Brownwyn Baird

Growing up as a young woman and entering the professional realms in the early 2000’s the perception was that there was a trade off between reaching the heights of your professional aspirations and being truly present for your family. My journey at Deloitte has proven that theory wrong. I was invited to join the Partnership of Deloitte fresh from my first maternity leave stint in 2019. Since that time I have worked 4 days a week (30 hours) and enjoyed another maternity leave stint in between times. I have valued the commitment of Deloitte to support the ability of people to progress through to the top of their profession on reduced work hours, allowing time to truly balance family and professional life. Being able to authentically demonstrate that a reduced work week can work, even at the senior leadership level, not only for the individual but also the wider team and the business has also made a real difference in our ability to attract talent to the business over recent years. I’m so pleased I can lead by example!

Striking the delicate balance between work and family for me means I can give my all at work and at home with my young boys. Having the freedom to ‘flex’ means I can be present for all the important milestones in the life of my boys, moments you never get back! It also affords me time to enjoy my passion, riding the beautiful horses that I have bred over the years. With good communication and the setting of clear boundaries the team and our clients have always been fully on board and respectful of my reduced working arrangements. In fact, clients laud it as many of them have been in similar situations themselves of having to juggle business and family.