Linda Wayman: “We provide condoms to stop staff having babies… and work-life balance is bullshit”

Linda Wayman is the GM for SCA’s two Perth properties, hit 92.9 and Mix94.5 and they do have a big jar of condoms at work.. Why?  

To give you a little background, Linda was part of a panel on recruitment and culture.

At the Mumbrella Perth Conference, Linda set the scene saying that of their 100 staff on the books, a third are either on maternity leave or covering a position for someone who is.

Speaking at the Mumbrella conference, Linda said: “Thirty five per cent of my staff at the moment are on a maternity leave contract or maternity leave and that’s significant.”

“We do have a big jar of condoms at work. I’m not lying, I’m not exaggerating. I do encourage people regularly, to have sex with condoms. That is a big area of focus for me, encouraging people to have sex with condoms.”

It was a panel discussion and with International Women’s Day on Sunday, Linda spoke on how she and SCA tried to support new mums, but she drew a line in the sand as well, telling attendees:   “I don’t agree with the union push at the moment that women coming back to work, automatically should be allowed to come back part time. I’d love to, but I’d be lying if I said that was wonderful. It’s an idealistic and anti-commercial stance.”

We all know that radio is a 24/7 business and we can work some crazy hours and times. Linda spoke of her experience being a mum and working in the business saying:

“We do try to be flexible. We have all sorts of arrangements at our work place. In some industries it’s a very difficult thing.”

“I’ve been in the same position myself twice. It is very very tough. You have to make a decision, ‘I’m going to have a baby and then I’m just going to go for it’.

“There’s no such thing as work-life balance, it’s bullshit, you just do it. Make the decision to do the best you can.”

You can read more about Linda's thoughts and the panel discussion from the Mumbrella Perth Conference here.