Questioned about the female-weighted staff at the become Melbourne office, and whether or not as a manager he was “concerned” about the unintentional lack of men in the office, Mitch got thinking. Here are his thoughts on this mindset.
“Our team in Melbourne is 8 females and myself. This imbalance came up in conversation with some friends and one asked me "aren't you worried about having all those girls in your team? You know, when they get pregnant?". I'd never thought to worry about them getting pregnant but I tried to look at it from his perspective and from a purely business aspect.
I guess his thought process was around them taking time off, losing that experience and IP. But I still don't "worry" about this happening. I have two kids and they mean everything to me so why would I worry about someone experiencing that too? (and I had a much easier ride i.e. I didn't have to grow a human inside of me) I'd be more worried if someone in my team really wanted to have kids and couldn't. If I'm going to worry about females getting pregnant, then should I worry about hiring men in case they break their legs playing rugby?
Strong maternity leave, return to work and flexible leave policies will continue to grow as common denominators with the best companies to work at, who also have the best employees.”