My Rawnet career: working dad edition

Becoming a Father: Unexpected Challenges and Joys.

From my teens, I always wanted to be a dad but I was blissfully unaware of how tough becoming a father would be and actually how much it would change my personal and working life.

When did you join Rawnet?

I joined Rawnet as an Account Manager in September 2020. Being fairly local to the office, I’d always known of Rawnet and the work they did for their clients - I even occasionally competed against them in pitches, so when I landed the job with them, I was extremely excited to join the team. 

What is your job role? 

My role is to be our ‘partners/client champion’- to be their voice in the agency. This involves ensuring they are happy with the work we are doing but also helping them to see growth wherever possible, this could be discussing new current activities/projects that would help meet their objective or to be a consultant/sounding board throughout the year. Of course, my role is to grow clients, but I’ve always thought the best way to do this is not to be the salesman, but to understand their business, and the challenges they face and to work with them. Hopefully, my clients/partners feel this is something I do well for them. 

Would you say you have a good work-life balance?

Yes! Rawnet has always emphasised the importance of having a good work-life balance and made it clear that should family take over at a moment's notice I have the flexibility to change my hours, this is something I have always valued, especially since my little boy, Harrison joined the world in December 2021. 

It is clear that every member of the team here at Rawnet works incredibly hard to deliver the best results for our clients but are also able to disconnect from their work and focus on other important parts of life. 

How did Rawnet support you when your son was born? 

Rawnet were amazing, going above and beyond, both in the run-up to his birth and upon his arrival. Naturally, I took the normal 2 weeks of paternity leave, but then I was encouraged to extend my paternity leave using the remainder of my holiday (anyone who’s previously worked with me will know how I am terrible at spacing out holidays through the year) which actually allowed me to have the entire month off and support my wife. This was not only an amazing offer by Rawnet but, as it turns out, a lifesaver as my son can only be described as being allergic to sleep or potentially protecting us from the sleep monster for the whole month of December and beyond. The wider team even chipped in to buy my son a personalised blanket. 

What does your average day look like? 

Morning 

Typically I start the day by waking up to a symphony of crying over the baby monitor which cues breakfast and a morning storytime. Once Harrison has settled I will spend some time with my wife before gradually handing over my son so I can get my work day going. Between work meetings and calls with clients, I will get some friendly visits from Harrison and help my wife where I can.  

Afternoon

Lunchtimes have become one of my favourite parts of the day as I get to spend some quality time with my son and wife together-  I’ll come downstairs to a particularly excited Harrison who will want to play some games before we have lunch together as a little family. After lunch, I will get back to work until around 6pm when my work day typically finishes. 

Evening

In the evenings I’ll look to spend some more time with my wife and son, playing with his toys and reading books before dinner. After Harrison has a bath, either me or my wife will put him to bed and then finish the evening catching up on some telly before winding down ourselves. 

Do you recommend working at Rawnet?

Yes! The support that Rawnet has provided in reinforcing the work/life balance has left me, more sure that this agency is the right place for me, and I can wholeheartedly say that I’d recommend Rawnet as an agency both as a place to work and as an agency to work with. This work-life balance goes beyond the internal staff to our clients, as we’ll always consider the work-life balance of our clients throughout the process. What’s more, on a personal aspect for me, Rawnet has allowed me to continue with compressed hours, so from November, I’ll be doing 10 days of work a fortnight of hours over 9 days, giving me the opportunity of having a Monday every other week with my son, how fantastic is that?

What advice would you give to other working dads? 

• Realise that any and all time you have with your child is an amazing opportunity. If your child doesn’t like sleep (like mine), having a few extra hours in the morning to play, read and feed them is irreplaceable. Those ad-hoc visits when working from home are also special, work can wait (in most cases) 5 minutes. 
• Do the nappies, clothes changes and bathtimes, your partner needs time off and you need to bond with your child. Their smile when seeing you is 100% worth it.
• Taking some time for yourself is also vital, your health and well-being is important to be a good parent. 
• Finding your balance as a working parent is not something that happens in an instant, it takes time and you shouldn’t try to rush it. 
• Come join us at Rawnet, the balance in work life, social life and home life is fantastic, everyone supports and pushes each other to be better in all aspects of life.