Support when it matters most

“When I first learned that Rio offered shared parental leave for both mums and dads, I was honestly shocked, in the best way.  

It’s something you just don’t see at most companies. That level of support has made a world of difference for our family, especially since we don’t have any extended family nearby in Gladstone. It’s just us and the kids, so having policies like this in place has really helped us manage and thrive as a young family. 

The difference between my experiences with Ivy and Tommy was night and day. When Ivy was born, I had to do the return-to-work juggle on my own. Brandon was working offsite, and if daycare called, I had no backup – I was just trying to survive. But with Tommy, everything changed. Because Brandon and I both had time off, the transition back to work felt so much smoother. I wasn’t thrown straight into juggling daycare pickups and drop-offs – I had space to get back into a routine and ease into that shift between home life and work life. 

Even before going on leave, the support from my leaders was phenomenal. They were flexible with appointments and incredibly accommodating throughout my pregnancy. And I genuinely can’t fault the return-to-work experience. Our leaders continued to support us through the everyday realities of parenting – daycare illnesses, last-minute changes, and all the chaos that comes with that first year. 

Rio’s flexibility made a huge difference. When I returned to work, I was able to come back on reduced hours and work some mornings from home. That made daycare transitions so much easier and helped ease the mental load. 

It truly felt like a team effort. With support from each other and from the business, things that felt impossible the first time around became manageable.  

It’s rare to get a chance like this – to have both parents home and supported. It allows you to actually pause and soak in those precious family moments. And I’m so grateful Rio allows us to do that.”

“When we had our first child, I was working for a different company that didn’t offer any parental leave for non-primary carers. I ended up taking 3 weeks of personal leave and then went straight back to work. It was chaotic – Jas was figuring out motherhood, we didn’t have any family around, and I was working on an island site. If something went wrong at home, I couldn’t just duck back – it just wasn’t an option. 

That experience stayed with me. So when I started looking for a new role, Rio’s parental leave policy was a major drawcard, especially knowing we wanted to have another child.  

And it’s not just that the policy exists – it’s that it’s backed by a culture that genuinely supports it. There’s no guilt from my boss or team, no second guessing. You’re not sacrificing progression in your career to be there for your family. That made all the difference. 

When we had Tommy, we structured our leave differently. Jas took hers in one block at half pay, and I split mine – six weeks at the start, and another three months later on. I actually worked right up until the day Jas was induced – we were in the middle of a major outage, so I was literally racing from site straight to the hospital! 

Those first 6 weeks off helped us find a rhythm as a family of 4. It was probably the only time we’ll ever get to just pause and make our kids the absolute priority. We travelled to Brisbane to see Jas’s family, had visitors over Christmas, and just soaked it all in – without the added stress about juggling work or daycare with it all. 

Even that first brutal year – the broken sleep, the daycare bugs, the constant adjustments – felt more doable because we were both home. When we decided to sleep-train Tommy, who was still waking every two hours at eight months, we could tag-team. One of us could rest while the other took the reins. Little things – like taking the kids out while the other cleaned – suddenly made life feel manageable. 

That second block of leave made a huge difference too. Jas had returned to work by then, so it allowed me to really step in to support the daycare transition and be there when the inevitable illnesses hit, which meant Jas could focus on returning to work and establishing herself and her career again too. It helped all of us adjust. 

I was also moving into a new role at the time – my current Superintendent position – and the team's support never wavered. I’d hesitated to apply because I didn’t think it was fair to the business or to my team to take 3 months off mid-transition.  

But when I spoke with Mark, the General Manager, he said, “Why haven’t you applied? This is what we do. We support people.” And he meant it. I applied, got the job, and the team worked with me to make it all work. My new manager, Chris, also kept in touch while I was on leave and made me feel part of the team before I’d even started. That meant a lot. 

It wasn’t just good for us, either. Others got to step up into acting roles while we were on leave – both in my team and in Jas’s – which created development opportunities and strengthened the talent pipeline. It shifted the mindset from “someone’s going on leave and we need to cover them” to “who can we give a go at a different job with higher duties?”  

For me, those months with the family were irreplaceable. Ivy was 2, Tommy was a baby, and we just got to live in the moment. Grab a coffee, go to the park, be together. Now that I’m back at work and only see them for an hour or two a day, I treasure that time even more. 

I’ll never forget how I was treated. The business supported me to be there for my family and keep growing in my career. That builds real loyalty. In a competitive market like Gladstone – or anywhere, really – that kind of culture makes a big difference.  

Gladstone is a really competitive job market. But I tell my mates and other tradies I know all the time: if you’re starting a family, you’d be crazy not to apply at Rio.”