I went into work the other day to have a chat to my boss about working part time when I go back after mat leave in the summer. She says I can't do my current job part time as there is too much work and they need someone in the office full time. I asked about job sharing but she says as we only have guaranteed funding for another two years it will be too hard to recruit somebody (we have a recruitment freeze). I didn't ask whether it would be possible to ask the person who's currently covering my job whether she would consider going back to her old job elsewhere in the organisation part time and job sharing with me part time - it seems a bit of an imposition on her, asking her to do two jobs, I guess.
So anyway my boss has said that the team is so busy that they can afford to have me back in a different part time role, doing the technical aspects of my job, but losing the management/strategic responsibilities. I would obviously go down a pay grade. The work would be doing my favourite bits of my job, and I could do some or all of it from home. This would be great as I would probably go into the office one full day per week for the adult interaction, then do three long mornings at home while DS is at nursery just over the road, which would save us money, mean he doesn't have too many long days in nursery and save on commuting time and costs. If DS was ill I would be able to catch up on my work as and when - evenings etc.
On the face of it it seems ideal, a part time job doing work I enjoy that I can do from home. But would I be sacrificing the career progress I've made to get to a managerial role? Would I ever get back again? The job would be for two years until the funding runs out, at which point the organisation will be restructured (if we get more funding). I'll probably be thinking of baby no 2 by then anyway.
Any pointers welcome!