Returning to work one day a week after mat leave?

[Mistletoesparkles]

it would be great to hear from anyone who has done this and how it worked out long term for you?

I’m currently on maternity leave with first DC. Before having her I assumed I would want to go back either full time or 4 days a week PT. I’ve now completely changed my mind and just want to make the most of my time with her while she is little. I would like to ideally stay at home with her full time until she is 4 and in school full time (then go back to full time work). Financially this is possible, obviously with some cut backs but compared with cost of full time child care me returning FT wouldn’t make much difference.

The thing is I’m worried that taking 4 years out of work will massively set me back in terms of career progression, salary and also my confidence in returning, feeling out of date etc. I’m considering negotiating with my employer for a return for 1 day a week. This would essentially leave me at home almost full time with DC and avoid a big CV gap. Has anyone done this? Were you able to return to full time eventually? Did you maintain your previous FTE salary, job level etc.? Or did you end up paying a career penalty for the time out anyway? (When you returned FT).

just to add I work in the non profit sector in a relatively senior position and do love my job. I definitely want to return to it eventually but also want to make the most of DCs first years.

Depends on what sector you work in. I have managed to do this in my career to keep my skills up. I do shift work and I am in a job I can go in, contribute hours and go home again with no impact on colleagues. I doubt it would be the same if I worked in an office or management role.

I can't currently go for any promotions as I would need to work more hours, so my career is on hold but I'm good with that as the majority of my time is spent with my DC which is my preference. I am also studying so when my DC go to school I haven't just sat around and can prove I have worked to keep my skills so I can get back in the game and get promoted.

I love my contract and I'm very lucky to have it.

You’d need to earn about £45k to get NI credits on a 0.2 contract. But you get them by claiming child benefit too.

Such a hard decision my dear ! I had a similar quandary. Eventually found I could get away with one day in the office and two days at home … it’s been working.
one day does sound a bit steep

Thanks for all of the replies, great to hear from those it’s worked out for! 😊 Also interesting to get your perspectives on different time/inputs needed for babies/toddlers/school age children.

There would of course be changes to the role returning PT, focusing on one specialist aspect that I could meaningfully contribute to and dropping line management responsibilities. (I’m aware that my previous FT role wouldn’t be possible over just one day!)

Giving up work completely led to a massive change for me.
I gave up work when my first was born. I worked in scientific/DNA research- a competetive field, demanding time, sporadic hours.
I loved being at home wih my kids.
When my youngest was a toddler I became self employed, worked from home, not a huge amount to start with, but enough to make a good contribution to he family budget.
That was some time ago- I never did get back into the workplace, but I loved the flexibility of being self employed so much that I decided to stay home.
I am still self employed, earn more than my OH who has a fairly good job in the IT industry, and love my work.
That's me just finished for a christmas break!

I would never agree to that as an employer.

What could you usefully contribute in only one day a week? How would you keep abreast of developments in your organisation and sector?

Also if you took a few days leave you could be absent for a month.

Just not workable.

What sort of childcare would you use for your one day?

I think a lot of nurseries want a minimum of 2 days a week for good reason - children don't settle well for less than that. If you're looking at your DH doing that day, it might be different

One day a week would be a nightmare, you'd spend all day catching up and not achieve anything. I did three days and that was a pita.

I went back 2 days a week and didn't like it. I felt too detached from what was going on at work, more like a visitor than a proper staff member. When I went up to 3 days I preferred it.

I did one day a week for a couple of years. However I am a teacher so I covered other teachers PPA on that day so it worked in that respect.

The main problems though were how disconnected I was, particularly how I could not access all the continuous professional training and meetings. I found I was always playing catch up - both inside and outside the classroom.

I was happy enough but my employer said that they would never agree to one day again.

So you're actually asking to go back and do a completely different job? In theory that could work but only you know if your employer would be willing to do that. My boss would probably laugh at the idea of creating a special role just for me to do one day a week but I'm sure some other employers would be more open

Childcare - my nursery has a min of two sessions a week and the baby would struggle to settle with one day a week

Think of this from your colleagues' perspective. They'll never be able to have the same day off as you if they need your thoughts and feedback on something and then need to reply back to you, or if they need a further reply, it'll be another week until a decision is made. I can't imagine anything worse for anyone than having any work at all or even just comms constantly stopping and starting because you are only in one day a week. It's a horrible idea.