Why 'take your child to work day' is important to me.

I spend a lot of time at work. Like most people who work in the recruitment industry, in the City, or at any of our clients for that matter; it takes a level of sacrifice and dedication to be successful. Yes, there are many initiatives to encourage a strong work-life balance but I’m sure that it will resonate with many readers that we spend many more waking hours with work colleagues than we do with family during the working week.

 Having the opportunity to bring my son to the office to show him where I work, what I do and who I share my day with was an excellent opportunity to give him some insight, understanding and first-hand experience of what happens between those hours of me leaving the house in the morning and coming home in the evening. It also gave him the opportunity to meet all of the friendly staff here so he can now put a face to those familiar names and he has a memory attached to each person that makes them more than just ‘one of Daddy’s work colleagues’ going forward.

 Finally, he got to see people go from a persona of giving a super child-friendly welcome and getting involved in children's activities; to switching it up on the phone and discussing career changing opportunities with candidates, major hiring decisions with clients and negotiating important business deals right there in front of him. It inspired him to observe the difference and he now takes much more interest in how my day has been and looks forward to closing his first big deal.

So, in short, he thoroughly enjoyed his day at work… OK, maybe there is a little less time spent colouring in, playing chess and eating pizza in a typical working day; but he absolutely loved it and thinks working in London is going to be the best thing ever when he is older!