Anssi Krooks has worked for Proxion for 3.5 years, of which the last three years has been as the company’s digital services business director. During the rest of the year, however, Anssi won’t sit at his desk in the normal way, instead everyday life will be spent for a total of 9 months with new challenges with a child under one year of age.
The trip to family leave began between Anssi and Proxion with a soft landing, as the length and time of family leave in the company are fully negotiable. Anssi announced his intention to take family leave almost a year earlier and the planning started well in advance. Anssi himself also participated in the recruitment of his successor and in the orientation process. When the recruitment process was completed in the spring, Anssi and his successor worked together for almost a couple more months. “It was nice to start the family leave and a new period in life without feeling that something was unfinished,” states Anssi.
Family leave, which started in late spring, is not the first of its kind for Anssi, because, after the birth of the child, Anssi also spent a baby month at home, which was implemented flexibly with his employer. Thanks to this, Anssi also left with confidence to spend a longer family leave. “During the baby month, for example, the replacement of work tasks worked smoothly. I didn’t have to stress during paternity leave or watch the phone, instead I was able to focus on the new life situation.”
Flexibility for different life situations
Proxion wants to bring flexibility to the different life situations of its employees, and, according to Anssi, the company has been only supportive when it comes to a long family leave. “A lot of family leaves are taken at Proxion, by both men and women. When there are many employees on both sides of the age of 30, several employees are on family leave at the same time,” says Anssi.
And the work community has not been the only one to provide support: there has also been a lot of encouragement from customers.
Anssi feels that the support from the work community is important. Phone calls about how everything is going are made with the supervisor, because Anssi himself wants to keep up with things about the work community and the company. “The fact that you can also go to work with a child on a low threshold creates a basis that enables employees to dare to combine work and family leave in the future as well,” Anssi reflects. He feels that this also encourages co-workers to make more courageous use of, for example, paternity leave.
Anssi appreciates being able to experience everyday life with a child in a flexible way during family leave and to see the child’s developmental steps. The growth of a small child is a unique time in life and during the leave Anssi gets to create a deeper relationship with his own child. When the time comes to return to work, there is a new job role waiting within the company, which Anssi enthusiastically focuses on after spending time at home. “Family leave is also a nice break from working life, when you can do your own thinking and prepare yourself for a future job,” notes Anssi.
