Share your top tips for parental leave and getting back into the workplace with Pearson

[EllieMumsnet]

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Parental leave is a time that can be filled with so many different emotions from excited, happy, anxious to a little overwhelmed. There is also a lot of information out there about how to return to the workplace and for many the difficulty is finding a job that allows them to either be part time or allows flexible working. But most importantly it is a life changing period of time for both fathers and mothers alike. With that in mind Pearson would like to know all your best parental leave tips and how you got back into the workplace.

Here is what Pearson has to say: “Examiner and Standards Verifier, Heidi McEntee who is mum to three (6,3,1), explains the benefits of her role within Pearson and how it fits around her role as a mum. “You can pick how much or how little work you take on. I can reduce my workload to suit what kind of life I want to have with my children, even now as a Senior Standards Verifier.” When asked if she’d recommend the role to other mums she said, “Yes, I would definitely recommend to other mums. Due to the flexibility of the role it means I can attend all of the events at my son's school, which is something I couldn't do before. I can drop my kids off and pick them up from school which I am incredibly thankful for.”

Pearson has maintained a friendly attitude to parental leave throughout, Kevin Lyons, Senior HR at Pearson says, “We actively promote flexible and agile working and also have many remote workers, and have seen excellent take up of shared parental leave. We see work as an activity and not a place, and are committed to a culture of effective working in a flexible and agile way”

What helped you return to the workplace after being on parental leave? Do you have any tips for getting back into the swing of your new life? How did you make sure you were still able to have time with family as well as working again? Do you have any tips or great pieces of advice for how to get prepared on parental leave?

Whatever your tips are for maternity leave and returning back to the workplace, let us know on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

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I think the key thing for me was organisation and planning ahead - making meals in bulk so that when I am tired a meal was waiting for us without any effort on my part. I also like using the slow cooker for the same reason because you can chuck it all in in the morning and come back to a cooked meal. I went back full time intially which I think was too much for me as I wasn't getting anytime for myself so make sure you build yourself some admin time at home when your kids are not there and some time for you too. You don't have to do everything, so I also had to redistribute the jobs at home back between my husband and myself as whilst off I had taken on more responsibility. Also we allocated some of my money to a cleaner and some other things that helped me readdress the balance.

I found part time work was a good mix of adult and child time. Also choosing good child care.

I found it really tough going back to work. I felt guilty that no one was getting my full attention - I still feel that way. I'm sure loads of women feel that way and I don't have a tip to overcome it.

For me, it was about making life easier where I could. A key survival tip was online shopping - it may sound simple but being able to update my shopping order and meal plan on my commute was so helpful. I never had to waste time rushing to the shops or thinking about food. I also got a cleaner to come twice a week which helped enormously.

I'm just about to start looking at this as I'm pregnant...for me already I've discovered you need to educate yourself on your employers rules. We want to share my maternity leave so I can go back to work sooner but already I've discovered that my employers rules for things like keeping in touch days are very different to my partners...so for me even at this early stage it's about educating ourselves. It's also that if you work for a big organisation you may find the rules aren't understood or are interpreted differently in your dept! It's a minefield!

I work on a job share which I love. 7 years and going strong! Means that I work 50% hours but know that when I am not there, my job share is - takes a lot of the stress out

I find batch cooking helped me worry less about going back to work.

It’s hard, I think you have to prepare as much as you can in advance, meal prep, practice the kid drop off etc, but also give yourself a break. Accept that things won’t be perfect for a while, the house will be a state, the kids will stop sleeping for a while, and it will be a bit crap for a while but like everything it’ll pass!

I think it was a benefit to me that I went back into a different team so I didn’t feel pressure to perform as I had before: I was learning a whole new job so it gave me permission to be slower and get to grips with things.
I used all my KIT days over a few weeks so it got me and DS used to our new situations in a gradual build up.
I had high expectations of myself but was actually really ill for the first couple of weeks because DS brought home so many new germs from starting nursery, but strangely it helped me bond quickly with my team as they all remembered being ill when theirs started nursery so they really supported me through all the colds and coughs .

Don't set your expectations of yourself too high. Try to get enough sleep. Keep a sense of perspective about what matters and try to see things from everyone's different point of view. Self-care by booking the odd day's holiday/flexitime without children to do what you want. If you don't have family nearby then build a strong network of friends at the school gate - they will prove invaluable for emergencies and practical support, and because you can help them out too it's a win win for all involved.

Take as long off as possible and don't think about it untill you absolutely have to. I'm lucky that my area of work has lots of women who have returned to work after maternity and generally it's a very family supportive environment

Go back to work part time if feasible as soon as you can, when your baby/babies are still little.

That way, you don't lose your confidence.

Being out of the workplace for more than 2 years, you lose touch with what's going on, and also lose confidence. There is a reason for that cliche

It really depends on your own circumstances but for me, i was able to take my time and go back once all the kids were at school so I had 10 years out of work. Doing volunteer work inbetween helped me keep my confidence i think.

So heartened to see moves towards flexibility. I am lucky enough to work on a job share and completely love it both for the flexibility but also for the benefit of having a partner to bounce ideas off and to tackle issues with.

Part time flexible working hours if possible - for yourself & your partner (huge help!).
Be kind to yourself, take it easy, lower expectations.
Stay in touch with manager/ colleagues throughout any time off.

Thank you to everyone who shared their tips. Apologies for the delay in announcing this prize draw - @Fleabagging is the winner of the voucher Congratulations!