandparents or clubs during the week to get my hours in. In the holidays it’s grandparents, camps and playdates at other people’s houses. We likewise would do two to three days of camp, one to two days with grandparents, and I’d have one day with him in the week. Or sometimes does three LONG days so I managed two days off with him.
“Now my son is older I can work well when he is around AS LONG as I’ve arranged a playdate. If he is just around alone it doesn’t work (I feel guilty more than anything). But since the summer when he was eight and a half years old and I arranged a day off work to host a playdate and found myself working anyway as they REALLY didn’t want me around anymore, this does work. I just need to pop in to check if they need food and drink mid-morning and afternoon, and make them lunch.
“However, I do find this is harder on my energy as I don’t then get a proper lunch break myself as they are around. If my husband is also working from home we will split lunch between us. In my “off” time I’ll hide in my bedroom watching trashy TV on my phone!
“I love being able to work from home. In term time I can pretty much get away without my son really noticing I work (just about…) by adding in after-school clubs and grandparents doing one pick-up a week. But it is intense. I can drive to the school pick-up and feel “zoned out” because I’ve not switched off from work, especially as I don’t take any breaks mostly during the day to get the hours in.”
– Emily, Happity’s Co-Founder
6. Inspiring Co-Working Spaces
“I love the flexibility of hybrid working, but I still like to work outside of my home. Having a four-year-old, there are often toys galore and a million little things that need doing in the house. So I work from a co-working space just down the road from my house. I’m close to school for easy pick-up and also get the experience of an office environment where I get to chat to people running lots of different businesses.
“At Happity we can chat by message or jump on a call whenever we need to bounce ideas or work through tasks, which I love!”
– Lucy Hall, Happity’s Sales and Partnerships Manager
7. No Long Commutes
“My name is Alex and I am Happity’s Customer Support Manager, mummy to a beautiful four-year-old daughter. I am what some describe as an introverted extrovert. As an ADHD individual my passions and hobbies often vary and can be fleeting! I have a huge passion for rock music and live music in general.
“I have been working remotely since I started here at Happity, over three years ago now! As a parent, remote working is a blessing and really helps me to juggle work and family life. I previously worked in central London where I had to get two trains to work every day. I didn’t quite realise the time and the toll the daily travelling was having on me until I stopped.
“While there are so many positives to remote working, there are times when I miss the in-person interaction with my colleagues, especially because they are all so lovely! There are also some occasions where working from home can affect my productivity, especially as I have ADHD. On those occasions, I will go and work from my local library for a while for the change in scenery. I do on occasion also go and use the hot desk space we have for creative strategy sessions with colleagues. The creativity really flows and bounces better in person. Overall, remote working has been very beneficial, especially as a mum. Not spending a fortune on trains is a plus!”
– Alex, Happity’s Customer Support Expert
8. Meet-Ups Are A Treat
“It’s great to have the flexibility to choose what hours to work so it fits around family life. I do two solid days and then use evenings/weekends to fit in my remaining few hours on a week-by-week basis. One thing I had to get my head around when I started was people having hours that don’t line up. So if someone is off on a day I’m working, I need to make sure I’m planning around that to get things done if I need their input. It is a bit of an adjustment for everyone working full-time in a business. It feels as though it works much better if everyone does have flexible/part-time hours because there’s less of a disconnect between someone working part-time and others who are full-time. Then everyone understands there are going to be gaps and that people might not be around.
“Time goes so quickly so I’m massively grateful to be at home with my husband and two boys. I feel as though I’m not ‘missing out’ on anything but also able to do high-level more strategic work.
“Not so much at Happity but at my last company it was hard to join a business remotely. I was managing a team of people so getting to know them, how they work, what support they needed etc. without seeing them in person was much more difficult and slower.
“I do miss having regular human contact with people. It is much trickier to make more personal connections and relationships with others as well as encourage innovation and more abstract strategic discussions. Not seeing people also makes it harder to understand their moods. You don’t always know when people need extra support and you inevitably lose a bit of empathy.
“I find having less disconnect between work and home life tricky and I don’t like not leaving the house! I have to make sure there are ways of switching between both. Going for walks in the morning/evening, having two separate profiles on my laptop etc all help. I look forward to the days when I get to meet up with people to work. It feels like a bit of a treat now!”
– Sally, Happity’s Product Manager
9. Pick-Up From School
“Flexible working is great for doing pick-up and drop-off at school – something I would have struggled with massively in previous jobs. I can also spread the hours out over more days and evenings if needed. That’s a huge benefit of remote and flexible working.
“Otherwise it can definitely feel intense to try and fit everything into school hours or during after-school clubs. The question of downtime during a ‘condensed’ day is a really interesting point.
“I agree it can feel like a ‘treat’ to meet up with colleagues in person. Possibly we are more focused because of this, and enjoy our time together socially as well. I’m looking forward to going into the office space soon and doing a bit of hybrid working once a month.”
– Liz, Happity’s Marketing Assistant
10. Inspiration
“Covid started just as I was about to go back to work after Lucy (my first), so WFH (working from home) has been the norm for me since having kids. I honestly don’t know how parents did it before!
“100% I agree you can’t work and look after small children at the same time. You need childcare even if you work from home all the time.
“My parents have Ollie two days a week while I work from their home office. This is so lovely because I get to see him at lunchtime and can hear him happily playing all day downstairs.
“Rather than work every day but finish at school pick-up, I decided to do four full days (9-5) and have one day completely off to be with the kids. This works for our family because my eldest enjoys after-school clubs. We have a lot of grandparent support to do pick-ups on other days too. There is no perfect balance between the need to pay the bills and the need to have a quality family life. You have to decide which trade-offs are right for you.
“On the flip side, I do think WFH all the time can be quite lonely. It’s also intense because there are no distractions – sometimes at the end of the day my head is spinning. Now Happity has an office I’ve really enjoyed going to. We’re a friendly bunch here but it’s still completely different chatting with someone in person than at the beginning of a call. And much more productive in some ways. I might tick fewer things off my list on an office day, but find out something in passing that helps me massively.”
– Lisa, Happity’s Marketing Manager
Want to get out and about, have fun with your baby or toddler, and meet other parents?
Search Happity to find everything that’s happening for the under-5’s in your local area – from music and singing classes, to messy play, arts and crafts, baby massage, gymnastics and more. Simply enter your postcode and child’s age to search, and then book your spot in a few taps. Enjoy dedicated fun time with your little one, watch their skills develop, and make friends at the same time. Mums, dads, grandparents and carers will all find something to love!
You might also like:
Exclusive Deals for Parents & Families!
What Is Flexible Working And How Can It Benefit Parents?
Dozing At The Desk? How To Return To Work After Maternity Leave
0 Comments