REturn: How to get back to work from a maternity leave.

Employee perspective

I am in my early 30s' and most of my friends are entering the phase of having children. Experience of maternity can be very different. As some women find it very fulfilling and enjoy the deep dive into a purely child-oriented mode. Some find it challenging because of isolation, lack of intellectual challenges they used to have at work. Some prolong the maternity leave above legally provided time or work out some ways around just to gain few more months at home. Some are facing the challenge of finding a suitable childcare to get back to work as soon as possible, as they feel socially disabled being at home. Those are just facts of life, no judgment, I think we are different and there are many “right” solutions for motherhood.

Employer perspective

The tendency of taking sick leaves during pregnancy and extending maternity leave is certainly a challenge for companies. No recruiter, HR manager or business owner will reveal sexism or ageism during the interview, yet there is an attempt to figure out, what is the background of a young female professional. Is she married, does she have or about have to children, if yes, how old they are? As I have been on both sides of this questions, I can see how damaging for the career it is and how inconvenient for the business owners. If the company is female dominated, maternity leaves can go viral and somehow at the same time, a few key players are out of the game for a while.

The question is how to figure out the way of maternity leave, which will satisfy the young mother, the child and the employer?

Remote work

An extremely satisfying solution, for me, came in the ability to work remotely. My story is a bit unusual, yet major parts are generally applicable. Remote work enables access to the global pool of talents and business opportunities. My son is 1 year old now and I have been working remotely for 7 years, last 3 as a freelancer/subcontractor. No health insurance, no social benefits or any legal protection in terms of departure to the maternity leave. I would like to show the full picture of pros and cons of having a child while being a freelance contractor and working remotely.

Remote work and gig economy are in its early stage, where people are fascinated with the freedom, flexibility, traveling, life opportunities etc. As such work set-up is rapidly spreading, digital nomads and location independent contractors are rather chasing adventures, clients, career, views. Not too many have families and children. Yet.

Health insurance

Living in a foreign country, we depend on our health insurance providers and most of the companies do not provide any coverage for pregnancy or delivery if you have been a client for less than 10-12 months. I was slightly below this timeline when I found out about pregnancy, which put a lot of stress and pressure on me regarding healthcare costs. Fortunately, I did not have to be bothered with it, as whole pregnancy turned out rather easy and delivery could have been arranged without any medical involvement. Many places in Asia provide reasonably priced and good healthcare. Some destinations become even birthing tourism targets, like Bali with famous Foundation Bumi Sehat or more conventional yet on very high-level services like in Puri Bunda Clinic.

The danger of being dismissed

I heard various stories when a contract was not prolonged when the well-paid involved female manager was expecting a child. I’ve been working remotely, but for a sole company on a freelance contract, holding a rather high position. I was careless and never thought it would happen to me. Yet reality turned out to be harsh. There was no sentiment in the business world and when I was no longer able to travel a lot, to be 100% involved in my work, and the business was going low. I was dismissed first to the unpaid maternity leave and left without further projects to manage.

Different realm of maternity leave

I was fortunate enough, as I had a huge network and solid set of skills, developed by that time. LinkedIn turned out to be an amazing tool for maintaining and expanding professional connections. By tapping into my network, I have gained several freelance projects and steady ongoing and growing cooperation with Formative Search. Surprisingly, Staffing Agency seeing all gaps and mismatches in an employee/job market decided to launch a cooperation with a professional working remotely with a few months old child.

Young mother as a professional

Business owners mind downside of having an employee with a young child: sick leaves, problems with child care gaps, lack of focus due to sleep deprivation, low energy. And forget about advantages: mastering multitasking, efficiency during working hours, as they are visibly limited by provided childcare hours, extraordinary motivation to hit the mark and provide as good as other employees and loyalty because of flexibility and opportunity provided by the employer.

Childcare

I consider myself lucky, as I live in Bali, where culture implicates extreme interest in children, ease of handling and high standard of care. It is difficult to meet a crying Balinese child or irritated parent. Childhood in Bali is very happy and pleasant. Hence, it was relatively easy to find affordable solutions for babysitting. I am aware that in many other locations, cost of a babysitter might be so high, that it doesn’t make financial sense to get back to work. Though I am convinced that many obstacles are in our mindset. Lack of allowance to even try, as it will mean to be a bad mother, as a sacrifice should be made to be a good parent. Extremely liberating was a time management course for women (for now in Russian, hopefully soon available also in other languages) or worldwide known book French Children Don't Throw Food.

Space for work

I have organized my own co-working office on the second floor of the house, found other freelancers, who would like to share the space and contribute to the rent. This way I can dismiss to work duties and not be distracted. As an option, I go to café or co-working space (a big fan of www.hubud.org). I can find there a great amount of interaction, connections, learning opportunities and a working atmosphere. Working from home with clearly divided space is wonderful. Lunchbreak I can spend playing with a kid or just randomly say high and exchange few hugs.

Finding remote work

Without a solid set-up of ongoing projects, several clients or vast network, working remotely might be challenging from the beginning. Still, it’s just a matter of time and effort. There are many career paths, which can be taken remotely and be reasonably paid. The list of portals providing remote work is long, and even LinkedIn itself has plenty of job openings with location “remote”. All is needed are a) professionally done resume and LI profile, b) habit of growing network and applying to various remote jobs, which might be transformed into a part-time solution or a project based work.

This is the win-win-win solution for all parties. Working remotely will drastically change the experience of maternity leave. It might no longer have to be a leave, hence no return and no gaps in career or organizational workflow. I strongly recommend exploring this option from the point of view of employer and employee. Glad to be of any help in this topic.