Better Balance, Better Business - Building A Supportive Team
Committed employees who believe in the mission and values of your business are vital to success. Many business owners we spoke to said it was also important that their employees understood the owner’s need to attend to their own family commitments. At these times, employees need to be able to motivate themselves and make their own decisions.
CASE STUDY: Mum power!
After the birth of her first child, Dainy Sawatzky realised her 24/7 work lifestyle would need to change. Photo: Gabriella Favretto.
After nine years, Dainy Sawatzky’s fashion label, Body, now has three retail outlets and is stocked throughout Australia and overseas. After working virtually 24/7 as designer and manager, Dainy had a baby and found her focus naturally changed. But without the luxury of taking maternity leave, how was she going to enjoy being a mum and keep her business going?
“I tried to train a designer to replicate my style so I could scale down my hours that way,” Dainy says. “I now think I was pretty naïve to think I could just hand over my creative vision for the label.”
Dainy also worried about her staff when she started working less hours. “After the birth, they expected me to carry on exactly as before. Now when I recruit I really appreciate other highly skilled mums who are seeking part time work and who understand my concept of work family balance.”
Dainy is also searching for another mum to become her business partner. By sharing the workload and the decision-making, she hopes to relieve some of the pressure she feels in balancing her professional and personal life.
Today, there are recruitment firms which specialise in helping businesses find skilled, working mums. Recruitment firms to try include: