Flying the flag for men's health

When we moved for Movember in 2022, we wanted to shine a light on men’s health and the importance of staying mentally healthy as well as physically.

Becoming a dad while balancing his day job took its toll on Alan Dick, a long-serving Zipster in our Enterprise Sales team. We spoke to him about how Zip’s parental leave policy helped his family at a stressful time.

Could you tell us a little more about your role with Zip, how long you’ve been here and the parental leave arrangements you made as a Zipster?

I’ve been at Zip for almost 6 years now, starting as a CX agent then swiftly moving into the health team as a Business Development Manager, followed by the Enterprise Sales team and now finally as an Enterprise Partner Success Manager.

I was lucky enough to be able to take 12 weeks of Paternity leave when Bodhi was 9 months old.

What are some of the benefits you and your family have experienced by you choosing to take parental leave?

Rachel, my partner, only got 3 months off before having to return to work so we spent the next 6 months juggling our work meetings so that there were no overlaps. I’d watch him play in the corner with his toys whilst Rach and I were both on our laptops and it was heartbreaking.

Taking leave allowed me to give him the undivided attention he deserved. To be able to enjoy quality time with him every day, teach him new things and provide him with new experiences really helped build a strong bond between us. We even hopped on a plane and flew to Europe for a few weeks!

Why do you think paid leave for fathers may benefit both parents’ mental and physical health?

Having a child is just not an easy experience. For us, anyway. He was a very difficult baby! It was truly exhausting, highly stressful and after months on end feeling drained whilst also working every day, it definitely took its toll on our mental and physical health.

Taking leave not only helped relieve stress for the both of us but I eventually returned to work feeling refreshed. It was reinvigorating seeing colleagues again and I feel I came back with more drive and job satisfaction than I had prior to doing so.

What do we need to do to overcome the stigma against men taking parental leave?

To be honest, this stigma wasn’t much of an issue for me. I questioned whether it may be detrimental to my career progression but at the end of the day, I absolutely love spending time with him, he’s hilarious.So I’ll always choose his/my family’s needs first.

I believe the stigma has been shifting in recent years alongside people realising the advantages of having a better work/life balance and it’s great to see this trend continuing.

What one thing that people outside of the organisation may not know about Zip makes you proud to work here?

Most would say the culture, which is awesome. It’s a super-fun workplace with amazingly talented people. But I also believe that the leadership we have in place and the genuine support and care that they show for employees is inspiring and very rare!

Thank you Alan for sharing your story, and to all our Zipsters who flied the flag for men’s health in Movember.