Mums in Tech - feat. Lauren Beer
As part of our ‘Mums in Tech’ series, we caught up with Lauren Beer, Chief Delivery Officer at GENE Commerce.
The purpose of our 'MotherBoard’ content series is to highlight incredible working mums within tech & data, as well as individuals and businesses that are supportive and progressive within their approach to creating more inclusive tech & data teams for women.
Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?
I’m Lauren and I am CDO at GENE, an e-commerce agency based in Brighton, on the south coast of England. We employ over 40 diverse and talented people across the UK and beyond. My accountability and focus are on ensuring we deliver high-quality work as smoothly as we possibly can, to meet and exceed client expectations. A real focus of mine is ensuring our teams communicate and collaborate effectively. We foster an environment where relationships are built on trust and respect across the board. This is crucial not only to the happiness of the team, but to the quality of their work, and therefore the success of the business.
I am 42, and have two girls aged 11 and 9; we live in North Norfolk with my husband and our cat. My career started in the Radio Industry over 20 years ago, managing live events, before moving into the tech industry. Since then I have worked in a wide range of roles within digital and creative agencies for over 15 years; from startups to multinational corporations and from Project Management level to Consultancy and Leadership Team roles.
If you could sum up what it’s like being a working mum in tech in one sentence, what would it be?
Wonderfully chaotic, exhausting and rewarding.
“Being a mum in tech is wonderfully chaotic, exhausting and rewarding.”
How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?
I don’t think the balance is something that you ‘find’, it’s something that you have to consciously and continuously make happen. It’s a constant struggle. I am lucky enough to work for a great company, where we have a culture of valuing people and respecting them to work hard in the way that suits them best. If this means working at home, in the office, or a cafe, and having flexibility around school runs or other responsibilities as a carer, we trust people to do that and communicate it to their colleagues.
However, juggling those priorities is hard and can change day to day - things come up in both work and home life where you need to make a call on priorities. Having flexible working is a great thing, but it does mean an extra layer of responsibility to communicate effectively around your availability, to be efficient with the time you have with other colleagues, and also to ensure you switch off when you need to.
“I don’t think the balance is something that you ‘find’, it’s something that you have to consciously and continuously make happen. It’s a constant struggle. ”
What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?
Building resilience to stand up for flexible working, even when you feel like you stand out from everyone else.
When I was pregnant with my first child I decided to set up a Limited company and work as a freelancer. This was the only feasible option financially at the time, as my partner was setting up a new business and my employer offered no enhancement on statutory maternity pay. It was a huge leap of faith as it meant a very uncertain future, but it did mean I could take 6 precious months off to be with my baby. I knew I had to go back to work earlier than I would have liked, but it made me determined to ensure that any work I did was flexible around what we needed, whether it be less than full time days, or flexible hours so that I could be home for bedtime. This was at a time when people rarely worked from home; everyone was in the office. Knowing I needed to be there for my baby gave me the confidence to lay out my requirements from day 1; I always raised it at the interview stage and was clear that I would need to fit my work around being a mother, but that I would absolutely give it my all whilst I was there. This frank conversation, sometimes with HR personnel and sometimes with Heads of Departments or CEOs, often went down well, and I got a decent amount of buy-in, which allowed me to accept roles in some fantastic Global agencies and work on some fantastic clients.
However, I was all too aware that I was seen by co-workers to be ‘leaving early’, or ‘working part-time’ when I wasn’t working 12hour days in the office like many others, despite often logging on again after bedtime and working late into the night. It took a hell of a lot of resilience to overcome that and believe that I was doing as good a job as others were; it just looked different because I had stricter boundaries. The struggle that all working mothers face is complex and very real. The guilt that you’re not being the best parent or the best employee is something women feel all over the world; the push and pull between wanting to be with your baby 24/7, but also wanting to retain your identity as an individual and prove to yourself that you still add value in a career you care about. It is possible to do both, and be great at both. But it takes respect and understanding on both sides. Feeling like your employer is ‘doing you a favour’ is a degrading place to be, and this is often compounded by the perception of those looking in on a situation without knowing the full story.
What skills have you developed as a mother that have helped your work life?
So many! Patience, negotiation, time management, picking your battles, being more empathetic… I could go on!
But also realising that what you think you are saying is not always what people hear; you have to work hard to communicate effectively with people.
When you were returning to work, what one thing helped you / would have helped you the most?
Any sort of support or help would have made a huge difference. I was freelancing, so was used to being thrown in at the deep end, and didn’t expect that to be any different after being on maternity leave, but I’m not sure that would have been any different if I was a permanent member of staff. I’m just not sure that it’s been commonplace to think of putting this sort of support in place. I look back on that time and remember feelings of deep overwhelm, inferiority and anxiety, and really hope that we can make positive changes to normalise supporting all mothers returning to work.
“When we can stop looking at excellent maternity support as a bonus or a ‘nice to have’, we begin to contribute to the momentum of change. I am personally committed to playing my part within and amongst the competing forces of my life, and I encourage others to do the same. ”
What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to support working mothers better?
Make sure you are putting measures in place to make your working mothers feel ‘seen’ has to be a top priority. This can be accommodating their flexible working schedule, or understanding when they have to make last minute changes due to illness, having a plan to follow for leaving or returning to work, or just asking them how they are getting on with the juggle of work and motherhood.
Even for the most confident and capable woman, it can be a time of uncertainty, which can be deeply unnerving. Every working mother, with no exception, will be managing feelings of insecurity, anxiety, tiredness and overwhelm, as well as a whole host of hormone-related feelings. This is normal, and employers have to recognise it as normal and make space for it. It’s about employers seeing the value in an employee, long term, and investing in them. I strongly believe that giving a mother support through maternity is not just about being a sensitive, progressive and thoughtful employer; it also makes commercial sense. Employers are likely to get a committed and dedicated employee in return for their support. And loyalty is a powerful and invaluable force in business. One, I know, many business leaders cherish above all others. If we can make flexible working a normal and accepted part of our industry, businesses will thrive, as will our employees.
Any final words of advice for other mothers in the Tech Industry?
Firstly, don’t get caught up in the narrative that you should be striving to have ‘everything’ if you interpret this as being the ‘best’ of everything, as determined by what you see on social media.
Try to focus more on being happy and fulfilled in both your role as a Mother and as an employee/employer. It’s a huge amount of responsibility to juggle paid work with motherhood, and it’s easy to look at others and think they have it nailed, whilst you are struggling. Know that everyone struggles. Everyone has good days and bad days. Your ‘everything’ does not need to be a LinkedIn post about huge successes and constant career progression. It can be doing your best whilst you’re at work, and still being there for school pick up and cuddles at bedtime.
And secondly, believe in yourself and fight your corner.
Before having kids, I wanted to do a Master’s Degree, full-time, alongside my full-time job. I knew I could do both and asked my employer for flexible working to accommodate my study time. The initial response was ‘no’. I persevered and eventually, they agreed; four days condensed into 3, which, in those days, meant being in the office 7am - 7pm. There weren’t many working parents in that small business - just the CEO and one other guy. This ‘other guy’ supported me, saying ‘If anyone can do it, you can’, which not only helped me get it approved but crucially, gave me the confidence to go about my new flexible agreement very comfortably.
I often wonder; if I had been asking for flexible working to look after my baby at that time, more than 10 years ago, would they have been so accommodating? I don’t know the answer, but what I do know are two things:
It showed me, pre-kids, that I could juggle a load of hard work across two very different sets of needs; and not drop any balls (I walked away from my Master’s a year later with a Distinction and didn’t miss a beat on my paid job), which meant, when I did have my own children, I had the confidence to ask for flexible working, even as a contractor in the tech industry. I have had great experiences with being allowed flexible working conditions, but I have always had to fight for them and be super clear on what I need to make sure I can juggle being a full time mum with my career.
As a working mum, I definitely did not have the same carefree, guilt-free and happy-go-lucky feeling that I had when I was allowed to juggle extra study with my job. In fact, I often felt that my flexible working agreement was detrimental to how people perceived me - my capability and my commitment. As such, especially during those early months of returning to work after both babies, I would often be caught between guilt at not being there for my baby, and guilt at not being able to ‘work late’ or jump in to join the pitch team for a last minute all night pitch.
When we can stop looking at excellent maternity support as a bonus or a ‘nice to have’, we begin to contribute to the momentum of change. I am personally committed to playing my part within and amongst the competing forces of my life, and I encourage others to do the same.
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