A new support group for working parents in the travel industry is planning a website and in-person events after building a community of 650 people on Facebook in less than two months.
Back In Time For Bed (BITFB) was devised by Vicky Billing, head of partnerships at Riviera Travel, and Anna Perrott, head of supplier relations at Panache Cruises.
The group aims to help parents who are balancing their busy travel careers and home life.
Billing said: “We launched BITFB on February 26, and the amount of support has been incredible.
“The group is growing – we have about 650 in the Facebook community and we are currently building a new website.
“We are only in the design phase at present, but with view that we will be lunching in next eight weeks.
“We will also be running some events this year, and we are in the planning stage for that.”
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Perrott said that the BITFB website will be a digital hub for working parents and employers promoting the best companies to work for in travel.
It will also highlight upcoming BITFB events, useful links for childcare and mental health support.
The group held its first webinar last month with industry experts and the Women Association of Women Travel Executives (AWTE) to look at the issue of ‘parental guilt’.
It explored reasons why people feel they have to apologise for leaving a meeting or working late when they have home commitments – and highlighted how employers get the most out of employees when they are flexible.
“Working parents feel they work harder as they have to prove themselves because of juggling work and home life commitments,” said Perrott.
She said feedback from the webinar was “amazing”, adding: “People have said to us that it’s such an important topic yet why has no one talked about this before?
“They also have said that it’s great we are shining a light on this as most parents have guilt and it is good not to feel alone.”
Future events will be online and in-person including a family-friendly conference which BITFB hopes to announce later this year.
Pictured: Anna (left) with Chester and Vicky with Ellie.