Mums in Tech ft. Beth Granter

As part of the ‘Mums in Tech’ series, we caught up with Beth Granter, Digital Consultant and Campaign Strategist.

The purpose of our ‘MotherBoard’ content series is to highlight incredible working mums within tech & data, as well as individuals and businesses that are supportive and progressive within their approach to creating more inclusive tech & data teams for women.

Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?

My name is Beth Granter, I live in Edinburgh, and I have a four-year-old son. I’ve been working in digital for 18 years – originally for agencies, but in the past 10 years as a freelancer. I specialise in digital mobilisation for charities, but I also do UX research, digital production, project management, measurement and insights, and digital transformation.

I’ve spent the past three years freelancing for Women’s health charity, Wellbeing of Women. What started as a single advocacy campaign strategy project quickly developed into a digital transformation programme. I’ve helped them to build a brand-new website and brand guidelines with accessibility in mind, I provide ongoing workshops for their whole team on digital best-practice, and I’ve built an integrated data-dashboard to facilitate data-led decision making across the organisation.

If you could sum up what it’s like being a working mum in tech in one sentence, what would it be?

Being a working mum in tech is challenging, but extremely rewarding.

“Now as a mother, I think the biggest challenge is that almost all permanent roles are full time, and increasingly many are going back to being office-based – which is usually in London”

How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?

Parenting is the most physically and emotionally exhausting type of work I’ve ever done. Before having a child, I had planned to be a stay-at-home Mum until my child started school. But when I was offered some part-time freelance work when my son was 10 months old, I took it. I just didn’t have the energy to be a full-time Mum, but I wish I did – I do experience Mum-guilt for sending him to nursery.

I find my paid work so much easier than parenting – it’s intellectually challenging but that’s what I love about it – because tech is always changing, it’s a sector where you must constantly learn new things. I choose to only do paid work three days a week, and I work from home, so I save time by having no commute. My son still wakes in the night, and we co-sleep to minimise the number of times I need to get out of bed. My partner does all the nursery runs, and all the bedtimes since I finished breast-feeding.

What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?

For me, the hardest thing was that when I got pregnant, I had hyperemesis gravidarium, which is extreme pregnancy sickness. As a freelancer, I had to quit my work, and I had no sick pay. I was unable to get out of bed or speak, let alone work, and I was hospitalised multiple times, from week 5 of pregnancy until I was seven months pregnant – at which point there wasn’t time to find new work before I gave birth. I didn’t have any income protection insurance, so everything I’d saved for my maternity leave went on my living costs during my pregnancy. I was also not eligible for PIP support because pregnancy sickness is not a permanent illness – despite it being totally debilitating for six months for me. When Covid hit during my pregnancy, I also wasn’t eligible for the support grant because it was based on what your very recent income had been – which for me was zero – again due to my pregnancy sickness.

Now as a mother, I think the biggest challenge is that almost all permanent roles are full time, and increasingly many are going back to being office-based – which is usually in London. Due to this, I’ll likely stay freelance, as clients tend to be more flexible on location and schedule with freelancers.

“The number one thing that parenting has helped me with is to develop my patience and perspective.”

What skills have you developed as a mother that have helped your work life?

The number one thing that parenting has helped me with is to develop my patience and perspective. When something goes wrong in work, it doesn’t upset me nearly as much as it used to. I’m much better at letting things go. I’m better at being understanding when others make mistakes, and for forgiving myself when I do the same.

When you were returning to work, what one thing helped you / would have helped you the most?

My first contract after my maternity leave was only around 10hrs a week, and it was entirely remote. I could do those 10 hours anytime during the week too. This was helpful because I was still breastfeeding so didn’t want to put my child into nursery for full days. It was great to start with such a small number of hours as I wasn’t getting much sleep at all, and I don’t think I could have delivered high quality work if I was expected to do more hours than that back then.

“If you’re freelance – get income protection insurance ASAP! If you have an employer, I strongly recommend you join a trade union.”

What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to support working mothers better?

I think flexibility is key – on number of hours, schedule, and on location. Unless there’s a very practical reason for needing to be on-site, I think offering remote working should be universal. I think job-shares and part-time working needs to be offered a lot more.

Any final words of advice for other mothers in the Tech Industry?

If you’re freelance – get income protection insurance ASAP! If you have an employer, I strongly recommend you join a trade union. If you experience discrimination or your job is threatened, a union can provide free legal support and advice – but you have to join before the issue arises. Anyone can join a union – I’m in Unite even as a freelancer – and you can find the right union for you on the TUC website. https://www.tuc.org.uk/joinunion

I’d also tell other mothers to know their worth – apply for jobs even if you don’t meet all of the ‘required’ criteria. And ask for a pay-rise at least annually. Research shows that men are doing both these things much more than women are. We need to overcome the confidence gap in order to close the pay gap.

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