Woman quits £2.5million-a-year executive job after her children said they don't see her enough

A woman has quit as the £2.5million boss of one
of Britain’s biggest firms to spend more time at
home after one of her children told her: ‘I want my
mum back.’

Ruby McGregor-Smith, 53, has spent nine years
juggling her role as chief executive of security and
cleaning staff supplier Mitie with raising her two
children.

But yesterday Baroness McGregor-Smith, Britain’s
first Asian boss of a top FTSE 250 company,
announced plans to step down, saying this was
partly influenced by the comments from her
children.

Her resignation will reignite the debate over the
challenges facing mothers struggling to balance
work
and home life.

Baroness McGregor-Smith, who was ennobled in
the 2015 dissolution honours list, said:
‘I always thought ten years would be long
enough in the role.
‘When I started my children were aged eight
and ten and now one is at university and the
other doing A-levels.

‘We talked to the children about me leaving
the job last year and both said they want
more time with me. Being a mum of two
young people was always something I had to
juggle with work. It’s been really tough.’

The executive will step down by the end of the
year.
When she took the top job at Mitie in 2007 her
husband Graham, 54, stepped back from his job
working in private equity to spend more time at
home. He also retrained as a baritone opera
singer.

Baroness McGregor-Smith said:
‘I was still a really hands-on mum. Typically
I would get up by 6am and the big thing was
being with [the children] in the morning and
taking them to school and doing lift shares
with other mums.’
She usually made it home by early evening and
both parents cooked the evening meal together.
She has said previously:
‘You need to work with people who
understand you have a family and that you
are a mother first and foremost. To make it
work in top jobs, women need a lot of
support to allow them to do it alongside
having a family.’