At Core3, we’re passionate about helping people find careers that align with their values. In a recent episode of The Conscious Finance podcast, we were joined by Jayne Phan who spoke openly about her struggles with work-life balance and mental health, and how finding a company aligned with her values led to personal and professional fulfilment.
Who is Jayne Phan?
At the time of recording this podcast episode, Jayne was Finance Director for Sawday’s, a B Corp and employee-owned travel company that offers independent hotels, B&Bs, inns and self-catering getaways in the UK and Europe. Since September 2024, Jayne has stepped into the FD role of Employee Owned B Corp Paradigm Norton, an award-winning financial planning firm.
Jayne’s finance journey began at one of the ‘big four’, Ernst & Young. By her own admission, she didn’t give a great deal of thought to where she worked, apart from the fact that her dad had steered her towards trying to get a good salary and work for a reputable company.
Jayne spent seven years at Ernst & Young, starting in Bristol and spending the final three years in Ottawa, Canada. She’d subconsciously thought that she needed to assimilate to a company in her career but that didn’t quite sit right with her. Although she enjoyed her time in Canada, she decided to move back to the UK and look for her next opportunity, one where she could work for a single company and see the value in her work.
Looking for jobs in industry, she bounced around between different companies because she lacked a real connection to their values.
A turning point
The big turning point was becoming a mother. After returning from work after maternity, Jayne experienced a mild mental breakdown where she was having intrusive thoughts, anxiety and panic attacks. Jayne sought help from a therapist who helped her realise she had spent her working life assimilating. She hadn’t thought about what she wanted, what she felt, and how she could be authentic to herself. Being a mother was the most authentic thing she’d ever experienced. A stark contrast from going to work and pretending to be something she wasn’t. Jayne knew she had to do something about this.
Shortly after quitting her job, Jayne was contacted about a role at Sawday’s. Dismissive about the role at first, she was encouraged to at least go for an interview (the power of persistence in recruitment!). Jayne reveals she was the most honest she’d ever been in an interview, partly because she felt she had nothing to lose. She proposed doing the role part-time and was surprised when they agreed. The MD sent her a lovely welcome email explaining how Sawday’s was the right fit for her. She accepted because she’d realised in the short time she’d known the company, she could see they were different and progressive from anywhere else she’d worked. Working at Sawday’s has completely flipped everything she knew and thought about finance. She’s been encouraged to be herself, be more nurturing, and lead in her own way.
The role of finance in a purpose-driven business
Transparent reporting, joined-up thinking between departments, and supporting others in the business with open and honest feedback are just some of the functions of Jayne’s finance role at Sawday’s. She explained that this is all made possible because she works with people who are fully aligned with the same point of view.
One insight Jayne shared was about profit. She explained that if the business is making a profit, it shows they’re running a good business. Becoming myopic on profit often means businesses can do things to the detriment of various stakeholders. It’s important to run a balanced ecosystem where employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders are all happy – that’s the perfect balance.
It’s about the employees
As part of its employee-owned structure, Sawday’s has an Employee Ownership Council. People from around the business volunteer and are elected. As part of that council, there is an employee director, who voices and represents the employees. Jayne suggests this is a great mechanism because a lot of boards struggle because they’re so disconnected from their teams.
Outside of work, Jayne is a governor at her children’s school. Before working on her mental health, she never felt like she had space for anything else in her life. Encouragingly, Jayne explained that when her mental health started to get better then she found more ways to give back.
But Jayne’s final tip is to not feel bad for not being able to cram too much into your life. You shouldn’t compare yourself to anyone else and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be something extraordinary.
For most people, being a parent is purpose enough. If you put everything into your kids, then that’s a life worth living. If everybody just made two people’s lives better, imagine the impact that would have. Being a good ordinary is a perfectly well-lived life.
Watch the full episode
We covered lots more in our hour with Jayne and you can watch the full episode on the Core3 YouTube channel: Jayne Phan – Breaking Expectations – The Conscious Finance Podcast.
At Core3, we’re proud to support professionals and businesses in making sustainability a core part of their mission. If you’re looking for a career in sustainable finance or want to build a purpose-driven team, we’re here to help.
