As I age, I've become someone who listens to Radio 4. I certainly don't consider myself an intellectual and my listening selection is more along the lines of their comedy shows and current affairs - think more Sliced Bread than Start the Week. I have, however, discovered a real love of Desert Island Discs and will often listen to this when out for a ramble (I can't run at the moment). The interesting thing is that I often find Desert Island Discs most fascinating when it is someone who I have never heard of (with the exception of the recent episode with Norman Cook). Last week, I listened to one with Emma Grede. I've got to be honest, I'd not heard of her and it turns out that that's probably because I'm not a Kardashian fan and was only vaguely aware of the Skims brand.
Anyway, she is a self-made entrepreneur and from a young age was ambitious to be successful and wasn't afraid to work hard for it. What came across on Desert Island Discs was that she is a grafter. Someone who has always understood that success requires tenacity, persistence and luck. I was very impressed, I love an example of this kind of mentality and someone who will do whatever it takes - particularly when they've done it via a different route, Grede has dyslexia and was not academic at school. It's also good for young women to have positive role models of women who have made it in business. Her music choice was a certainly empowering stuff including Ain't no mountain high enough and Superwoman. Her worth is valued at 405 million US dollars and she is also a mum of 4!
I didn't really think much more of it but I was reading yesterday about how she and Khloe (Kardashian) have apparently fallen out, in spite of Grede being CEO of Good American, the business they founded together. The article related back to a podcast episode she had done with Stephen Bartlett where they discussed how important work life balance is, and what she looks for when interviewing staff.
Grede said that she has an instant red flag if someone she is interviewing asks her about work life balance. To summarise - and paraphrase, she thinks that successful people go above and beyond what is expected and she wants successful and ambitious people in her team. She doesn't want clock watchers and employees who will be out of the door on the dot of 5pm. There was some discussion - it wasn't quite as black and white as this and Bartlett (of whom I am not a fan), said that 75% of the people he talks to do want a work life balance.
It got me thinking. Bartlett has a good point. I'd probably agree that 75% of people who I talk to want a good work life balance. Heck, I want a good work life balance! But in my twenties when I was absolutely going for it, determined to make my mark and to drive my career forward....I had absolutely no work life balance. I was often at my desk at 5am and relied on black coffee and cigarettes to keep the adrenaline high. I achieved but it was at a cost. Life was fast and furious, the agency I worked at played as hard as it worked hard. By my late twenties I was burned out and had the eczema to prove it*. Whilst on the one hand I had the material benefits of success (money and 'status' - ha!), I was knackered and didn't like myself very much.
The subsequent years working clientside and then moving into recruitment, I definitely took time to work out what was important to me and to figure out what I wanted my work life to look like. I had some periods of intense stress whilst managing teams and as recruitment is very much a target driven environment, my role was not just to motivate myself but also to motivate and incentivise others.
In my thirties, I set up PMP and can honestly say that I've never looked back. I definitely have a good work life balance. But all that went before....made me who I am now. I've always had the work ethic so working for myself didn't require any extra discipline and I also made the decision not to do what a lot of recruiters do - build to sell. I didn't want an empire. I simply wanted to do the job that I enjoyed and not to have to worry about anyone except myself.
I suppose what in a very long winded manner I am saying is that it's different for everyone - but also at different life stages. Most of us worked hard in our twenties to establish ourselves and then for many people their thirties are spent in reasonably senior roles whilst building families. The move into late forties and fifties brings about more change - for many individuals, they know they will be working into their sixties and so they want to reduce the pressure; for others, they'll still have their foot hard on the gas with the potential to retire early. My other observation is that businesses don't need every single employee to be Alpha. The do-ers just need to do. And there are plenty of people out there who are happy to be paid fairly to do a job that they enjoy - but who do not seek to be the Queen Bee. For a very large proportion of people - their job is just something that they do to earn the money to do other things.
Times are different now. Employees are treated much better than they were in the nineties and early noughties. Most agencies have got a good handle on the pressures that their employees face and they are also highly aware that replacing good staff costs money - so it makes much more sense to provide a good working environment where employees are happy. Flexible working, good benefits, fair salaries - your staff will stay with you for longer and productivity is generally higher. So having a good work life balance is recognised by employers and the best agencies have very low staff turnover rates.
I would also say this is another example of 'each to their own'. A business requires lots of different personality types and traits to be successful. Whilst I don't rate them, lots of employers do use psychometric testing in their recruitment, particularly when they are looking for specific personality types to do a particular job.
When I am working with candidates, I ask them what they are looking for. If work life balance is important to them, I know which agencies won't be right for them. If they're alphas, looking for fast tracking to success, then I know which agencies will suit. Horses for courses etc.
So Emma Grede is hugely successful and I'm sure that her work environment is fast paced and only certain people will cut the mustard. It's easy for her to talk about work life balance when she is now wealthy enough to have teams of people running her life for her. But that said, I understood her opinion and in her defence, she has come from nothing to achieve what she has so it makes sense that she looks for other people with similar traits.
There are plenty of jobs, careers and employers out there. It's important to find out what we want to do with our lives, what direction we want to go in and then to find what is right for us. I'm always happy to chat so if you're at a crossroads, do get in touch. There is somewhere for everyone.
By Fiona. 25 August 2026.
*Once I found the right balance, I ditched the fags and I've not had eczema since!