Returning to HPE as a new parent

[Zerrin_Waller]

I’ve worked at HPE for nearly 10 years, starting as a technical graduate and working my way to lead a team of Presales Consultants. Just over two years ago, I found out I was expecting – a truly exciting time, but as many first time parents will know, also a time filled with worries and doubt too. Being particularly career minded, I could not think of a life without work (even for the short term) but balanced with this, I wanted to ensure I cherished the time with my newborn, and taking a year out of the business was the best thing for us. I was lucky to have a handful of role models in the business that encouraged me to disconnect from work during this time, and constantly reminded that the first year would go so quickly (which it did!). I was lucky to have been part of the process to select the person to cover whilst I was off, who did a great job in my absence.

HPE now has an extended period of parental leave, which is a really differentiating initiative. It really made me feel that my employer had my best interests at heart in encouraging an extended break, and gave me confidence in taking the time out. At the time of announcing this, we also announced Wellness Fridays - a designated Friday once a month to finish three hours early to focus on our wellbeing; along with retirement transition support, and initiatives related to new career opportunities and part time working following the birth or adoption of a child.

During my year of maternity leave, I took a handful of ‘Keeping in Touch’ days, which is a UK, company- wide initiative to work up to 10 days during this period. It allowed me to get used to changes that had taken place, and even be part of several strategic planning sessions for Presales. I’d heard of women struggling to return to work after an extended break, but these type of sessions really built my confidence and ensure I was ‘in the loop’ before my formal return.

My return to work was different to what I’d envisaged – logging into my laptop from my spare bedroom, with a one year old child on my lap. Like many, I have not seen any colleagues during this time; the last time being June 2019 when I stopped travelling to the office. I was making new introductions to partners, team members and even my manager via Zoom, whilst literally chasing my son around the house!

There are a few things I’m grateful for. Prior to the pandemic, I’d regularly spend around 5 hours a day travelling into our office or on the road, and a fast paced lifestyle that made it hard to prioritize time for my physical and mental health. I was anxious about how I’d balance being as effective at work whilst travelling, whilst potentially missing out on the small things I loved at home, such as bathing and putting my child to bed.

10 months into my return, I feel I’m back and giving 110%, and excited to be part of our transformation as a business. During this transition, I feel really lucky to have the support of my peers and team members during this transition time, and their patience, as I got up to speed and started to make an impact in my role again. Like many, I cannot wait to be back in the office and spending time with people again. I also trialed part time working, which I’m happy to say has now be made permanent, and can hopefully demonstrate to others in my position that it’s entirely possible to juggle work life and a young child.

During the time that I was away from work, I’ve seen a few changes in our go to market, but also how we work. From a business perspective, the importance of how we sell outcomes and solutions is accelerating every day, and we’re seeing shifts in our structure and team member skillset to enable us to focus on these type of conversations. Our go to market has also been enhanced to focus around key areas our customers need to invest, such as ‘reinventing the way they work’ with end user compute, or developing ‘a cloud that comes to you’. We know we have industry leading infrastructure, but HPE solutions that wrap together all components as a service, with the relevant services and support to make our customers’ investment a success. From a cultural perspective, I’ve really seen a shift in the work life balance offered to team members, and flexibility to manage workload around the rest of the priorities we have. It’s been accelerated by the pandemic, but has changed the way we work, and has brought in a new ‘Edge-to-Office initiative’. Our office spaces are being transformed into collaborative spaces, and a large number of us are now ‘edge’ workers, operating out of the home, customer sites and coffee shops – with enablement and financial support to support this transition.

I’d love to hear from those who’ve experienced a similar transition, of returning to work as a new parent, or how you and your company have adapted to a new way of working.

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Zerrin Waller
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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