Return to work stories
Return to work can be a huge challenge for many parents - particularly if you have been absent from the workplace for more than 2 years. To maintain confidence, it is important to keep your skills up to date, know trends and changes happening in your industry, and attend networking events to exercise your communication skills with adults!
While some people will make a career change based on their existing skill set, others, like Michelle from Canberra, will choose to pursue a whole new line of work once children come along.
“When I left school, I trained to be a graphic designer. I worked for five years in Sydney before getting married, moving to the country, having two children (now both teenagers) and working in the printing industry there. Then, at 34, when both the kids were still under five, we moved to Canberra, and I suddenly found myself to be a dinosaur as a graphic designer. All the software programs had changed, and nobody would take me on, despite the fact that I was willing to work for free!
I retrained in adminstration through a return-to-work program. It was designed to get my typing speed up and give me basic computer skills. I was willing to take anything, and ended up working for a real estate agent. But I hated it. I was at a real crossroads.
One night I was watching Backyard Blitz on the tele and decided that’s what I wanted to do. I enjoyed gardening and the design side appealed to me. There were two ways to get into the industry – I could go to uni and get a degree, but it was too expensive, or I could do a Diploma in Horticulture. I decided that was a better grounding for what I wanted to do, so I went to Canberra Institute of Technology – it took me four years to do my Diploma part-time. At the same time, I talked my way into a job as the office manager of a landscape architecture firm. It was a great way to immerse myself in the industry, even at entry level.
Those four years were a hard slog, and it was daunting at first. I had to be organised and I relied on family daycare a lot. My husband was able to be with the kids when my classes were at night, but my timetable was all over the place and that could be difficult. When you’re spreading yourself that thin, it can affect your family life – your partner will agree with the big picture, but the day-to-day living of it can make everyone cranky.
Once I finished my Diploma, I started my own garden design business, which is also very difficult. It became very busy and I started contracting to a local firm run by a woman who understood that I wanted to work part-time. I’ve been with her four years now and am now Design Manager. I’ve learned a lot through my process of career change – mostly that I feel the benefits of my education more when I’m working for someone else. I can go in any direction now.
Gwen, 40, works four days a week in marketing for a major corporation, telecommuting for one of those days. She feels the arrangement allows her more room to balance work and family life – and frees up her weekends to spend with her children.
“When my first child was born, I went back to work three days a week, but I was made redundant from that position while I was on maternity leave after the birth of my second child. My current job was originally advertised as a fulltime role, but I talked them into four days a week.
Two years ago, I negotiated to work one of my four days from home. I had three children by then, and my oldest was starting school I’d moved to a new suburb, which was a longer commute from the city, and felt that I could do more with that time, plus I wanted to have some involvement at the school. The commute seemed like a waste of time.
I work myself ragged on that day. When you’re doing a five-day-a-week position in four days, as I am, you tend to pack the work in. Plus I integrate my housework into that day and my one day off, so that I don’t have to do it on the weekend. I’ll do a conference call, and be folding clothes at home. Or I’ll read reports while doing something else. We have a gardener, because that’s the one thing I found I couldn’t stay on top of, but I prefer to clean my own house. My kids still go to their childcare arrangements (now two at school, and one is with her grandfather on that day).
My job is very flexible. I work for a company with state-of-the-art technology for being a mobile worker. They don’t really care where I am, so long as the work gets done. And the nature of my job means that I’m not parked in the office anyway. The only time it can be difficult is when I have to dial into meetings rather than being there. It’s often easier to get things done face-to-face. I just try not to schedule meetings on the day I’m working from home, or simply ask people to email me any actions they want me to do.
The single biggest contributor to making it possible for me to work this way was getting my Blackberry. I was originally resistant, wanting to keep work and home separate, but it made a huge difference. I could leave on time because I could still do the work after I left. The ability to work everywhere suits me, but it’s hard to switch off. I’m happy to keep things going at night, or on my ‘day off’, but never on weekends. The day off is when it’s hardest not to work. The emails come in and it’s too tempting to just deal with them.
I’ve never had a problem with colleagues, as far as resentment goes. I’ve always advocated for people to get their own flexibility, whether they have children or not. At the end of the day, there’s no issue with my output – and that’s important. No balls are dropped. For me, it’s never been about ‘showing’ them I’m working – that’s not my mentality. I work when I work. . They can see my contribution and trust me to get on with it.
I think I get more productive work done on that day at home. It’s meeting-free most of the time, and easier to concentrate without constant interruptions. I don’t do longer hours that day. I do the school run, log on and then log off at 5.30pm. The older children are picked up by their grandfather after school on that day.
The way I look at it, flexibility works both ways. If you’re going to ask for flexibility, you need to be able to back it up. Mostly, I think the company benefits more than I do from the arrangement. I do the work I have to do, I work when it needs to be done, no matter when that is or how many hours it takes. My next step is to negotiate to be paid a fulltime salary for the hours I put in."
This return to work story is about Sarah who returned to work in a junior administration role and eventually negotiated a more suitable work arrangement that matched her experience and expertise. Read about how she did it.
Picture a woman, late 30s, single parent, who has not worked full-time since forever (well, since before having kids), and finds herself being undervalued and overworked. That is me in that picture. Or rather, that WAS me.
Having been in a part-time position for around 6 months, I noticed that my job description had changed and the employer that had hired me as an administration assistant, had somehow managed to work out all the skills I was hiding in the hope of keeping the job simple and un-demanding so I could focus on raising my 7 year old and finishing my studies. It was the tail-end of a four year course in a completely new industry: construction. This part-time job had appealed because it would pay the rent whilst I finished my new career training. It was close to home, it was seemingly full of nice people, and it was not unethical.
Six months in and I had realised that the company actually was changing and I had been working from home outside of office hours (due to the company having international offices) - I has project managing, liaising with the executive, supervising staff, yet still being paid as an administration assistant. My job description was woefully out of date already.
In my infinite wisdom, I signed up for a webinar with the ever-wonderful Kate Sykes, at Career Mums, and was extremely fortunate that during that webinar Kate was able to use my situation as a case study and give me some expert and very specific advice. Also, fortunately, in a freelance position at another company a world-class life coach and mentor (named Hugh Todd) who had worked with higher levels of Nato and some incredible organisations, just happened to be working with my team and we had lunch together. During lunch and during the webinar, I gained an understanding that I would need these things to succesfully negotiate a satisfactory change at work. I'd need to go into a meeting with the decision makers:
- knowing my own value and how I add value to my role and the organisation as a whole.
- knowing exactly what I wanted from the organisation in terms of what I wanted the job to look like, what hours I wanted and what pay.
Once I had done some good hard thinking (and list-making) I set up a meeting with the CEO, who I reported to. Having never really negotiated in this way before, I was fairly low in confidence, however my life-coach friend Hugh made the brilliant point that if I am a parent, then I know how to negotiate. This really helped me feel less anxious and more confident.
As it turned out, I ended up resigning and then being wooed back to the company. My requests were met with an absolute 'no' intially, and there was no negotiation until I made the point in writing that I was prepared to leave rather than accept unreasonable pay and unreasonable hours (in not so may words). Once they realised that they were going to lose me they paid me more and reduced my hours leaving me free to keep the job as it was originally intended, and still be recognised for the skills I brought to the role. I can now drop my boy at school three times a week and pick him up and have the time to complete my studies. The pay rise was in the order of 150%.
I'll be grateful to Career Mums and Hugh Todd for a long time to come in helping me work this out and giving me some vital understanding around my own value and what I can expect from an employer as a highly skilled and experienced worker.
Working as a contractor can be a great way to re-engage with the workforce after becoming a parent, tendering a host of flexible work options such as where, when and how often you work. I spoke with Maria Montesano, author of Teleworking Mum, about her foray into the flexible work domain via contract work.
How Flexible is Contract Work?
Contract work offered me a great deal of flexibility. Negotiating a work from home arrangement, a flexible schedule and part-time hours was relatively straightforward, as contractors are hired to undertake a specific task or project. Your objectives, if well-defined, are easily measurable which can make the when, where or how you work irrelevant. This lends itself to a great deal of flexibility.
What other Benefits does Contract Work Offer?
As a professional, I found it difficult to source part-time hours in my specific line of work. Re-entering the workforce as a contractor provided this option. Furthermore, contracting opened up a lot of doors for me. Being setup as a small business meant that I could take on other work when or if I had the time, need or desire. This is a great way to boost your bank balance whilst also enhancing your skills and experience - without facing the tax hikes applicable to employees who hold more than one job concurrently.
What are the limitations of Contract Work?
There are several things to be aware of when considering contract work:
(a) You are required to establish similar legal and tax frameworks to a small business, therefore you are liable for managing things such as business registrations, ABN and tax reporting.
(b) One of the major inhibitors for some contractors is the lack of security, particularly when offered only a short-term contract. Contracts can range from periods of a few weeks to several years.
Contract Work Tips
- Avenues for finding contract work include job boards, recruitment agencies and past employers/clients/work associates.
- Treat your contracting status like a small business: build a web page, market yourself and network! This will help you generate further work, ensuring continuity of employment/engagement, and can expand your portfolio of active contracts.
- Some employers have specific time periods between the time you stop working for them as an employee and the time you can re-engage with them (or their clients) as a contractor, e.g., 3, 6 or 12 months. Check first before approaching a current or former employer about contracting for them.
Adapted from the book Teleworking Mum: The Essential Work from Home Guide for Parents, by Maria Montesano (published in 2010 by Red Bullet Research & Communications). For more information visit www.teleworkingmum.com.au
This return to work story is about Kate from Sydney who returned to work in the financial sector after successfully negotiating flexibility with her employer. Read about how she did it.
"Like many other mums on maternity leave, the thought of going back to work full time was quite a daunting one, now that nights of uninterrupted sleep were a very distant memory. As my return to work date loomed closer, I reluctantly considered my options; I really didn’t want to go back to my previous full time position, but I wasn’t sure that my employer would be willing to accommodate a request for flexibility.
As I was thinking about what to do, someone told me about the new National Employment Standards which meant employers had to seriously consider requests for flexibility if you had children under school age. I jumped online and checked it out and gradually became inspired. Then I heard that another mum from my workplace had already taken advantage of this new law and had negotiated reduced hours. Hearing this gave me the final boost of confidence I needed to approach my employer with my own request for flexibility.
Before I had the conversation with my boss, I read all about my rights under the new laws. I also came up with several scenarios that I would be happy with, and then picked my top three in order of preference. I really had to convince myself to ask for what I wanted as opposed to what I thought my employer would be happy with. So my top three preferences were:
1. Work two days a week in the office
2. Work two days in the office and one from home
3. Work three days in the office
During the conversation I really pushed for the first two options and hardly mentioned the third (as I didn’t really want to do three days, but would have agreed if that was all they could offer). I was also willing to be flexible myself which I think is important, and said I would be open to working in a job share arrangement or working in different role or area to my pre-leave position.
About a month after the conversation with my boss, I received the good news that they could accommodate my request to work two days, but it was in a different role to my pre-leave position. I would still be working in the same department with the same salary (pro-rated to two days a week) so I thought this was a good solution that worked well for both me and the business.
My advice to other mums out there would be don’t be afraid to ask for what you really want, it’s now your right as a parent to request flexibility. When preparing to make your request, do your research and look at what the organisation has done for other mums in the past, but don’t be scared to present new solutions and working scenarios. Let your employer be the one to say ‘no’ if they can’t do it, don’t make assumptions on their behalf by saying things to yourself like, “they’ll never agree to that”, because they just might!
I think it also pays to be flexible yourself and present your employer with a range of situations you would be happy with. Also, give your employer as much notice of your intentions as you can if you think this would work in your favour. Even though I was keeping my options open, I had indicated before going on maternity leave that I would prefer to return to a part time position, so this was always in the back of my employer’s mind. And although requests for flexibility need to be made in writing, make your request in person first, or at least over the phone, especially if you have a good relationship with your boss.
Finally, don’t put yourself down! On returning to work, I’ve realised that mums are actually really well respected because they’re hard working and organised. Employers are lucky to have us back, even if it is just for a few days a week, and they’re finally starting to realise that."
This return to work story is about Louise from Canberra who returned to work after 10 years of caring for her two children. Read about how she overcame her challenges and now wishes that she had returned to work years ago.
"I am currently working for a building inspection company. I am based in the office managing the diary and liaising with owners & tenants 3 days a week. For the past 10 years I have been at home ( my children are 10 & 7 years ).
It was always the plan to return to work when the youngest started school. Easier said than done! I suddenly realised, that in the blink of an eye, it was 20 years since I had applied for a job. Writing an application & dropping it in the mailbox had now been replaced by technology. There was no human contact – everything was done by e-mail & online IQ tests. I was totally lost. My skills were less than none, my self confidence was below zero. Throughout 2009 I did my best to answer ads but to no avail.
Then one day I accidently met a woman around my age who runs her own business. She happened to be looking for a “part-timer” & asked if I was interested. Of course I was, but had to admit my skill level was extremely low. She offered me a casual position for 6 months. I have been there since February and I can’t believe how much I have learnt.
I am thoroughly enjoying it & my confidence is rising by the day. It also works for my children as they can walk home from school & I am there 20 minutes later. I think we mothers bring an abundance of attributes to the workplace - as we all know raising children is the most demanding job ever.
I can honestly say I am more focused, more organised & more accepting than ever & that’s a bonus for any employer. I am delighted to be part of the work force again & my children feel the same. Now I am like “everyone else’s Mum”. I wish I had done this years ago."
