Working with a young family

In 2015, Gunjan finished his MBA and applied for a role at EY. He was successful and decided to stay in London with his wife to join as a Senior Consultant in the Supply Chain and Operations team within EY Consulting. Since then, he’s progressed to Senior Manager, built a home, a great network of family and friends and is now a proud father to a two-year old son called Aarav. Gunjan shares his story on how he uses flexible working to maintain his work-life balance and spend time with his family. Read more below.

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pportunities, people and ambition. These are the three things that attracted me to EY. There are a huge amount of services EY offers to clients which means the possibilities are endless. The opportunities to learn and grow your career are exponential. I did my research before joining, read multiple articles and spoke to those who worked at EY and EY Alumni, and realised it was a firm that believes in doing right by its people with a real interest in career growth. This stood out compared to other companies and I knew I could build my long-term career here. EY’s ambition and passion is ‘Building a Better Working World’ so I felt this would be a good home for me. 

Keeping a work-life balance

When I joined, I knew that EY was a people-oriented firm however what truly surprised me was how much people cared about each other and the need to have the right work-life balance. I have always had the flexibility from my managers to manage my work the way I want – and ensure at the end of the day that I give time back to my family.

Flexible working has always been embedded into how we work as a firm however, in the current climate there has been a greater push from leadership, my team and peers for us to truly have the right balance between work and life. 

This flexibility has allowed me to build a bond with my son - which means at times, he loves me more than his mother! The culture at EY definitely has a family feel. I enjoy working in an organisation who want to make a positive difference in the world.

My role

I come from an Engineering background and have Oil & Gas industry experience with a passion for innovation. A proud moment for me was seeing the transformation and digital tools we developed for an Oil & Gas giant come to life after three months and the client recognising the value on a global call.

Consulting changes daily and I enjoy being able to work with different people from diverse cultures, working across multiple industries in global locations. The current climate has no doubt had a strong impact on the Oil & Gas industry which is my predominant focus. EY has supported me by offering me the right learning to develop my skills into knowledge that I have been able to transfer and help clients from other industries.

Aside from my day-to-day client work in Supply Chain and Operations, I have an active role within the firm to think of how the industry innovation can be further enhanced and customised for clients, helping us to strengthen our relationships. I also work on Thought Leadership pieces by consolidating a perspective based on market trends and partnering with relevant teams to write white papers for our clients and the industry. Having different experiences and opportunities to learn has helped me to progress from Senior Consultant to Manager, and now a Senior Manager. I’m excited to see where my career goes with EY.

My advice for a work-life balance

Everyone has their own requirement for flexible working, and I have seen a variety of models work for different team members ranging from three days working, to working from 06:00 to 13:00 every day. There is no pre-defined flexible working arrangement, EY gives you flexibility to design your working schedule. The biggest thing is having a two-way communication and having flexibility from both sides. I’ve found I’ve been able to innovate with clients and progress in my career without missing out on any family time.