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Regular work+family updates for
HR and diversity professionals.
My grandfather used to be the UK's biggest slipper manufacturer. It was great until central heating came in. If only he had sold up a few years' earlier.
It's all about timing
Like a lot of life, it's all about timing. I had the same thought as I was trying to make the most of my Queen's club membership. I've been popping in and out for much of the last week (it's next door to the office after all). The only day I couldn't go was Friday. I had 4 days of rain and missed the only sun all week. Timing - mine sucks!
On the other hand Andy Murray's timing is pretty good. And I'm not talking about his forehand. He might not be a bundle of laughs but he's picked about the best time in history to be a great tennis player. The previous Brit to win a major, Fred Perry - actually a great uncle once removed just so you know - wasn't quite so lucky.
Our own childcare business timing
My Family Care's story is packed full of lucky breaks and bad timing. Our original idea was to revolutionise the world of nanny agencies. Perhaps not the biggest idea ever - remember we're talking about the year 2000, when tech was just getting hot - but an idea all the same.
Childcare was about the most traditional form of recruitment and it needed modernising and brining online. Tinies is now a decent business (50 settings across the UK and some decent prospects), but still the timing was awful.
We were 4 years too early. It wasn't until 2005, when we had established a nationwide network of agencies that online happened properly in childcare.
The people behind business such as Childcare.co.uk, Care.com and Sittercity.com are the ones with the smiles all over their faces...
Timing is pretty important for HR teams as well
An HR team that genuinely leads the agenda will win all kinds of internal and external plaudits. Similarly we cried with frustration at some of those early diversity initiatives that were always destined for the intellectual scrap-heap along with their authors.
Working carers - the time is now
But here's an idea whose time has come - eldercare. The stats are terrifying. 1 in 7 of your employees will already be carers.
By 2025 it will be 1 in 5!
Working carers don't need much but a bit of cultural empathy and some sensible signposting can and does make all the difference.
Now is absolutely the time for HR teams to embrace their working carers. You cannot leave it too late... How am I so sure? I'm always sure even if history would suggest I shouldn't be!
Ben Black
