When to tell employer

[jumblebeee]

I am in Scotland, and am currently 6 months into maternity leave. My husband and I have made the decision to move back to Wales to raise our family and be closer to relatives. We have just had confirmation we have sold our property here, so we are set to leave in a few weeks time.

My husband will continue to work at his current job but remotely, and will mainly WFH after the move. My job, however, does not allow working remotely from head office, so I am planning on resigning.

The decision to resign is also coupled with other reasons - I've been there 6 years and company culture has changed, and I have only received 2 pay rises in this time despite very good performance reviews. I also feel like I want to be a SAHM for the next few years as I want to have other children and would love to be around before they go to school.

However, I have a great relationship with my boss, and the company have given me brilliant projects to work on. I want to maintain good relationships in case opportunities in the future arise.

My dilemma is how to handle telling my work:

On the one hand I feel obligated to tell my boss my plans, and hand in my notice ASAP so that they can plan for me not returning. It feels like I'm being dishonest /sneaky by not sharing my plans.

On the other hand, I am thinking it is wise to wait until the end of my mat leave to hand my notice in. I want to protect myself to ensure I'm maximising my accrued annual leave benefit and mat pay.

For context, my company only offers statutory mat pay and leave, so I wouldn't need to repay anything for not returning.

YANBU - wait until the end of may leave to hand notice in

YABU - hand notice in now, and let company know you are moving

Or...any advice on how you would handle it all would be much appreciated :)

💯 wait

Definitely wait

I was very very honest with my work to why I left and how hard the decision was. Thanked them for the opportunities and wished them well. They got back in contact 15 months later asking if I wanted to return to a similar role. Basically nobody had quite done it as efficiently or incorporated the tasks into the role as I did. They allowed me to choose my hours, pay and be fully remote. I had a 7 week old at the time and made it all on my terms to how the role could be done and what hours I needed to get it done with. Still there now 3 years on and fits perfectly around school / pre school hours. I've even moved far away from head office and they just shrugged their shoulders and let me crack on. Just be gracious, honest and who knows what it could lead to in the future if you stay in your same industry.

Wait.

As an employer I have to be honest and say that in the back of your mind you do wonder and semi plan for your maternity leaves to not come back.

So although you are being lovely thinking about them, they may already have an inkling.

So I'd stay quiet 🤫 and get your full maternity leave.

If you are on occupational maternity leave you should check whether you will have to pay it back before you decide.

Definitely check this ⬆️ Some companies have a clawback clause if you don’t return to work for a min period. I would be honest. You don’t plan to return anyway and if you’re entitled to them then they can’t stop them anyways. It’s the decent thing to do to let them know.

OP has already said she only gets SMP so there’s no maternity pay to pay back.
@jumblebeee you can accrue a full year of annual leave plus holidays if you take the full year of maternity. They will have to pay this back to you if you leave.

Plan what your notice period is and inform them your employment will end on that date.

Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate all your thoughts - first time posting here, and first time handing in a notice, so it's helpful to hear other opinions and experiences!

Yes, my mat leave and pay entitlement is just statutory; there's no claw back clause to consider in this case.

I should add to my original post; the company needed to make some redundancies in the beginning half of the year, which I think has been playing into my conscience / debate in my head.

Though, I am feeling more reassured that waiting is probably the better option for me. It's good to read if others still maintaining a good relationship with the employer.

Thanks again 😊