How Branch Stepped Up During a Global Pandemic

Relationships are either broken or bolstered in times of crisis. As a working parent and company executive, I knew that my relationship with Branch — my professional home of more than two years — would be tested as a global pandemic hit, and daycares closed. For the first time in my life, I had to figure out how to manage a full-time career while caring for a child at home.

Six months in, I am incredibly proud — and grateful — to say that in a time of great need for me and my family, Branch stepped up to partner with me on finding my new normal. As a result, my relationship with my company, my manager, my colleagues, and even my family (I haven’t spent this much time with my son since maternity leave!) is stronger than ever before.

How have we made it work? As in any successful partnership, Branch and I have been — and continue to be — thoughtful and deliberate about how to accommodate each other’s needs and goals. None of this is to say that this transition has been easy (it hasn’t). None of this is to say that it won’t get harder (it probably will). None if this is to suggest I don’t regularly approach burnout (I do). But through it all I know that Branch is in my corner. Through gestures both big and small, Branch has supported me and my family in this turbulent time. Many examples come to mind, but the ones that have stuck with me the most are below.

Encouraging clear communication of needs

Within one day of trying to tag-team with my husband on toddler care during the workday, I knew it wasn’t sustainable. He and I had calls scattered throughout the day, sometimes overlapping. Our multiple handoffs were frantic. My son had a lot of screen time. This could not last. So, my husband and I decided to carve out longer shifts. I’d do mornings with my son; my husband covered afternoons. This approach meant that my workday would start at 1pm each day. I’d overlap with my direct reports and other colleagues for just a few hours.

A couple of days before, my manager had emphasized to me that I shouldn’t be shy about telling him what I needed to make this transition work. So, that evening, I asked him how he felt about flexible hours. I explained to him that context-switching was killing me, but that I believed that I could be nearly as productive as I was pre-COVID as long as I got uninterrupted work time — even if it meant starting my work day at 1pm. It would be better not only for me, but for Branch.

The response from my manager? Complete support. More than anything, he appreciated that I had come to him (a) outlining my needs and (b) proposing a solution. Within a day, I sent this Slack message to key peers (and even withstood the temptation to apologize!). Firing this off set clear expectations with my colleagues, lifting a substantial weight off of my shoulders.

I recognize that I am lucky to be senior enough in the organization to have more control over my schedule, and am not suggesting that this “shift” schedule can work for everyone. But deciding what I needed to succeed, and then communicating that clearly, went a long way towards ensuring that I had a schedule that could work for me. I am grateful that I had been encouraged to do so.

It’s the little things

A couple of months ago, I got a package in the mail from Branch. I 100% assumed it was some sort of legal document. But it wasn’t! It was a printout of Branch-logo-inspired art, coupled with coloring supplies, for my son. In the Parents ERG channel, my colleagues and I posted pictures of our hard-at-work kids creating masterpieces (or, in my case, I poked fun at how much his “art” resembled a ransom note).

This was such a small gesture by Branch. But it meant a lot to me because (a) the activity occupied him for a solid half-hour (any parent of a young child will understand just how critical that is, especially now); (b) it was entirely unnecessary, and (c) it was incredibly thoughtful. It was an open acknowledgment by my company, even an embrace, of the part of my life that is entirely separate from my work, but that is the center of my world.

Empathy, empathy, empathy

Most of my startup colleagues do not have children. Even if they do not know what it is like to have children, what has struck me is that they are aware of what they don’t know. My manager, peers, and direct reports — parents and non-parents alike — ask me how I’m doing, how my son is doing, how my family is doing. Most of them don’t really know what I’m going through, but they are self-aware about that. That alone makes me feel supported and less alone in facing these challenges.

A few memories of times where I felt uplifted by my colleagues’ empathy:

• During an executive team meeting, we devoted a solid 10–15 minutes discussing the need to improve company-wide empathy for parents, and how to do so. The result was an All-Hands panel where parents were interviewed about their challenges and asked to share their “day in a life” to build awareness of what they were going through. For days and weeks afterwards, there was a noticeable uptick in questions from colleagues as to how my family was coping.
• In a 1:1 with my manager (who does not have children), we were discussing workloads throughout the company. He observed that for some people, it’s gone up; others, down. But across the board, he was “most concerned about our parents.”
• My toddler has become a regular during Legal team happy hours. He now recognizes my fellow Legal team members on sight (over Zoom). (I do occasionally wonder whether he would be able to recognize them in person, without their go-to virtual backgrounds.) He’s popped in on other calls as well and I can state with certainty that he’s interacted with my “work friends” (as he calls them) far more often than ever before.
• Within days of our announcing that most of our global offices would be shut down due to COVID, Branch published a “Navigating WFH + CFH” (Caring from Home) guide that I co-wrote with input from other parents at Branch. It is not only for parents:

If anyone at Branch was unaware that parents and others caring for dependents face unique challenges during this time, they certainly became aware after the companywide distribution of this guide by the executive team.

A supportive community

The parents at Branch have formed an Employee Resource Group (“ERG”) called, well, Parents@Branch. And it reminds me that I’m not alone. The past months has seen posts about school reopenings (and closures), an in-depth discussion of youthful impulses to dye hair with anything from Kool-Aid to highlighters, and aforementioned photo evidence of Branch-inspired art.

In a time like this, very few of us have the answers. But even just knowing that others are desperately trying to answer the same difficult questions that I am brings me solace.

* * *

Again, don’t get me wrong. This balance is still hard. I am tired all of the time. I am not here to paint a false picture that everything is great. I am, however, acutely aware that it could be much worse, on so many levels. And one reason that it isn’t is because Branch and I have partnered to find a “new normal,” providing us with what we both need in a very challenging time. Our relationship is all the better for it.