Co-op boss Jo Whitfield takes break to help teenage sons with exams

00100001 · 10/02/2022 13:08

Why do they need her help with studying for exams? Surely they're at School/College most of the time?

What is she doing to 'help them study'?

Waxonwaxoff0 · 10/02/2022 13:09

If I earned that sort of money I could do that too. I wonder if her employees on minimum wage can afford 4 months unpaid leave. I certainly couldn't.

titchy · 10/02/2022 13:10

Why isn't their father taking four months off to get them out of bedsupport them?

CorrBlimeyGG · 10/02/2022 13:12

Privilege. How many shop workers can afford to take off four months unpaid?

TheHoptimist · 10/02/2022 13:14

4 months off from may
Sounds more like wanting a long July/august holiday to me!

Original poster

olderthanilookapparently · 10/02/2022 13:14

I agree most of us are not in a position to do that - but maybe by making a stand like this it may make employers think that a flexible short term working request to help your child through an exam period for example starting later so they didn't have to catch a bus early in the morning before an exam for a few months would be reasonable

Or taking time off to settle a small child into a new childcare setting etc. We are all entitled to parental leave but not sure parents or employers see how well we could use it with some flexibility I think this is an extreme example but you need extremes sometimes to show the small changes are acceptable too

OP posts:

Ted27 · 10/02/2022 13:19

@titchy

I assume the family have had a discussion and concluded this is right for them
@00100001 we don’t know anything about her family or children

My son has additional needs - I stayed working part time 3 days a week so I could be provide him with support

EmmaH2022 · 10/02/2022 13:22

Obviously things will have changed massively

But when I was doing A levels, I barely had time to wave hello at my folks

They were working, had volunteer stuff, I had my studies (slightly more as I was meant to be an Oxbridge candidate, lol) and activities and a boyfriend.

If either had been home more, I would hardly have noticed! A lot of interaction was "who is cooking for whom" and who has time to go by the corner shop for milk and who can do an extra laundry load etc.

at 18, most of my friends had to fit all that round Saturday jobs but that seems much less of a thing now.

I'm knackered thinking about it. 😂 Often I'd be up past midnight with coursework.

Maybe it's just she wants time out, which is fair enough, but only senior folk get that usually.

titchy · 10/02/2022 13:24

[quote Ted27]@titchy

I assume the family have had a discussion and concluded this is right for them
@00100001 we don’t know anything about her family or children

My son has additional needs - I stayed working part time 3 days a week so I could be provide him with support[/quote]
Understood.

My point was that it's the mother taking the time off and as such this is NOT a story of 'How marvellous a Senior Exec taking time off for the family', whatever the press try to dress it up as. It's merely a story that highlights the options available to rich families.

Puddington · 10/02/2022 13:26

@olderthanilookapparently

I agree most of us are not in a position to do that - but maybe by making a stand like this it may make employers think that a flexible short term working request to help your child through an exam period for example starting later so they didn't have to catch a bus early in the morning before an exam for a few months would be reasonable

Or taking time off to settle a small child into a new childcare setting etc. We are all entitled to parental leave but not sure parents or employers see how well we could use it with some flexibility I think this is an extreme example but you need extremes sometimes to show the small changes are acceptable too

Technically SHE is the employer of this company, it would have been a much better stand for her to have made if she announced more flexible working for her employees or increased wages, rather than her taking a long break made possible by the considerable financial cushion her employees simply don't have. I don't think this is a feel-good story at all tbh.

ZenNudist · 10/02/2022 13:27

I would say this is an excuse. I don't think thud is the real story. She can easily afford to pay for help on this. Does her husband have the "bigger" job that they can't flex this support between them.

"Spending more time with his/her family" is usually code for "needs a break or will have a breakdown"

FazedNotPhased · 10/02/2022 13:35

I'd be more thrilled if her husband was the one doing this, or if I remotely understood why two (and this is an assumption on my part so apologies if it turns out not to be the case) independent teenagers need nannying for 4 months.

Nomoreusernames1244 · 10/02/2022 13:45

I think this is a really positive message - its only by people who make decisions like this that pave the way for other people to ask for flexible working in my opinion

I disagree. Women working part time or flexibly around children is nothing new and normal.

What we need is for men to start asking for flexible hours and for it to become the norm for work and home to be properly shared. My dh has asked for flexible working several times in different jobs. He’s always asked why, and when he says to work around the kids, the response is always “can’t your wife do that?”. Yet I put a request in and nobody asks why my husband can’t pick the kids up from school.

Employers need to realise we’ve moved on from men work, women sahm. Only then will the gender pay gap start to close.

In an internal interview last week I pointed out that I could add diversity to the team all of whom are men at the moment

What will your diversity bring to the job? If it’s just “diversity” that smacks a bit of you should employ me because I’m female. If it’s because you can bring x, y, or z perspective that makes you a good fit then that’s a fair point.

Cocomarine · 10/02/2022 13:57

The mother interrupting their work to prioritise family…
I’d see it as a positive message if it was the father 🤷🏻‍♀️
Otherwise, same old same old.
Although obviously I can’t say on an individual level that their father isn’t great and this isn’t the right decision for them.

Like a PP, I’m suspicious that May-Aug is exam time for anyone 🤣

Sounds like a wealthy employer taking a sabbatical with the purpose of being around during the most stressful months (lovely) and having a super family holiday time for 2 months after. Again - lovely. But it’s not really the flexible working women who don’t earn £1.4m need. I work in a company not dissimilar. Whilst it would be very unusual for her level to take a fun sabbatical, one level down (still very senior, let’s say one below board) it’s not that unusual. Men and women. What matters here, is how flexible Co-op are with checkout staff and warehouse staff.

TrufflesAndToast · 10/02/2022 14:02

@FazedNotPhased

I'd be more thrilled if her husband was the one doing this, or if I remotely understood why two (and this is an assumption on my part so apologies if it turns out not to be the case) independent teenagers need nannying for 4 months.

I agree I’d far rather see it from a man.

However, being present for your teenagers, around when they need a sounding board, cooking them healthy hearty meals to support their hard work - I think that would be lovely for all.

Original poster

olderthanilookapparently · 10/02/2022 14:10

A quick Google looks like they are trying with a flexible policy colleagues.coop.co.uk/flexible-working-policy

OP posts:

Cocomarine · 10/02/2022 14:17

[quote olderthanilookapparently]A quick Google looks like they are trying with a flexible policy colleagues.coop.co.uk/flexible-working-policy[/quote]
Anybody can write a policy though.

My company has a great sounding one.

Reality… well, we have two extremely senior women in a job share. Fantastic.
I’ve also seen a very senior man take 4 months sabbatical and when he came back, actively championed mental health support and shared at all levels that his sabbatical came about because he was crying every morning. (there was sick leave too). Inspirational.
But then there’s the line manager who refused a returning mother 4 days compressed full time, which she hoped would take the edge off childcare costs. Why? Because everyone in the department works late, how can I have you and them finishing at 7pm, yet you get to have every Friday off? (that line manager had a SAHW incidentally, what with being paid more, he could afford that…)

So I’ll take a policy with a pinch of salt unless I know that it really is the culture in an organisation.

mumda · 10/02/2022 14:17

Because it's impossible to be a working parent and look after your children well?

Bit of a slap for everyone else who manages it. Or feels guilty about it.

Ted27 · 10/02/2022 14:19

A quick google reveals an interview where she states she shared childcare for the first 6 years with her husband and as her career progressed and they role reversed he took on the main childcare

they have made a decision for their family, I don't understand the hostility

AlpineSue · 10/02/2022 14:20

Surely the difficulty is that these enormous salaries are often justified by the fact that they reward those who are at the very top of their game, in specialised or difficult jobs, and that top level executives are in high demand. If you can just swan off for 4 months and no-one notices then maybe your aren’t quite worth the £1.2M? It’s not quite the same as a two week holiday.

Cocomarine · 10/02/2022 14:23

@AlpineSue

Surely the difficulty is that these enormous salaries are often justified by the fact that they reward those who are at the very top of their game, in specialised or difficult jobs, and that top level executives are in high demand. If you can just swan off for 4 months and no-one notices then maybe your aren’t quite worth the £1.2M? It’s not quite the same as a two week holiday.

If you were gone 4 months of every 6, sure. My CEO is amazing. He’s a true leader and really has set the culture of the company. He’s done that over many years - and it won’t disappear if he takes 4 months off.

EmmaH2022 · 10/02/2022 14:29

@ZenNudist

I would say this is an excuse. I don't think thud is the real story. She can easily afford to pay for help on this. Does her husband have the "bigger" job that they can't flex this support between them.

"Spending more time with his/her family" is usually code for "needs a break or will have a breakdown"

Also true in my work. Hope that's not the case.

EmpressCixi · 10/02/2022 14:31

@olderthanilookapparently

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60328314

I think this is a really positive message - its only by people who make decisions like this that pave the way for other people to ask for flexible working in my opinion

In an internal interview last week I pointed out that I could add diversity to the team all of whom are men at the moment. I probably didn't do my self any favours with the 2 men interviewing me however I felt like I had to 'stick up' for working women and I am glad I did

While it is a positive message, it’s not paving the way for flexible working for the regular working mother or father. It’s more an advertisement as to just how much a CEO or other C-exec gets as a perk or privilege for being at the top. Used to be long boozy lunches at a elite London gentlemen only club- now it’s oh loook I can bring my baby to work with me and breastfeed while holding executive staff met tings. Oh, look at me, I can work remotely while taking my three darlings away for three months every summer to France. And of course, look at me working from home and “helping” my teens with their exams (pretending for a day to be one of their many expensive private tutors).

SpaghettiArmsMurderer · 10/02/2022 14:36

I think it’s good - it sets the tone from the top of the organisation that employees should feel comfortable using the parental leave and flexible working that they are legally entitled to. And provides a nice counterpoint to the annual leave martyrs thread of people being too busy to take leave!

notacooldad · 10/02/2022 14:39

The thing that is being pushed on this thread is ‘why not dad taking time off?’ As others have said we don’t know the dynamics of the family.
Mine would have clashed like hell with DH if he took time off when mine were in their teens and it would have been counterproductive and I would have had better results with them.
However I don’t blame her taking the time if she can and I hope more families will be able to do the same to suit their work - life balance.