Genea, one of first Australian companies certified as a Family Friendly Workplace

As expert baby-makers, Genea is committed to helping to create families. So, it’s only natural that we jumped at the chance to join some of Australia’s biggest employers as early adopters of the Family Friendly Workplaces initiative. Genea is also proud to be an inaugural Supporting Partner of the initiative for the next two years.

Established by UNICEF Australia and Parents At Work in May 2021, the Family Friendly Workplaces has been designed to give organisations the tools, frameworks and support they need to become more inclusive and supportive of employees’ competing work and family life commitments. It’s based on a set of standards across four pillars: Flexible Work, Parental Leave, Family Wellbeing and Family Care. Importantly, the initiative is not just focused on traditional families or employees who are raising children. It offers support programs for people in all phases of life and the myriad of family situations they face. 

Our certification as a Family Friendly Workplace is a commitment to ongoing implementation, measurement and management that will embed a sustainable family-inclusive workplace culture now, and into the future. We believe that when you create a culture that truly supports people in all of the care roles they play and fosters respect and quality, then everyone wins.

A Family Friendly Workplace culture is one where working families and carers are supported to combine their work and family life commitments. A Family Friendly Workplace culture positively impacts the quality of work-life for every Australian and contributes to the wider health and wellbeing of our society and economy; increasing productivity and reducing stress, absenteeism and gender inequality.
 

As a senior executive, I always assumed that I would need to be present in the workplace during office hours. I have an intellectually disabled son Daniel, now 26 years old. Both while Daniel was in school and post-school in a supported day program, Genea always offered me extensive flexibility to balance the needs of my son while maintaining my workload. As an example, I was able to both arrive late and leave the office early while Daniel was in my care to ensure that he was adequately cared for and supervised while continuing my work from home. (I share custody with Daniel’s father.) Similarly, I was provided with carers leave for doctor visits and hospital admissions. I always felt that Daniel’s welfare was very much considered and felt extremely well supported. I feel most fortunate to have been able to continue my career at Genea for 26 years without impediment.
 

In 2019 my daughter fell pregnant at the age of 15. As a young mother who was still in school, she needed my full support which meant I needed to take a lot of time off work to care for both my daughter and grandchild until my daughter was fit to be on her own. It was also important to me to help my daughter to return to school, alternating days during the week.

Genea supported me 100% from the start for which I am so very thankful! They offered extensive flexibility working from home and carers leave to be taken each week so my daughter could attend school while the baby was in my care. 

Following this, things took an unexpected turn for the worse when the baby became very ill, needing a liver transplant. Genea stepped up again, supporting me immensely while I juggled work and had to stay in hospital for many weeks. While all this was happening I was also promoted to a senior role and then appointed into a Manager position. The support from the business enabled me to continue my work responsibilities effectively and meant that I was still able to develop and achieve many goals during this period. I couldn’t have done it without the love and support from my Genea Family!
 

Being a working mum is all kinds of things – a privilege, a challenge, a juggle and, some weeks, just completely exhausting. I am a mother of three beautiful girls: Evie (7), Taya (6) and Kahlani (3). I’ve been working for Genea for 10 years and throughout this time my Genea Family has seen me through massive milestones in my life from getting engaged, buying my first home and having all three of my babies.

Genea has made my juggle of motherhood and work that much more achievable over the last year with the offer of flexible work hours and requirements for working in the office and working from home. Without this work life balance, I wouldn’t be able to be the coach of my Daughter’s netball team or be the homework tutor and the taxi for all the other extracurricular activities my children have after school hours. I feel completely supported by Genea and have been every step of the way in my working career. Working for Genea makes me happy, gives me focus and perspective which in return makes me a better mum.

My role at Genea as a Senior Patient Relationship Coordinator is to help look after all of the non-clinical side of treatment for our patients. In our role we help our patients initially get set up with Genea, coordinating and booking initial appointments as well as assisting with fees, Medicare and health fund rebates. Essentially, we’re the go to contact for all non-clinic questions. I feel extremely proud to work with such an amazing team and work for such an incredible company. Without the wonderful leadership and consistent support from my Team Leader Kirstin Gault, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Genea takes any opportunity it can to help support its staff with the ability to grow and progress within the company. Just in the last six months I have completed The Fastlead leadership course which has reinforced the type of leader I would like to be.