IWD 2021: North East leadership coach Sharon MacArthur on how Covid has changed the landscape of flexible working

For International Women’s Day 2021, Bdaily spoke to women across the North East about adapting to life in the pandemic.

Sharon MacArthur is the founder of RedHandbag, a leadership coaching company for women.

She spoke to Bdaily about how the pandemic has changed the landscape of flexible working and how her business has adapted.

As a woman, how have you personally adapted during the pandemic, and what challenges have you faced?

When Covid hit in January I wasn’t too concerned. I had a full order book and it looked like my business was going to have a great year.

From 23 March when we went into full lockdown one by one my customers got in touch to say they wouldn’t be going ahead. This meant from March until October I had no work.

The nature of my work up until this point had all been face to face, there was no reason for it not to be. So I took this time to explore what online platforms were available so I could carry out all of my work online.

As a menopause educator and a leadership coach I now work this way all of time and couldn’t imagine going back to the class room. My order book is fuller than ever.

How have you and your business supported women during the past year?

While I had a lack of paid work I decided I needed to keep busy. I needed a purpose. I knew I wanted to help other women and men so offered a number of free online coaching sessions to HR Professionals.

Talk Thursdays was born around mid April. It gave me the chance to coach over 30 HR professionals.

During lockdown HR functions were working twice as hard trying to understand the ever changing landscape around furlough and other HR related matters.

It felt good to be useful and help people who are notoriously rubbish at looking after their own mental health, get some support.

What opportunities do you feel that the pandemic has created for women, if any?

Like me lots of women I know have found ways to get creative. Myself and 3 other business women got together during lockdown and created a new networking group called People and Leadership.

We all lost our incomes overnight but knew sitting around wasn’t an option. We all felt a bit lost during lockdown and thought others might feel the same.

We have succeeded in bringing together a community of people who meet every month to support each other, regularly attracting 30-40 people.

I also know the pandemic has allowed many women to travel the world by using virtual platforms to win business, meet new people as well as stay in touch with friends and family. I hope this continues.

I have really enjoyed traveling virtually to places I wouldn’t usually get to.

In your opinion, has the pandemic highlighted any gender imbalances in business?

I think the main caring roles have still been carried out mostly by women whether that is for children or older family members.

This has meant lots of women turning themselves inside out trying to “do it all “ especially those single parent families.

I hope the pandemic has changed the landscape of flexible working for good and that business will allow people to have the best working hours for their people as well as for the business.

Sadly I still think there is too much fear in business meaning many women and men I know have been working far too many hours. This can’t go on.

As we step into a post-pandemic business landscape, how do you think women’s roles in the sector may change?

I hope flexible working for all will be business as usual to enable women to combine work and the needs of their families even more successfully.

As a menopause educator I know more flexible working has greatly helped many women feel less stressed. There is nothing like working in your jarmas if you want to.

I hope business will realise that it’s about the output people generate, not how they look or where they work.

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