The Bump: Before and After Maternity Leave

Work-life balance is always an issue for working mothers, but it can be almost overwhelming for new moms who find themselves juggling a career and a new baby. Fortunately, maternity leave is there to help you smoothly adjust to a new stage in your life.

In this article, we will look at things you should know before going on maternity and things every woman should know before returning from maternity leave.

Plan out how you will divide up your current responsibilities
Your work can’t be placed on hold while you’re away, so people need to do your work for
the time being. Prepare a list of your main responsibilities and allocate them to the ideal person. Think about whom in your department might fill each role, also you could consider hiring someone to cover for you if necessary.

Know how maternity leave works
Maternity leave differs from country to country and companies have different policies. So before you go on maternity leave, here are some of the laws in South Africa pertaining to women who have the dual role of mother and worker. Some of them are:

• Your employer is not legally obliged to pay you during your maternity leave period unless the company’s policy, a collective agreement, or your employment contract provides for paid maternity leave.
• Payments of maternity benefits are determined by the provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Act, but some companies do offer paid maternity leave to their employees. If this is the case, a worker is not able to claim UIF (unless a portion of her salary is not covered by her employer). Read more on the laws here.

Just when you start to feel confident as a parent, another major transition is starting to draw a little bit closer…your return to work. The time has come to slow down on the playdates and start scheduling meetings instead.

Do you have the right daycare?
First things first, you need to know what exactly it is that you want.

Should the daycare be closer to your workplace or rather closer to home? Get some referrals maybe from someone at your workplace or in your neighborhood where you live.

Choosing the right daycare is a serious step and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Remember that your little one will be spending most of their time with the caregiver. Make sure that the person is experienced and loves kids; the environment is warm, clean, and safe.

Meet with your boss
Schedule a quick meeting with your boss, outside the office the day before you have to go back to the office, if possible. Catching up on what's going on at work and what you need to do will cut down on pre-first-day anxiety.

Things you might want to cover:
Has anything changed while you were away? Is there a new manager, a shift in priorities for the department?

What are your top priorities when you get back? Asking this will help you focus and hit the ground running on what’s most important, instead of getting pulled down in irrelevant tasks.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Find out if there is a possibility that you can have a flexible working schedule. Maybe you want to work a half-day from home every week or work from home on a full-time basis and only come in once a week for meetings? The answer may be “no,” but if you don’t ask… you will have a 0% chance of hearing “yes.”

Once you start getting into the swing of things, you can take pride in being a woman who can do it all, a focused hard-working professional, and a loving engaged parent. Juggling the demands of a family and a career is tricky and requires a lot of organizing, time management, and effort but it’s possible. Managing a new baby while trying to climb the corporate ladder can be a little challenging, but it doesn’t have to be.

Because we have been in the recruitment industry for over 30 years, we understand your needs and we can find you job opportunities that will allow you to balance your personal and work life.

If you consider yourself to be a premium candidate, we want you! We have various vacancies in Finance, IT, Engineering, Freight and Supply Chain.