Moving employer, pregnancy, mat leave etc

[Jadefeather7]

So I’m currently 3 months into mat leave. Love my job but things are changing to due changes in top level management. My boss is thinking of creating his own start up in a year or so and wants to take me with him which I want to do. However my plan was always to have a 2nd DC in about 2 years from now. Startup won’t offer same mat leave I have here. It would make sense for me to hang on here for a bit and have the 2nd one but if my boss goes I don’t know if they will replace him and I’m worried they might decide to do away with my department and that would put me at risk of redundancy. Redundancy packages are really poor from what I’ve read online. DH suggested getting pregnant soon so that when I go back I go on mat leave pretty much straight away again and then they might find it more difficult to make me redundant if they did want to consider that. The idea of having a one year age gap is so daunting and not what I imagined. I was expecting to have a 3 year age gap. Really confused about what to do.

Getting pregnant to avoid redundancy, oh dear God.

exactly how much better than statutory is your current package? and how long have you been at your current place? and how big is your current place?

if you're at risk of redundancy they have to offer you any alternative position that's available and suitable.

I wouldn't choose a short gap for the sake of better redundancy, but that's because I'd have had to give up work after as couldn't afford 2 lots of childcare without 3 year funding so needed min 2 year gap.

I’d personally go for the right job. Unfortunately there’s no guarantees with TTC a second so how would you feel if you didn’t move to the start up and also took longer to conceive than you’re planning?

If your boss is creating the start up, then tell him that you will go for the right benefits. He has the choice of what he offers, and may be willing to negotiate.

Stay where you are. If you're made redundant, apply for a job in your bosses new start up.
If your maternity pay will be less, plan for that. Work longer between kids to save up, go back more days than planned to save up. Dont get pregnant just so they don't make you redundant!
Plus surely they wouldnt give you the great maternity package if you've only been back a month or two?

If there would be a genuine redundancy situation ie because a department is closing you wouldn’t be protected just because you are pregnant. I wouldn’t time a pregnancy based on that. Whatever happens, it’s only a job, you’d get another one I’m sure.

You are being too shortsighted. How much money / difference are we talking about here? Totally un-manageable?
Say one company offers you a better maternity deal v one offering statutory minimum.

Can you live off it? How long would it take you to recover from it. It might be 1 year of hardship / tightening your belt v the next 10 years of job satisfaction.

Pregnancy does not protect you from redundancy!

I can't believe you would change your plans for a family on the basis that your current boss might start a business in a year or two! Also, the PP is right about the maternity package possibly being affected by your current absence if you run it straight on - the earning threshold for the statutory pay, for instance.

It's a bit ridiculous to base so much on what other people may or may not do!

Op my role was made redundant while I was on mat leave. The entire department was informed in a meeting I didn't know about, and HR informed me by letter two weeks later. Unfortunately they are in their rights to make you redundant whilst pregnant. If there is another suitable position they must offer it to you but unfortunately in my case their wasn't

I agree planning your family on this basis slightly weird-however.....

You will need to be back at work for 8 weeks before your qualifying week if you want full maternity pay the second time around. Ask HR what the rules are specifically in your organisation- some use two calendar month's payslips not eight weeks.
For example I have two DCs 15 months apart and took full year for first. I came back to work at 4 months pregnant after first mat leave and didn't quite make full mat leave entitlement second time around as the entitlement is counted as your average earnings over this period of time and I missed it by a couple of weeks. If you want two kids a year apart you may need to shorten your current maternity leave to get full pay.

I tho k you need to think beyond mat pay. Unless the difference between packages is massive (and possibly even then) I wouldn't miss out on a good job opportunity.

If you have two very close together what happens after the second mat leave? Can you afford two in childcare without the government funding that comes in at 3?

I'd work out the difference and try to save it up.

I work in HR and have made pregnant employees redundant. It's not the protection you think it is.

”My boss is thinking of creating his own start up in a year or so”

Basing any of your life decisions on this would be utter lunacy.

I don’t really understand why it’s weird to take into account financial factors when planning a family. Plenty of people do this. We didn’t have DC1 until we thought we were in a position to.

Things would be really tight for us if I was on statutory maternity pay. We would probably manage but Iimagine that it would be really stressful so would like to avoid that if possible.

Another option might be to start looking for another role in a big company with enhanced mat leave pay and then see if the start up role is available once I’m done with having kids. There’s obviously a chance that it might not be available then. The other down side to that is that I don’t really like the idea of having to start over and prove myself with another boss especially now that I have a young child.

I was made redundant while on mat leave. I only stayed in the previous restructure because I wanted the generous mat leave again & knew my employer would restructure again quickly. They did & I just squeezed my entire mat leave in before the final transition date! They made a limp attempt to offer us other positions but it wasn't encouraged & many departments of experienced staff were ruthlessly wiped out. I was happy to leave though.

My only advice is to gather information & make a decision based on your circumstances. I'd check your employer's redundancy policy for the calculations they use. Ask hr if need be. Also talk honestly to your boss about what you plan is & what he can offer if you go with & negotiate if possible. If he won't negotiate I'd be wary.
Good luck!

It can be difficult to find out what an employers maternity policy is unless it's a huge company where the info may be on the net, or you know someone there. It's not exactly the kind of thing you want to ask at interview.

There's nothing wrong with planning the financial side of things, OP. But you can't plan on someone else's might-do-this-someday! Large companies are your best bet for maternity pay that goes beyond the statutory minimum. A start-up isn't going to fit the bill there!

I didn’t move schools because I would need to be working for 2 years to be entitled to full maternity pay. I’m also required to be back for a minimum amount of time before I could leave.

Making pregnancy decisions based on money is definitely sensible but it doesn’t even sound like this manager is getting the ball rolling on this new start up. I would wait until there is something definite to decide on.

Just to check, have you read your redundancy policy online; or statutory? It'd be weird to offer great maternity but have poor redundancy in my experience.