I work for a large company, which surprisingly, given its size, has a poor record for flexible working, and no policy regarding career breaks.
I've gone back to work within 6 months of the births of both my kids, and have sometimes felt i've missed some of the 'mummy time'.
There will be a number of things going on in 2006 which mean that I feel full time work is just going to be too much:
- we're having some building work done on the house
- my youngest will start school (half days only) in Sept 06
- I need to help my father sell his house and move into something new (over a distance of over 300 miles)
Given that I simply don't believe it's worth asking for any flexible/ part time/ reduced hours working, I had more or less decided to resign lat the end of this year.
However recently someone said, had I thought of asking them for a career break for say a year, while I sort all the stuff out.
Does anyone know if there are guidelines around career breaks? e.g.
- does an employee have a right to return to a job of the same sort/ grade?
- are you prevented from doing any work during the break? (I might need to do something, just to supplement our family income)
Would be interested if anyone has any experience, or can point me in the direction of any useful websites etc??