Juliet Turnbull, founder and CEO of 2to3days, is a woman on a mission. Here, she talks about the fact that any business that works for women, works for everyone
Women’s equality in the workplace is a global issue and a national crisis, which is why the ‘United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5’ sadly needs to exist. According to the World Economic Forum, at our current pace of change, it will take another 132 years for us to reach gender equality.
It’s tragic.
I will be long dead and so will you. So will our children and even our grandchildren. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The technology is there, the education is there. What is lacking is individual awareness and a desire to take responsibility for our actions at home and at work that can expedite the change that is needed.
My mission is to help accelerate the pace of women’s equality at work through the power of flexible working, which is why I founded 2to3days. I wanted to do my bit to help solve this social and economic problem.
The way of working is breaking
The binary world of work and home life is no longer compatible with the way we live in the 21st century. The system is breaking, people are breaking and especially women, who still do the lion’s share of domestic work. Increasingly, the evidence tells us that the answer lies in work life integration, which comes through flexible working.
Despite the size and sophistication of the £39 billion recruitment industry, the dominance of LinkedIn and the 24-hour noise on social media, companies are still struggling to find diverse and experienced women to join their companies. These women are still struggling to find companies who will genuinely support their staff to integrate work into their lives. They are like ships in the mist.
2to3days’ role is to help blow that mist away.
Our secret sauce
Our secret sauce is the women themselves. We are growing and nurturing the largest online community of diverse and experienced female talent. The women trust us because we understand both their intellectual and emotional pain of not being able to pursue their careers working flexibly. What’s wonderful is that we are being talked about from the school gate to the board room. We make it easy for companies to hire the women they want working in their companies. They simply advertise their flexible jobs directly onto our job board and the women in our community see them, apply, and share.
But we don’t stop at just job opportunities. We want to close the void between the business world and home by offering the women in the 2to3days community access to amazing experts in their field across a whole range of subjects. This includes CV and LinkedIn writing, interview practice as well as career coaching, managing their finances, wardrobe advice, how to manage the menopause at work and much more.
We also seek to inspire them in their pursuit of their ideal role by engaging with companies who are keen to showcase via video the stories of real role models; women who are working flexibly in these organisations and being supported to integrate work into their lives when the inevitable tension between work and home life arises. These stories are inspiring; they help to break down the systemic barriers that are putting up so much resistance to advancing gender equality.
West Wittering to Wandsworth and everything in between
Until recently, I lived in Wandsworth for over 30 years. Last summer, we moved to West Wittering, south of Chichester. The 2to3days community has grown through word of mouth and whilst we are known from Exeter to Edinburgh, the majority of the women in our community are based in south east England, the heartland of the Platinum and Dynamic Magazine readership.
So, readers, I have your back. Nothing would give me greater joy than for you to grow your business by hiring women through the 2to3days community who are living and working all around you. So reach out, and together we can accelerate the pace of gender equality in the workplace through the power of flexible working.
