Vivienne Partridge has worked in Advertising and marketing for 21 years and is now the Associate Director of Strategy and Planning at Optus. With a strong interest in continued education she’s attained a Masters degree, and four other industry and post grad certifications. She is a mother to two toddlers only 14 months apart, and in the little spare time around all that, she races triathlons, runs, ocean swims, and recently became a volunteer with the NSW State Emergency Services in response to the Australian bushfires.
Vivienne has amazing flexibility, and talks about advocating for what you want, true flexibility, the support companies can provide in evening out the domestic load and wage theft as it applies to both parents and non-parents.
In this conversation we discuss:
- Vivienne’s love of learning and desire to keep growing.
- The opportunities that come with moving around the world growing up and for work.
- Taking parental leave for multiple children really close together.
- The funny false sense of confidence that comes from having an easy first child.
- The impact of baby sleep deprivation on performance.
- Negotiating part time work and flexibility even when a job is advertised as full time.
- Securing full time pay whilst taking significant flexibility.
- Wage theft of companies expecting people are paid part time and given a full time load.
- The fact that it can almost be harder to draw the line with work when you don’t have a family.
- The domestic load of having a family that is largely borne by women.
- What companies can do to support the domestic load being shared within families.
- That change needs to be driven from the top to succeed.
- The importance of the link between physical activity and mental health.
- Creating habits through challenges and community.
- Creating structure to fit in the things that are important to you outside of work.
- Setting boundaries around what you need, and speaking up for yourself at home and at work.
- The lack of a silver bullet when it comes to managing the juggle.
- The changing view of length of tenure in an organization as a requirement on your cv.
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