C&W Business director finds balance between family, work

Part 1

BRADLEY RAMCHARAN, director of Cable & Wireless Business/Flow Business, believes Caribbean business approaches and concepts of masculinity are evolving ­– with empathy and flexibility being at the heart of how men operate within personal and professional spaces.

He leads a team of about 60 at C&W Business which provides technical business solutions such as connectivity and Flow Business, which provides the same solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.

There has been much conversation about the relationship between empathy and business transformation. Publications such as Forbes and Industry Week have explored the relationship and how new principles are helping business models evolve. C&W/Flow Business is on board.

Becoming a father has accelerated Ramcharan's conviction that the business world, generally perceived as a dog-eat-dog world, ought to move toward embedding empathy in its culture should it survive the changing tides of a new culture which emphasises empathy and emotional awareness within the centre of businesses.

This emerging culture affects how employees are treated, the benefits made available to them, and how companies communicate with their clientele.

The company recently updated their parental leave policy and now gives men two-months' leave.

This allows men to spend time bonding with the new addition(s) to their families while understanding the possibility of finding a reasonable balance between parenting and a career.

"The day my daughter was born was the happiest day of my life. I have been in the company for just over 12 years, and I have seen so many of my peers, both men and women, become parents over time."

He said until last year, the policy on leave of absence upon the birth of an employee's baby for men was just a week. "We have updated our parental leave policy which has awarded men to have about two months off. Being able to see the benefits of that first-hand and talking to peers over the years, hearing the struggles they went through – I realised how great it is for me to have that option to be home with the family."

Ramcharan said he and his wife have no immediate family support system like his mother or in-laws nearby. "So, it was really good that my wife and I were able to partner to get through the first two to three months, which was difficult for us."

The effects of little sleep available to new parents was one he said he and his wife experienced. "Striking a balance between work and home was a struggle for me. I was newly appointed, just over a month or two, you feel like you have to always be on."

He said that mentality was not easy to turn off, so changing diapers and making supermarket runs did not always interrupt responding to e-mails. "I'd see work calls happening online at 11 am, but that's the time you need to run out to get something. I would still be joining work calls while on parental leave because I felt a responsibility to both home and work. I learned how to create balance over time."

Ramcharan said other men in the company benefited from the new policy. They all had varying scenarios and families and, therefore, took time off to suit.

"Some took a month off then spread it throughout the available weeks left."

He said men generally assume roles in the household that rarely has much to do with the daily, hands-on nurturing of children – men usually focus on providing money.

"Being at home every day for the first moments of my daughter's life gave me an appreciation for what really happens." Ramcharan said he told his wife women are superheroes after getting more insight into what mothers usually must do on their own based on cultural practices.

Asked what he realises he would have missed out on had he not taken paternal leave, he said, "Changing pampers and caring for her more than once or twice a day." He said getting home after work meant he would be home near her bedtime. Being at home allowed him to see her incremental growth and understand the extent of a baby's vulnerabilities.

"I don't think I would have had an appreciation for caring in different ways. I would not have understood what it means to raise a newborn had I not had that experience. I was happy to be able to have conversations with her paediatrician and ask questions."

Ramcharan does not think he is a rare kind of father; he thinks most men would want to access paternal leave.

"I have seen a shift. Men being home creates a change for more involvement and I'm seeing it among my peers."

Ramcharan said a hybrid work arrangement helped him manage a reasonable work-life balance after the end of his paternal leave. He said he experienced a "flip effect" where he would think about what may be happening at home while in the office and vice versa – an experience he said he would only know having felt so crucially involved in activities in both spaces.

He said not responding to everything immediately was a challenge he had to work through.

Learning the routines of his wife and daughter allowed him to think with more depth when considering when it may be best to work late or when to head home as soon as possible and possibly finish up after completing home-related tasks.

"A colleague of mine agreed that being a father who spent those early days at home made a huge difference. By 5.30 it is time to start wrapping up so six doesn't catch me in the office. I'd know I need to do some more work later, but I also know how difficult it is for my wife to tend to the baby while preparing dinner and carrying out other tasks."

"It worked itself out over time. Many responsibilities come with my role at work – so when I am home, I have to remain aware. It means considering levels of urgency for each function and deciding what would require me to step away to get some work done while at home, or whether it's some that could wait until the morning after."

Ramcharan believes creating a work-life balance as a father from the early stages of a child's life sets a positive rhythm of a father's presence that should carry throughout their lives.

Asked if men in the organisation appreciate the option of taking paternal leave and what the conversations are like, he said men have certain expectations of each other aligned with general modes of expressing masculinity.

He said, however, there is a shift taking place. Ramcharan said having the opportunity to be there in the earliest stages of a child's life allows men to become more involved. "There's a change taking place among my peers."

Ramcharan said good mental health, which paternal leave also contributes toward, is important.

He said the time to not just connect with the new baby, but also to have invaluable conversations help create greater balance where everything that matters gets attention.

"My wife doesn't always have to tell me when she needs some self-care time. Because I'm so much a part of the flow at home, I know the pace and can tell when my wife would need a break."

"Prior to having my daughter I'd be at the office by 7.30 am. But now I understand the importance of having a flexible schedule."

He now has a greater appreciation for a schedule that allows people to work around the unexpected things that pop up, especially for working parents.

"I have become even more supportive. More than just agreeing that someone needs time from the office to tend to personal matters, my level of interest deepens to where I want confirmation that my colleague is coping well with whatever challenge."

Asked what the takeaway from his experience was that taught him the importance of a reasonable work-life balance, Ramcharan said,"empathy is the word."