Part -Time, Please!

Contents Introduction Part 1: I’m dreading going back! Am I alone? - You are never alone! - A mum’s perspective of the return to work - A manager’s perspective of the return to work - A legal perspective - Summary Part 2: What are my part-time options? - Your options are endless! - Three mums share their successful negotiation experience and part-time working pattern Julie - HR Manager Helen - Customer Service Manager Suzy - Police Officer - Summary Part 3: How do I negotiate for part-time work? - It’s easier than you think! - 10 tips for negotiating with your employer - Part-time working request - Summary Part 4: Support sounds great! What support? - Ask and you will receive! - Re-integration support proposal - Home support plan - Summary Part 5: How do I stay on track when I go back? - Leaves falling onto the line is normal! - Three mums share how they got back on track Cerys - Secondary School Teacher Emma - Management Accountant Toni - Medical Researcher - Summary Closing words of encouragement End Notes Appendices Index About the Author Introduction Congratulations on becoming a mum! According to the Office for National Statistics 808,000 babies were born in the UK in 2011. As the UK birth rate is fairly stable and various studies have shown that roughly 65% of mums go back to work after childbirth we can estimate that an impressive 525,000 women rejoined the UK workforce at some point in 2012! That’s a lot of women going through a lot of change – and it happens every year! I had my own much longed for daughter in summer 2009. As a professional woman I always knew I wanted to go back to work part-time after my maternity leave and I was in that mindset from the start of my pregnancy. What struck me as I went through the experience was the lack of guidance available to help me through the return to work process. As my maternity leave came to an end I realised I didn’t feel at all informed in a number of important areas and six big questions stood out in particular: - how to get peace of mind about leaving my baby in childcare. - how to regain my professional confidence. - what part-time working pattern to ask for. - how to negotiate part-time working with my employer. - how to embrace becoming a working mum and make it a positive experience. - what to do if my employer rejected my application to work part-time. Since early 2010 I have sought to better understand the life-changing transition to becoming a working mum. I have interviewed scores of women in both the private and public sector and had very useful conversations with managers in a variety of industries. I have become trained in maternity law, gained a coaching qualification and designed a successful post maternity re-integration support programme that I now offer through my company, OptiMums. This book will help you in all the areas identified above and enable you to approach your own return to work in a well informed, proactive and professional manner. You have some important decisions to make and, if this is your first baby, a big life change to adjust to but you are not alone. It will be my pleasure to share your journey with you and pass on what I have learned as a result of my own, far from perfect, return to work experience and subsequent research and training development. The goal of this book is to enable you to feel supported, think broader and plan your own return to work effectively. This is not designed to be a self-help book that you read in order to temporarily lift your mood. Used fully this book will provide you with tangible end results and you will have created and negotiated your personal return to work solution. A few notes about terminology before we get started. As I researched the book it became apparent that when mums talk to each other they use the term ‘part-time’ to describe their working pattern even if it also includes elements such as home working, shift work or flexible hours. Throughout the book I have therefore used ‘part-time’ in the same umbrella manner. I’m sure you recognise the term ‘flexible working request’. It is the formal description for an application to change the terms of a contract of employment. It isn’t a term that mums use everyday when they talk to each other however. Most of us announce, “I’ve asked to work part-time.” So I have therefore used the phrase ‘part-time working request’ in place of ‘flexible working’ in most areas because it is a better fit with the context and tone of the book. As you get started don’t worry if you only get a few spare minutes here and there to read. I recognise that it is unlikely that you will be able to get through this book in just a few sittings. In recognition of this I will end each chapter with a summary of key points. This will help if you are interrupted, sleep deprived, short of time or a mum who, like me, finds a quick recap helps to solidify learning before moving on to the next topic. Just as each one of us is an individual with different family situations and different jobs, each return to work solution will be unique. Some aspects of this book may be helpful and others less so. That’s fine. Take what works for you and disregard what doesn’t. For those of you reading a paper version of this book I would encourage you to use it as a notepad rather than simply a read. Please feel free to grab a pen or a highlighter and scribble in the margins or underline whatever you find most helpful as you go along. There is a baby in your house after all so this book will probably be chewed, dribbled on and crawled over in no time anyway! Go and find whatever you need and let’s get started!