How Equifax Supports New Parents: Parental Leave and Flexible Workplace Culture

The parental leave and hybrid work model at Equifax helped new dad Tim Alewood evolve into a better leader while balancing family. Read more about his story below.

Tell us about your role at Equifax.

Hi, I’m Tim, Head of Customer Operations for Workforce Solutions in ANZ. I lead the 'engine room' for our Verification Exchange, which essentially means I oversee the entire post-sales ecosystem.

Since joining Equifax in 2019, I’ve transitioned through several roles, each expanding my responsibilities. Today, my role covers the full customer journey, from initial onboarding and technical integration to long-term value realisation. It’s a dynamic space where I’m lucky enough to witness first-hand how our solutions deliver on their promise. Lately, I’ve also been partnering closely with our Sales team on front-end engagements to help position our offering, which has been a great way to bridge the gap between contracting and a live solution. This is something I’ve personally found immensely rewarding.

I’m proud to lead an empowered, high-performing team with a clinical focus on efficiency, ensuring we deliver the gold standard in employment income verification while maintaining a culture of radical presence and work-life integration.

You recently became a new dad. Can you share how Equifax supported you in planning for the arrival of your son?

Equifax offers paid parental leave, which I combined with my accrued annual leave to take a total of three months off to be present for my son’s first few months of life. The support I received, especially from my line manager, Dylan John, was phenomenal! His perspective has always been "family first." When I asked about taking the extended time, the conversation was never about if I could do it, but how we would best plan for it. This level of support and flexibility was truly appreciated, and I was excited to take the time off without any concern.

Now that you’ve returned to work, how have you managed your daily routine and work-life balance? What does the hybrid work schedule look like for your family?

Honestly, the transition back was tough because I missed my family so much. But the flexibility here really smoothed the return, especially since I have a long commute to the office. Having a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office and 2 days work from home has meant that I'm able to structure my days to get work done and spend valuable time with my family. This autonomy is what takes the guilt out of returning to work. Instead of life having to revolve around my work, it feels more like work and life are "slotting in together."

How has becoming a new dad transformed your leadership style?

Becoming a father enforced boundaries in my day for family commitments like daycare pickup, which ironically resulted in me being more productive during the day. My time became more focused. This forced me to reprioritise my time management. Taking three months off also highlighted just how capable my team truly was. Seeing how well they stepped up and supported one another while I was off, reinforced that I could be better at empowering them to continue to step up and develop. This shifted my perspective away from feeling like I always had to be available. Overall, this change moved my focus from work being the center of my identity to work being one of many components of my life.

How did you use this realisation to keep building development opportunities for your team?

Before my leave, I tended to be more rigid and would clean up tasks before handing them over, which unintentionally prevented my team members from applying their own creative thinking to solve problems. My leave expedited a necessary change by forcing me to hand back tasks that the team should have already owned.

Now, I take more calculated risks, empowering my team and allowing them to grow into opportunities earlier. I encourage them to apply their own lens to solving business problems while ensuring appropriate support and cross-training for key tasks. This means they fully own their work, and I focus on strategic items and act as a resource to remove blockers. Over the past year, I’ve seen phenomenal growth and increased confidence in my team, which cemented the belief that taking leave is beneficial because it creates genuine opportunities for others to learn and step up.

To wrap up on a fun note, you mentioned that your business unit has seen a baby boom recently. What’s it like having so many new parents in your workplace, and how does that influence the team dynamic?

It’s been fantastic. For some reason, our team seems to have a lot of new parents, and we are a close-knit team to begin with. I even snuck in a metric during our end-of-year business review to count how many babies we’d had in our area; it was about six in a year across the local and international teams. This common experience has helped everyone relate to one another a lot. We understand each other's needs, especially when it comes to how we can best offer support, whether it’s dealing with daycare sickness or lack of sleep that comes with young children, the common understanding and empathy we have for each other's situations makes it so much easier. We all have a job to do, but we operate with more flexibility, knowing that we can focus on the role, even if it means sending an email at seven o'clock after putting the kids to bed.

If Tim’s story of supported parental leave, career growth, and flexible work resonates with you, explore open roles at Equifax and find your next opportunity today.