Family Friendly Workplaces

About Family Friendly Workplaces

Welcome to the Family Friendly Workplaces Podcast, where we explore work-life wellbeing and its impact on families, businesses, and communities. Hosts Angela Priestley, Founding Editor of Women’s Agenda, and Emma Walsh, Founder of Family Friendly Workplaces, chat with CEOs and leaders championing family-friendly initiatives. Discover strategies to enhance employee well-being, improve gender equality, and boost organisational success. Whether you’re an employer or employee, gain practical advice and inspiration to foster inclusive, productive workplaces and redefine the future of work.

Publisher

Family Friendly Workplaces

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Nov 2024

Latest episode

30 Jul 2025

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Jul 2025

   Breaking Concrete Ceilings: How Construction & Engineering Are Becoming Family-Friendly

   When engineering executive Diana Zagora got her start in the engineering and construction industry, it was the late 90s and family-friendly workplace policies were nonexistent. The sector was so male-dominated at the time, her first worksite – setting up for the Sydney 2000 Olympics – didn’t even have a women’s restroom. “A port-a-loo had to be brought in for me because there were only men’s toilet facilities,” Zagora tells Women’s Agenda on episode four of the Family Friendly Workplaces podcast (https://familyfriendlyworkplaces.com.au/podcast/). “The dunny that was brought in was nicknamed Diana’s Dunny. “And then as the project went on there were more women on-site and better, more permanent facilities were established.” While the industry has made a lot of progress since then, engineering and construction still don’t have the strongest reputations when it comes to being family friendly, or even women-friendly. The latest data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that the gender pay gap in heavy and civil engineering construction significantly exceeds the national private sector average across all gender pay gap metrics. “The culture has definitely shifted to be more inclusive,” says Zagora. “As a young engineer back in the late 90s, there were a lot of challenges. “Now, there’s more acceptance and greater awareness of people of different ages and from different ethnicities, genders, sexualities and religious backgrounds.” Looking back, Zagor says progress in the industry over the last 25 years has come in “leaps and bounds”. But she, like other leaders advocating for working parents and carers in the sector, believes there’s room for growth. “We need to increase female participation in engineering,” she said. “Having a workplace that promotes flexibility, that has parental leave and access to carer’s leave and promotes those benefits, as well as recruits and values diversity in their workforce is tremendously important.” The CEO of Infrastructure Australia, Adam Copp, has led his organisation through the Family Friendly Workplaces accreditation process. He shares the process it took on the podcast and explains how he built a business case to show what kind of benefits his organisation would reap by taking steps to become more inclusive. Since making the changes, Copp says the benefits are even more than they could have expected. “A family-friendly workplace is actually a really good thing to do, I think morally, but it's also good for business,” he said. “It helps with your talent attraction and wellbeing, helps with productivity, and helps with the brand of you as an employer.”

2. 

   16 Jun 2025

   Working Parent, Reporting Live: Life Inside the Media Machine

   Lauren Thornborough discusses the challenges and evolution of the fast-paced media industry for working parents, highlighting the need for support and flexibility, in an interview with Angela Priestley.

3. 

   14 May 2025

   A Prescription for Retention: How Pharma Leaders are Backing Families

   'Family comes first': How innovative executives in the pharmaceutical sector are creating family-friendly workplaces In this special podcast series produced by Family Friendly Workplaces and Women’s Agenda, we will step into different sectors in Australia to spotlight the challenges working parents face while also speaking to employers carving out new ways of working. In this episode, we find out how employers in the pharma sector are redefining corporate culture and making workplaces a space for workers to thrive, regardless of their caring obligations or gender. Women's Agenda podcaster Dinushi Dias has a chat with leaders at Novartis and Medicines Australia to hear how they're doing it.

4. 

   29 Apr 2025

   Remote, Rostered And Raising Kids: Making The Resource Sector Work For Families

   From mining and engineering to tech and media, can employers in fast-changing industries grappling with both global and local challenges really function as family-friendly workplaces? In a special podcast series produced by Family Friendly Workplaces and Women’s Agenda, we will step into different sectors in Australia to spotlight the challenges working parents face while also speaking to employers carving out new ways of working. These employers are helping to design a blueprint for workplaces that will enable more workers to thrive, no matter what their caring responsibilities are at home. In this week’s episode, Women’s Agenda founding editor Angela Priestley takes a closer look at the mining and energy industry. Horror stories around sexual harassment, bullying and misconduct have emerged from the sector in recent years, even prompting a government inquiry in Western Australia (https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/horror-stories-of-abuse-and-harassment-in-was-mining-sector-must-be-the-turning-point%EF%BF%BC/). At the same time, the industry is grappling with talent shortages, with its male-dominated teams scattered out to some of the most remote parts of the country and many working in fly-in-fly-out roles.

5. 

   25 Nov 2024

   From Billable Hours to Bedtime Stories: Can Law Be Family-Friendly?

   Episode Overview The legal sector has long been considered a demanding and often inflexible career path, particularly for parents. But is the tide turning? In this episode, we unpack the evolution of family-friendly policies in the legal profession. From the increasing adoption of flexible work arrangements to gender-neutral parental leave, the sector is seeing promising shifts—but challenges remain. Key Topics Covered The impact of remote work, AI, and evolving tech on flexibility in the legal profession. A look at gender disparities in leadership and pay across the sector. Personal stories of resilience and advocacy from legal professionals who balance family and career. Insights into how leadership and culture are shaping more inclusive workplaces. Special Guests Alison Deitz, Managing Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, shares her groundbreaking journey as one of the first partners to navigate parental leave and flexible work arrangements. Silje Andersen-Cooke, Lawyer and Director at the Australian Multiple Birth Association, offers a personal perspective on managing a demanding career with four young children. Emma Walsh, Founder of Parents At Work and Family Friendly Workplaces, explores the role of leadership in driving culture change and shares her vision for a family-friendly legal sector. Fast Facts Women make up over 55% of solicitors in Australia but represent just 35% of partners in the top 50 firms. 34 out of 69 legal workplaces report a gender pay gap larger than the national average. Women are significantly underrepresented at the bar, with only 23% of barristers in NSW. Tune In To Learn: How leading firms are transforming their policies to support family life. The role of AI in creating efficiency and flexibility for legal professionals. Why leadership and culture are critical in enabling family-friendly workplaces.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

10

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.