Janice Davey

This is my sister and everyday inspiration! Growing up, Janice had so much passion, focus and determination for learning, something she shares with her daughters, colleagues and customers. Her no-nonsense attitude has helped to break down barriers in a male-dominated industry.  As a champion of WeAreWorkingMums here is her story…

Janice Davey, Program Manager at PerkinElmer and Mum to 2 children aged 4 & 2.

Tell me about what you do?
Large scale project management for providing Scientific Services and Asset management to the Pharmaceutical and Academic industry

Tell me a bit about your routine?
I work mostly from home but I can also spend quite a bit of time travelling as my customer base is the whole of Europe. I wouldn’t be able to do this job without the support of my husband who is self-employed and works from home. I supposedly work part time of 4 days a week but in reality, as most part-timers know you squeeze 5 days of work into that. I do however make sure that my Friday off is mine and everyone I work with knows and understands that. I try to make sure that my time off is spent building memories and having quality 1-1 time with the girls.

Once the camping season starts we try to get away from everything as much as possible. I love camping with the kids, no tv, phones etc.

It does sometimes feel as though you have zero downtime as you go from work to kids to work again. I don’t really have a routine but I do prepare, so school bags are packed the night before, washing is done whenever I get 5mins. I also get the kids involved in shopping and cooking.

What is work/life balance to you?
Watching my kids grow and be in their lives whilst succeeding and performing at work in order to live comfortably and hopefully be an inspiration to them.

Are you able to work flexibly?
Yes, having an understanding boss is very much required.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
More employers need to realise that working mums can provide as much input to a company as anybody and provide the flexibility in order to do that.

In the UK what could society/government/companies do better to help working parents?
The 30 hours “free” should be split out from an earlier age. If they want to get parents back into the workforce, providing free childcare should be from once maternity finishes. Spending the majority of your wage for someone else to look after your child creates terrible stresses on families.