In the final episode of the season, Ben and Mandy are joined by Jules Hawkins, founder of the Single Mums Business Network to discuss setting up a business as a single parent. Jules tells Ben and Mandy about becoming a single mum at 35 and the stigma she faced at work, which led her to set up the Business Network to help support other single mums going through the same thing. Jules unpacks the way single mums are treated at work and the lack of government support for single parents, delving into how she manages childcare, to how important flexible working is considering single parents are no ..read more

This week is National Older Workers week, so Ben and Mandy start the fifth episode of Mums.Dads.Work discussing how employers can pay better attention to the age diversity of their employees and support them in every stage of life.  They are then joined by midlife career transition specialist and author of Dancing with fear and confidence: How to liberate yourself and your career in mid-life, Laura Walker, who explains how to approach a career change in mid life. People often don’t know where they want to go, and managers don’t know how to help people, so Laura explains why some people m ..read more

Ben and Mandy kick off the fourth episode of Mums.Dads.Work by talking about the four day work week. Scottish authorities recently tested out a four day working week in response to employees’ burnout and worker shortages, so they discuss how realistic it is we might see a four day work week in future and how the structure of the working week might change in coming generations. They are then joined by Karen Holden, managing director at A City Law Firm, to discuss employment rights when it comes to flexible working. Karen explains how employees can approach flexible working requests, particular ..read more

In light of Pregnant Then Screwed's stunts at the Labour Party conference earlier this month, Ben and Mandy start their third episode of the season discussing paternity leave. They talk about whether the Labour Party will make paternity leave more accessible for working parents and how companies can enhance their own paternity leave policies in a way that benefits its employers. They are then joined by Liz Sebag-Montefiori, from 10Eighty career advisers to discuss career progression. Liz offers advice on how to stay visible at work as a working parent, as well as how to progress in your caree ..read more

It’s World Mental Health Day 2023 this week, so Ben and Mandy start the episode off discussing parents’ mental health, particularly how it can be impacted by their kids’ wellbeing. They are then joined by Tabytha Cunningham and Charlotte Farell to discuss flexible working. Tabytha and Charlotte do a job share at Paris Smith Solicitors, so they explain what a job share involves, as well as the pros and cons of flexible working. They also cover what updates have been made to flexible working legislation in 2023 and changes to expect, advising on how to submit a flexible working request. To end ..read more

Welcome back to season two of the WM People podcast - now called Mums Dads Work! Over the next six weeks Ben and Mandy will be joined by experts on the topic that week to offer quality advice on everything that impacts working parents, from negotiate flexible working to changing careers.  This week, they’re joined by The CV Guru Emma Alkirwi to discuss how to compile a CV. Emma offers tips for writing CVs, from how long they should be, to how to order your previous work experience, as well as how to use the right keywords to navigate ATS.  Emma also covers mistakes people make on ..read more

In this episode of WM People, Ben and Mandy discuss alternative childcare, fake flexibility at work and sleep deprivation. Platforms like Koru Kids might offer flexible childcare options, but how workable are they? Ben and Mandy start the episode discussing the pros and cons of using alternative childcare options, from ensuring they work outside wealthy areas to whether they provide continuity to children and how they’ll adapt to that. They then discuss fake flexibility at work after having children. While there is often the option to reduce the number of working days, the amount of work you ..read more

In this episode of WM People, Mandy and Ben talk about childcare, International Women’s Day and the FDM Everywoman awards. They discuss the significance of childcare in a child’s development and highlight the lack of funding allocated towards it. They look at the reasons why childcare remains a neglected issue and suggest possible ways to improve it. As the world celebrated International Women’s Day 2023, Mandy and Ben reflect on the most pressing gender equality issues it raised. They examine the recent backlash against gender equality and speculate on what its future will be like, as well ..read more

In this episode of the WM People podcast, Ben Falk and Mandy Garner cover the WM Employer Awards, ill health and work and representation of parents on TV. The WM People Employer Awards were last week so Ben and Mandy start the episode discussing what winning employers are doing to improve diversity and inclusion, flexible working and mental health in the workplace.  Ill health plays a big part of people dropping out of work, both physical and mental, so they look at how the knock on effect of the pandemic impacted young people’s mental health and how workplaces can support them.  ..read more

In the first episode of the WM People podcast, Ben Falk (editor of workingdads.co.uk) and Mandy Garner (editor of workingmums.co.uk) discuss what’s been happening with flexible working for parents and childcare in the last two weeks. Ben and Mandy start by discussing how access to childcare impacts working parents and the kind of work they're able to do, as well as how the demand for childcare has changed since the pandemic and during the cost of living crisis. They then move on to overworking and changes to the working week structure. Some industries are better at accommodating part time w ..read more