Crisis situation
My father died suddenly in hospital while waiting for routine tests in 2018. He was my mother’s main carer – she was waiting for a hip replacement and couldn’t walk more than 4 or 5 metres at the time. Sitting was painful, driving was painful, and she physically couldn’t stand long enough to cook. She needed a lot of support in day not day life, on top of the sudden grieving we as a whole family were suffering.
Work was amazing. I was given 2 weeks of bereavement leave, followed by 2 weeks of carers leave, fully paid. They had no time to plan for work reallocation but ensured that all the lead stakeholders for projects I was on were informed that I had a family crisis. They paused what they could, and distributed what they couldn’t to keep it “ticking over”.
I was never contacted about work the whole month I was off. I was contacted to check in on me, and make sure I was managing okay – and when doing this they sought permission and asked how I’d like to have this interaction.
When I returned to work, I was offered phased in days (which I didn’t take – I just wanted to get started), counselling and increased work at home days (this was before covid made remote working more normalised). I’d also missed a promotion opportunity which they knew I might have been interested in, and this was held open an extra week to give me the opportunity to apply if I wanted.
I can honestly say that if I had not had these accommodations – specifically the leave – I would not be working for my organisation now. While the other aspects of support were wonderful for supporting me and making me aware I was valued, the practical element of being able to do what I needed to do with regards to helping my mother, without juggling all the other balls that work would have required, was the absolute necessity. My company didn’t make me choose between my mother and them.