Polly Osborn
We spoke to Polly Osborn of Simon & Schuster about boundaries, burnout and being a working parent during lockdown.
Polly Osborn is Marketing and Publicity Director at Simon & Schuster UK. This dual role sees her take overall responsibility for all marketing, publicity and communications activities for the adult publishing programme. Polly joined the S&S leadership team in 2018, having started this new role after her maternity leave, a transition she recommends: 'the reason being you are not compared to the employee you were before you had a child.'
'Small changes to your work environment can go a long way to altering your mood and state of mind.'
You spoke at the recent Bookseller conference about the fact that it’s hard to feel professional while working in our current setup. Do you have any tips for readers on how to counter this?
My answer with anything mood-related at work may seem weird to some people, but it’s almost always music. I’ll take five minutes before a big meeting to make a cup of tea and listen to something which will get me in the appropriate mood. I think it has been made easier now that childcare is less of an issue for parents, but if you replicate whatever makes you feel professional in the office, that may help. Is it tidying your desk? Is it wearing something smart? I bought myself a new notepad last week and now I’m a badass. Well, not quite, but these small changes can go a long way to altering your mood and state of mind. I also highly recommend £1 daffodils from the supermarket when in season, as they’re a smiley way to start your day and feel like you’ve nailed your home/office environment.
'I think it’s a positive thing that my colleagues now have a greater insight into my home life and vice versa.'
Everyone is dealing with their own circumstances and challenges at the moment. How has being a parent impacted your experience over the last few months?
Homeschooling was about as fun as a Z-list celebrity book signing when no one turns up: you’re valiantly attempting to jolly everyone along all the while knowing that everyone involved would rather be somewhere else. Being a working parent is always a juggling act, but this year has really taken things up a notch. I think it’s a positive thing that my colleagues now have a greater insight into my home life and vice versa. It’s a reminder that we are all human; that we all have other lives outside of publishing, with other stresses and demands whether we have children or not. I hope this increased awareness remains far beyond the chaos of 2020.
'I would say there was a layer of pressure removed by moving jobs whilst on maternity leave.'
You were hired to your role at S&S whilst on maternity leave – did this add an additional layer of pressure and how did you cope with this?
Conversely, I would say there was a layer of pressure removed by moving jobs whilst on maternity leave (in fact I have done it twice now and would recommend it!). The reason being that you are not compared to the employee you were before you had a child. The clean break also allows you to set new boundaries that are distinct to your new home set up.
The pressure does come, though, in taking on what might be a bigger job when you might feel at your most frazzled. You also don’t necessarily know what your new company is like when it comes to flexibility for working parents. In both instances, I did plenty of research and was very open about my circumstances when negotiating which made the start easier. I also tried to ensure that my childcare arrangements were fully set up further in advance of my start date to give me that time to prepare mentally for the shift.
I would highly recommend Harvard Business Review’s Women at Work podcast, which I found really informative and reassuring around return to work post-maternity leave.
'Burnout is definitely something I have to keep an eye on both personally and professionally for those in my team.'
We are about to encounter a log-jam of autumn publishing this autumn, given the number of titles that have moved around in the schedule. With the dual nature of your role, how do you avoid burnout at such a demanding time?
This September has been like no other I have witnessed. And I have to applaud all the publicity and marketing departments across the industry who have achieved extraordinary things in very challenging circumstances.
Burnout is definitely something I have to keep an eye on both personally and professionally for those in my team. It’s more difficult to manage remotely. You don’t pick up on those little signals that might indicate someone is less than okay. As such it is incumbent on me to ensure I’m doing my best to repeatedly check and create an environment where it’s ok to share if things are getting on top of you. I’ve not always got it right but I will always try.
'Try to pick up the phone if something is urgent. This helps manage everyone’s expectations about response time.'
Personally, I’ve definitely had the odd wobble. There are those moments where you feel you’re not doing a good enough job, that your to do list is spiralling out of control, the feeling that you haven’t had a publicity ‘hit’ for a few weeks – all compounded by a news agenda that is simultaneously horrifying and baffling. I also think that remote working can sometimes make it more difficult to take proper holidays. You have to over-communicate that you are going to be away and manage people’s expectations of your availability more strictly.
Things I have done which have helped so far:
Try to pick up the phone if something is urgent and reduce urgent email traffic. This helps manage everyone’s expectations about response time.
Tell people until they are bored of hearing it that you’re about to go on holiday.
Put your out of office on for periods in the day, even if you just need to get a specific task done or are in meetings.
As a manager, whenever I can I resist sending emails I may have written after 6pm or before 9am and just save to my drafts folder instead.
Develop good friends in publishing – I’ve lucked out on this one, but I can highly recommend it.
'I feel awful sometimes that I’m not able to give the team more of my time, more of my headspace.'
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced managing such a large team?
By far and away it’s the guilt. It could be my Catholic upbringing, but I feel awful sometimes that I’m not able to give the team more of my time, more of my headspace. I am CONSTANTLY apologising to them. But I’m very lucky. Our team is jam-packed with thoroughly good eggs who also happen to be utterly brilliant at their jobs. I couldn’t be prouder of them.
Finally, can you tell us about another woman in the industry who you particularly admire?
There are so many impressive women I have had the pleasure of working with, many of whom have become my dearest friends. For this though, I am going to choose someone for whom I only worked for 18 months and who we sadly very suddenly lost this year – Carolyn Reidy. Carolyn was the global CEO of Simon & Schuster. She was a remarkable woman and publisher. Her ability to hone in on the detail whilst retaining a global perspective was astonishing. She was committed to her job but also was entertaining to have dinner with. She was fiercely intelligent, commercially minded but also warm and generous. We also had very similar taste in books so she was clearly very wise. I didn’t know her as well as others but I feel very privileged to have worked for her for the short time that I did.
Further reading...
Polly has long advocated for women in publishing to be better supported throughout their pregnancies, including a recent article for The Bookseller titled The Parent Trap.
Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet is this year's deserved winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction. You can catch up on our recent interview with Kate Mosse about her experience of launching the prize and how it has evolved over 25 years: 'Now, as then, we want the Women’s Prize to be about honouring and celebrating exceptional, accessible, original, brilliant, spine-tingling writing by women.'
