WHAT IS THE FIVE HOUR CLUB? MEET THE CO-FOUNDER OF A NEW COMMUNITY FOR WORKING PARENTS

Balancing a career with the demands of parenting can feel like an impossible task.

Between high childcare fees, the conflicting demands of drop-offs and collections, and the inevitable months of general illness as young children build their immune systems, doing paid work outside the home is either a real struggle or completely out of reach.

This was certainly the case for Amy Grilli who left paid work as a teacher to raise her two young children, and found herself struggling to rejoin the workforce after a five-year absence.

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Aha moment

As she explains, ‘My ‘aha’ moment came after my eldest son started primary school and I struggled to find purpose in the time between school runs.’

Between looking after a toddler and managing the housework, Amy was trying to figure out a way to kick-start her career again, while still raising two kids, now aged two and five.

After becoming a parent, Amy’s career priorities changed and despite wanting to retrain as a psychologist, the school run limitations meant studying for a full-time doctorate didn’t seem feasible.

When she looked at returning to paid work, she noticed a number of barriers that were shared by parents she was speaking to.

‘Firstly I noticed a lack of available jobs that were advertised as being ‘school-hour’ or even ‘part-time jobs’. Most jobs that offered these hours were often shown unclear, often being advertised as being “full-time, with flexible/part-time options available”.’

Due to a lack of upfront transparency on what flexible working actually means, many parents feel they are already on the back foot.

‘I knew that if I applied, I was likely to be going up against candidates who could offer full-time hours, or if I was given a chance, was afraid to ask for the hours that I would realistically be able to work based on the childcare I had,’ Amy says.

‘Even with the new Flexible Working Bill, I feared that my request would still be overlooked by employers or my application rejected immediately.’

Additionally, the few jobs that were advertised as part-time were usually so low-paid that they wouldn’t cover the nursery costs required to actually do the work.

‘Not only was my confidence knocked by this, but I felt stuck as I couldn’t find a realistic, purposeful way to re-enter the workforce and continue in my career after having children.’

A lack of self worth and identity crisis as a stay-at-home parent ensued, which led Amy to a realisation.

‘It was in my deepest moment of loneliness and fear of being unemployable, that I came up with the idea for the Five Hour Club. With the aim to help parents maintain their career after children and feel successful again in the workplace, by offering five-hour workday jobs to parents that could be achieved between school runs.’

Amy’s plan was to find employers who respected the role of a parent, who celebrated their transferable skills, acknowledged their previous work experience, and would enable them to continue their career, without the pressures of working 9-5.

Alongside co-founder and data analyst Emma Harvey, whom Amy became friends with after NCT, the pair have launched a podcast, online community, and coming soon, a five-hour workday job board.

Companies are willing

Ever since Amy’s post went viral on social media – reaching 14 million impressions in 14 days – she has been inundated by employers across sectors who want to offer five-hour workdays to parents.

‘Employers include everything from accountancy practices to law firms, to advertising agencies and high-street retailers, local councils, and NHS Trusts,’ Amy says. ‘We have employers ready to offer five-hour workdays jobs globally, including the UK, Australia and USA.’

Transferable skills is the name of the game. ‘We are working towards a skills-based approach in our application process,’ says Amy.

‘This is where parents are able to identify their key skills and traits, as opposed to just sharing their timeline of experience, as a way to help those who may have had a significant career pause to raise their children.’

Productivity concerns

Considering that multiple studies have shown that four to five hours is the maximum time that any individual can fully concentrate on a given task, a question mark has lingered over eight-hour workdays for some time.

However, many employers are still hard-pressed to accommodate a four-day workweek – despite its well-documented benefits – nevermind a five-hour workday.

Naturally, the companies contacting Five Hour Club are up for it, and many are already reaping the benefits from hiring parents in their workplace, and want to hire more.

‘They have realised by hiring from this incredibly untapped talent pool of parents, they will not only diversify their team, but are more likely to hire someone who is experienced and productive, because they know parents are incredibly effective at time management and prioritisation, because they have to be.’

Companies who already hire parents and have flexible working report better mental wellbeing of employees, reducing turnover and recruitment costs.

Interestingly, some companies have stated that hiring two workers for a five-hour workday will be more productive than hiring one full-time worker for ten hours a day.

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Trust and clear expectations are key. ‘Our aim is to create transparency, whereby both the employer and parent are clear from the beginning what they have to offer, as a way to create a long-term working relationship,’ says Amy.

For the parent to succeed in their role, the employer must make clear and reasonable expectations regarding the workload.

Additionally, it is important for the worker to be transparent about their demands as a parent about the number of hours they are able to work in order to maximise their productivity when they do.

‘We need to work together to define a new way of working, because working 9-5 doesn’t work for parents.’

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2024-07-04T10:43:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd