UnSpoken - Feat. Niamh Sykes
As part of the ‘UnSpoken’ series, we caught up with Niamh Sykes, Client Partner at Pareto.
UnSpoken by HeyFlow is a series of interviews about the reproductive health penalty on women’s careers. We’re on a mission to show that reproductive health isn’t just a women’s issue — it’s a business issue.
This series shines a light on the hidden career barriers created by reproductive health and their role in the workplace gender gap. Through real stories from real people, we aim to break taboos and drive change for a more inclusive future of work.
HeyFlow: Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role.
Niamh: I’m Niamh, my background is in recruitment and learning - bringing my love of building careers and supporting people development together. I am now a client partner, supporting external clients to design, build and execute development programmes and implement learning transformation within their business’. This is a high energy and high demand role balancing client consultation with programme design and then impactful delivery - lots of spinning plates which I love keeping my brain active and always learning in whatever way shape or form that might come.
HeyFlow: Can you share the reproductive life moment(s) you had to navigate while working?
Niamh: Navigating IVF cycles in my role as Learning & Development Business Partner (prior role), I was leading a team and also delivering training - virtually and in person across the country so being able to show up for myself to focus on the healthy, calm lifestyle associated with fertility, whilst showing up for those who I supported in their development with energy and vigour was a challenge. Travelling around the country with my secret cool bag of medication and finding private spaces for clinic calls and injections was often like being on my own secret side quest!
HeyFlow: Did this experience impact you at work at the time? If so, how?
Niamh: Short answer yes. In a business facing role, showing up to deliver training commitments is the obvious impact, navigating appointments that can’t really be secured more than 7 days in advance whilst training dates and locations are secured months ahead of time to enable people to attend, is a tricky and conflicting experience.
The less visible being the mental and physical capacity to show up and be there for teams and colleagues when you are carrying the monthly hormonal rollercoaster of hope > exhaustion > grief. Delivering an “impactful presentations” workshop moments after taking a call where your consultant lets you know your embryo transfer is being cancelled brings a whole new meaning to showing up for your audience, in my case powering through and masking where I was at in showing up to provide the training experience my audience expected from me.
HeyFlow: What has been your greatest challenge in sustaining your career during these moments?
Niamh: The decision of whether to, then what and how much to share of my journey whilst showing up to those who are looking to me for support and how this would impact the judgement on my capability… it didn’t.
Secondly, taking the decision to launch a new training methodology during my IVF journey and then also apply for a new, more challenging and demanding role on the understanding that IVF was something I’d continue to be going through. It would have been easy enough to continue in my comfort zone, however I was always conscious that I didn’t want IVF or starting a family to become my entire identity - by continuing to function at a level of challenge I’ve relished through my career it gave me a sense of control that I felt the cycle of IVF took away.
HeyFlow: When you were going through this reproductive health challenge at work, what one thing helped you—or what do you wish had been in place to support you?
Niamh: Navigating anything parenting I’ve found visibility of resources to be key, at the time there was no policy or precedent to how an individual or team managed, I had no option but to reach out, share and ask the question of my head of department, as a preparer I’d have loved to have been able to find something before having to talk to someone.
The most valuable thing has been a supportive team, not one who claims to understand or know, but one who’s first act is empathy, grace and encouragement. My director (who had her own story) was exceptional at creating space. A particularly intense IVF protocol clashed with an intense period of implementation and delivery that I (happily) committed to, she spotted a moment where I needed to focus on recovery and took the decision to travel out of my hands, organising a colleague to deliver in my place and as a result ensuring I had the space to recover, she knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t make that decision myself.
HeyFlow: What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to better support employees through reproductive health challenges?
Niamh: Reviewing the visibility and accessibility of resources that would support those going through health challenges - whether those resources are policies, flexible working culture, sharing of employee stories - knowing that there is some kind of precedent for both those going through and also their managers and teams supporting them through is so valuable to create the option of community in a ‘process’ that can feel very isolating.
Access to a resource toolkit for both employees and managers creates a starting point for knowledge that can trigger conversation and reduce the burden of explanation. Having a self-service hub where employees can access support, removes barriers and the mental toll that can occur when you are worried about asking for that time off.
At HeyFlow we help organisations remove the blindspots that stall women’s careers, feed the gender pay gap and weaken the leadership pipeline.