Claire's blog

The title "Citymother" is now only half true in its application to today's blogger and I can hardly quite believe I am writing this. No, I haven't given my children away to a good home. But I have given up my City career.

After three years of being a part-timer (4 days) I have finally conceded that it was not working for me and it was not working for my family. A large part of the problem was that I was spending 3 hours commuting. That meant 180 precious minutes a day that I, according to my unsupportive boss should have been slogging my guts out in the office (he is old school where despite a cultural change in the organisation he hasn't changed). In my mind, at least half these minutes should have been spent with my children. I resolved therefore that there was only one solution. I needed to cut the commute and wasn't about to move myself from my beloved market town in the Home Counties with some of the best schools in the country and with a large support network of grandparents and Aunties within 20 minutes away. 

My new job is a c. Half hour drive and as long as I can manage the workload within office hours I would expect to be home most evenings to relieve the nanny before bath time giving me almost 2 hours every evening with the children. The only downside is that the "part timer" label will no longer apply - bit gutted about this! Sure, this drastic path is not for everyone - some of you will not have long commutes, or will be wedded to City life - but for me it makes complete sense. Oh, and by the way, despite not being in London my job is a great "career" job which I am sure I will love, and even better the pay cut was not as big as I had feared. I start in a few weeks and will keep you all posted!

Claire is an Associate Director at a large City-based Bank working 4 days a week in a busy transaction team in the Structured Finance sector. She has two children under the age of 4 and relies heavily on nurseries and the aid of a good nanny.