feeling scared about my maternity cover

[user1470547459]

Hi,

I've been doing my current job for nearly 1.5 years now before going on maternity leave. I've worked elsewhere before but in the same sector.

I trained my replacement before going on maternity and she seemed a lovely girl. From speaking to colleagues it would seem that she is changing a lot of the events offered and basically, turning the job on its head. She's developed lots of new activities that will be delivered in the summer (when I'm due to return) however, I'm hoping to go back on a part time basis and what she has planned needs really more than one Full time member of staff.

My return date is in Spring 2017 and apparently my cover will remain until late summer 2017 but I'm concerned about what sort of job I will be returning to and what happens if she decides to leave before the summer leaving me with more than a full time member of staffs job workload.

Looking for anyone who has been in a similar position. I've yet to request flexible working and of course I'm not guaranteed to get this and therefore may have to return full time if it is rejected. Feeling a bit worried about how she is completing changing the goal posts and then what will be achievable on my return.

I think you need to take a quite pragmatic approach. What do you want from this? If your old job is exactly what you want, then I would take a shorter ML because if you return within 6 months that's your entitlement. If having more time off, or reducing your work hours matters more, then you need to request flexible working and even if the cover is kept on, you're getting what you want out of it. Even if you take a
Year off, and your employer doesn't offer you your exact job, the status and pay needs to be equivalent so you're not really losing our

I get that you feel a bit threatened and unsure - guess that's natural. But if you don't actually want to return to your exact old job, then your employer is perfectly reasonable to restructure and keep this other woman on if it meets their needs

Take time to recover from the birth obviously, but here are some ideas to consider if you are feeling a bit on the fringes of things:
Asking to be copied in on all emails (you can look at them in batches, not to reply but just to be up to date)
Using your KIT days to go in monthly and catch up with what's been going on or take part in training.
If there are work conferences, events or social events that you would usually attend, consider going along.
Don't put pressure on yourself if you can't do all this, but at least you will be in the loop and in people's faces a bit.
If you do find that you don't want to go back or things change you'll also have continued in contact with your work network.