Alex combines being a champion rally co-driver and risk analytics manager at EY with caring for his daughter who has cerebral palsy. He tells us how opting to work part-time after moving to the UK from the United States has helped him to achieve his professional and personal goals while also allowing him to share in supporting his daughter.
Name
Alex Kihurani
Old Position
Full-time Risk Analytics Manager at EY
New Career
Part-time Senior Risk Analytics Manager at EY and British Rally Champion
Could you tell us about your decision to start working on a part-time basis?
It started with my move to the UK back in 2013 when I was able to transfer my role at EY from the States. It was motivated by wanting to progress in the sport I have a massive passion for, which is rallying.
I had been working full time and using my holidays to do rallying. Then I was told that I could get a flexible work arrangement. I started off small, going from 100% to 90%, which gave me some unpaid time off to pursue the rallying a bit more.
And then in 2019 I got a professional contract to compete in the World Rally Championship and European Rally Championship, which had some pay associated with it. That allowed me to go down to 60%, so I basically had two jobs at that point.
How supportive was your employer?
They were really supportive. They immediately had me join an internal support group they run for part-time workers at EY and I was surprised at how accepted I was and how excited they were to have me.
Notably at that time, there were no other men in the group, and it was rare to have flexible working for anything other than childcare responsibilities. I think EY and the group were excited to show that flexible working was for everyone, not just for women with children.
Being a good people leader is about helping your team perform well and in return that reflected well on me and supported my case as an effective leader, whilst working part-time.
How important has part-time working been for you?
I don’t think I would have lasted at EY if it wasn’t for that option. It allowed me to pursue my passion for rallying, take care of my daughter and try to give her the best life.
Did you have to overcome any obstacles to achieve this balance?
The first jump from 100% to 90% was surprisingly frictionless. I even got an early promotion from manager to senior manager when I was at 90%. Ironically, it was because that shift to less time at work made me create more leadership behaviours.
I made a point of getting people in my team to take ownership of different aspects of projects, making sure they were visible to the clients’ leadership and supporting them in their own career journeys. Being a good people leader is about helping your team perform well and in return that reflected well on me and supported my case as an effective leader, whilst working part-time.
The move from 90% to 60% was a little bit harder because I work in an environment where the preference is for face-to-face interaction at the client site every day. I had to shift my work towards doing external audits rather than consulting work, but it was still very achievable.
Although I was already working part-time, the birth of my daughter has meant that my part-time work arrangement is even more important to the way my family life functions. She has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, which required 4 surgeries last year. She needs 1:1 care in addition to the time intensive processes of arranging things like Disability Living Allowance, educational health care plans, doctor’s appointments, physiotherapy, etc. All these responsibilities, on top of being sleep deprived and juggling work, mean full time work just wouldn’t have been an option otherwise, particularly in a Big Four setting. Up until the start of this year I haven’t focused on progressing my career, it’s just been survival mode.
Do you feel you’ve ever experienced any negative stigma around working on a part-time basis?
From time to time I’ll get comments that imply I’m not as serious or focused on my role as others. I get around it by leveraging my experience and technical skill and taking advantage of the additional life experiences I have from pursuing my passion and caring for my daughter.
What’s the best piece of advice that you received about going part-time?
When I started at EY, the then national rallying champion in the US was working on a part-time basis at Deloitte. He gave me lots of practical tips on how to navigate consulting whilst rallying at the same time, and gave me some encouragement that, while it would be a ton of work and difficult, it would still be possible to do. Coincidentally, he’s now a managing director at EY in Chicago, so we both work for the same firm.
Currently, I’m taking more tips from other working parents on how to sort out the logistics of childcare and family business while also delivering at work, although I think my partner and I are pretty good at figuring out how to make it work between us.
I would never have become British Rally Champion if it wasn't for part-time working.
Do you find it hard to switch between your roles?
When I’m racing, it’s easy to focus on the task at hand because you’re isolated from any additional distractions. I think the real challenge, for me, is more in the day to day, when you’re working from home, and maybe you need to take your daughter to a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day and both my partner and I have work calls slotted in. While we experience this more intensely with a special needs child, I think most working parents experience that juggle.
Could you sum up how the ability to work part-time has positively impacted your health and your wealth?
I would never have become British Rally Champion if it wasn’t for part-time working. It has given me enough financial stability to have a family of my own while still pursuing my passions and being there for my child. I enjoy all the benefits that come with secure employment like private health insurance or shared parental leave. Those are the things that make the family structure and the care structure work. I don’t think anything significant I’ve done in my adult life would have been possible without part-time work.
