There are some questions you can ask before you return to work from Maternity leave that might help you out – I’ve listed a bunch of them here but this list is not exhaustive.
The more questions you can ask (even to yourself) about how your new working-parent life might look, feel, and work, the better in my opinion. After all, the devil’s in the detail.
(Note: This one’s for all the employees out there. If you’re self-employed instead you might find this resource useful: https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/maternity-and-parental-rights-for-self-employed-parents/)
If your return to work is looming – get thinking about these now:
- How many days of holiday have I accrued?
When you are on maternity leave, you will accrue an amount of holiday days. It’s useful to know what this amount is because you can factor it in to your return to work.
You could take all your holiday at the start of your return, effectively delaying your return for a bit longer, but getting an ‘annual leave’ wage instead of statutory maternity pay.
Or, you could use it to return to work ‘part-time’ – taking one day of holiday a week for example.
All of these scenarios will depend on how long you’ve had on maternity leave and what your employer is like – so make sure you have a chat about the options as early as possible.
For more information on holiday and maternity leave, check out the excellent, no-nonsense Pregnant Then Screwed website: https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/advice-page-holiday-while-on-maternity-leave/
- Where can I breastfeed?
If you have breastfed your baby since birth, (first of all, I salute you! I found it really hard and didn’t really manage it beyond 2 weeks in) you may have lots of reasons why you want to continue breastfeeding even when you return to work after maternity leave.
Your job shouldn’t have to stop you breastfeeding if that’s what you want to do.
Again the key is discussing this with your employer, so make sure you talk to them about it early. As an employer in the UK they have certain duty of care responsibilities for working, breastfeeding mothers, including conducting a risk assessment.
The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) sets out best practice for employers to provide a private and safe environment for breastfeeding mothers to express.
NOT THE TOILET. Don’t let anyone fob you off with that as a suggestion.
If your company doesn’t yet have a policy on this, maybe now’s the time they should create one.
For further reading, check out the NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding-and-lifestyle/back-to-work/
- What financial help can I get?
The UK government provides tax-free childcare accounts, which you can use to pay for an approved childcare provider. For every £8 you put into the account, the government will top up with £2.
Given the cost of childcare in this country is astronomical, this can be such a help.
As with anything government related, it is a bit of a faff to get set up, but once you’re off and running it’s actually pretty easy. (You have to reconfirm your details every so often too.)
See if you’re eligible for this on the Gov.uk website here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare
- Can I change my working hours?
Even if you haven’t had children, you are entitled to make a flexible working request at work.
This usually means changing your ‘standard’ working hours to better suit you. Your childcare situation may not suit your pre-maternity working hours, so again it’s advisable to have a conversation with your employer about this as early as possible.
Every employer will have a different way of handling this, but remember you have a legal right to ask for it.
For details on how you can make an application and what your employer must do – go here: https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working
- My job is no longer available to return to! What are my rights?
This one is really tricky and an emotionally draining situation – I hope it doesn’t happen to you.
Here is when getting things in writing becomes as important as talking things through with your employer.
If this does happen to you – this is the first place I’d go for support: https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/redundancy/
And finally…
- Can you help me?
This might be hard for you to do, but to ease your Juggle Struggle, I urge you to practise doing it!
Ask for help. Specific help.
People are usually happy to help, but they won’t know how to unless you tell them.
First identify exactly what it is that you need help with. Then think about who would be well-placed to help you. Then – just ask the question. You won’t lose anything by asking, and you have everything to gain.
Repeat after me:
“I need help, please can you [insert details] at this time. I’d really appreciate it.”
It might be the nursery drop-off, it might be the shopping, it might be giving you 5 minutes to meditate when you get home from work, whatever it is – please practice asking. It’s a skill to build.
If you’ve already gone back to work after maternity leave, what questions did you ask your employer, your family, or yourself! Let me know in the comments.
And one last favour to ask – if you think this blog would help someone you know – please share it!
Thank you for reading. Happy juggling 🙂
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