Hi, I'm Muhammad.

I grew up with my parents, grandparents and siblings in West London. When I was young I loved playing football and being outside with my friends. At school I enjoyed maths and my mum always encouraged me to do extra workbooks in my spare time, helped me to progress further in my studies. When I left I took a gap year to save some money and travel abroad. I worked at a summer school for a few months before getting a job at Heathrow Airport in a cafe. During that time my dad’s health started to decline, and I spent more time helping out at home. I have a really strong family network, which meant they were able to help care for him while I went to university in Exeter. But after graduating I knew I wanted to find a career that would offer me the flexibility to support my family. By that time another of my close family members had been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder, while my dad was struggling with kidney disease. I applied for Deloitte’s graduate scheme because their reputation and flexible working culture really appealed to me.

I joined the graduate scheme in Deloitte’s consulting business as an analyst. I now support clients to adopt new technology systems that will increase efficiency in the financial side of their business. I love learning about new systems and the different ways companies operate. I like solving problems and enhancing the quality of our clients’ data and operations. 

Outside of work, I’m a carer for my dad and my other family member who lives with a neurodegenerative condition. Since joining the firm, my dad’s disease progressed to renal failure, and he’s had a kidney transplant. Being a dual carer and balancing a fulltime job comes with some unique time management challenges. I go to their house before starting work to help with medications and the upkeep of the home. My dad is often quite poorly in the mornings and needs some extra support. This is balanced around meetings, and it can be hard to predict when an emergency might occur for either of them. I sometimes call it chaos management because you learn to take things as they come.

I’m part of the Carers Network at Deloitte and they’ve been really helpful and supportive. As part of my role as carers’ lead, I schedule and host coffee mornings, where we provide each other with tips for time management, prioritising your needs and discuss issues impacting carers. My team and clients have all been aware of my situation and they are really understanding. As well as offering flexible working, the firm has also introduced additional leave for carers. This means I get five days of extra paid leave every year when needed, which I can use by the hour if I need to. I try to go into the office when I can, as I really enjoy the change in environment, but everyone understands when this isn’t possible. 

Deloitte also offers paid volunteering hours each month, and I use mine to take part in the Five Million Futures project, where we work with schools and charities to support better futures for young people. I’m currently helping children from low socioeconomic backgrounds to develop their literacy skills.