Women on Wall Street in their own words: We asked moms in finance to open up about the pandemic and parenthood — and what the return to office means for their families
Insider spoke with several women in high-powered finance jobs about balancing work and motherhood during the pandemic, and the challenges they face as they return to the office.Women in finance recall long hours juggling their jobs and kids in the early days of the pandemic.Continuing challenges include getting back to the office as the Delta variant creates uncertainty.
One of them also spoke about how she benefited from a unique flexible work opportunity years before hybrid work was a thing. There isn't an easy answer, but I would say that if I can get to Friday and look back on the week and feel like I made a difference to at least one of my clients, supported my colleagues, got dinner on the table every night, exercised, and squeezed in time to read a book before bed, that's achieving a sustainable level of balance.We were able to hire a teacher to come to our home four to five hours a day to watch the kids so we could do some work.
We never would have done that before, never would have had time. But that's one good change. Another change is that we're walking or biking our daughter to and from school this fall since we live too close for the school bus. But this was what life was like for her first three years. I never got to do school drop-off and pickup for her before the pandemic.
The days that I've been in the office in the last two, three, four months — I've really enjoyed the change of pace, getting into the subway for the first time this summer. There's junior staff on my deals whom I've met for the first time in the past three or four months who started this time last year during COVID.
The reality is that right now, we have less work in the restructuring world, so it's allowed me to be more present. The key, really, for me is to maintain this balanced perspective as things ramp up and work picks back up. Parra is a vice president in the asset-management division of Goldman Sachs and a 16-year veteran of the firm. She gave birth to her second child, age 1, in August 2020, months into the coronavirus pandemic. She is also the mother to a 4-year-old and in New York City.
Another thing that was great for me was being introduced to other folks that were in similar positions. There's a parent mentor-mentee program where you look to others at the firm to build a support system. It was a longer schedule, I'd say, and working remotely extended the day because you were tackling mom and domestic duties before and after work.I've been back since last September, not every day, but at least three times a week.
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