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Back to work early
Returning to work in the baby's 1st year
These are the questions you should ask yourself about work-life balance
Some mothers and fathers would like to take only a short career break after the birth of their child and then quickly return to working life. As parents, you are sure to ask yourself many questions: How can things continue for you personally after maternity leave? How can family and career be reconciled? What options do parents with children have for returning to work and what should they think about? We have compiled the most important information for you.
Quickly back to work after giving birth?
A period of rest and recuperation is required by law for most (expectant) mothers. The Maternity Protection Act stipulates that employers must give pregnant women in employment six weeks' leave before giving birth and mothers eight weeks' leave after giving birth. Longer periods of protection exist for multiple or premature births and children with disabilities. A return to work is possible immediately afterwards. This has the advantage that you do not lose touch with your job and have no or only minor financial losses.
Already thinking about what to do after your maternity leave?
It is best to think together with your partner during pregnancy about how things should continue for you personally after the birth of the child. Questions that need to be clarified are, for example:
Who takes how many months of parental leave?
How to organize everyday life with child?
Which form of childcare comes into question for us?
How many working hours can be reconciled with child, job and household?
The legal regulations offer you the following models of compatibility if you are employed:
After the end of the eight-week maternity leave period, you are entitled to return to your previous job. If you wish to continue working directly, you do not need to apply for parental leave. The old contractual arrangements for your job will continue to apply unchanged after the interruption. This means: the same scope of hours, the same area of responsibility, the same salary as before the start of the maternity leave period. Your employer is obliged to offer you a job of equal value as before the birth.
If you cannot imagine full-time employment with a child after the birth, a temporary part-time solution may be an option for you. During parental leave, you have the option of reducing your working hours to between 15 and 30 hours. (This is provided you have been employed for more than six months and your company has more than 15 employees). Parental benefits and salary are then offset against each other. This solution has the advantage of allowing you to remain present and develop on the job, but still have the time you want to care for your child. Talk to your employer about your plans as early as possible to negotiate the framework for your return to work. Tips on how to do this can be found below.
If you want to take an extended break to raise children after the birth, apply for full parental leave. You must submit your application for parental leave no later than seven weeks before it begins. This means you have only one week after the birth to submit the application to your employer. During parental leave, your employment relationship is suspended. You will receive parental allowance to bridge the financial losses during the time off. However, you should know: If you take a break from your job for an extended period of time, you run the risk of losing touch in today's fast-paced work environment. To keep up anyway, you should look for flexible ways to stay in touch with superiors as well as colleagues.
The statutory protective provisions of the Maternity Protection Act do not apply to self-employed women. Female entrepreneurs and freelancers are thus also not subject to the ban on employment before and after the birth. They can therefore theoretically work until the birth and also immediately afterwards. But self-employed women should also take it easy. In order to be financially secure during this time, it is advisable to adjust your private health insurance before you start planning your family in order to receive daily sickness benefits. It is up to you to decide when to return to work. If you want to take time off after the birth, self-employed women are also entitled to parental allowance. . Further information on the subject of parental allowance can be found here on the Family Portal.NRW.
How to succeed in the conversation with the employer?
In your application for parental leave, it is legally sufficient to state the duration for the planned baby break. However, the earlier and more concretely you communicate your postpartum career plans to your employer, the better he or she can plan with you and support your return to work. Let your manager know your wishes and ideas early on and clarify the conditions for your return to work.
Impulse for the conversation will give you these questions:
Do I want to take a short or long baby break?
When do I want to get back into it?
How would we like to distribute the parental leave months?
Do I want to return to work full-time or part-time?
Do I want more flexibility in terms of the location of my working hours?
Is there the possibility of organizing a home office day to make it easier to balance family and career?
How to avoid a career setback despite part-time work?
What opportunities exist in the company to stay up to date despite maternity leave?
Makes me my employer possibly an offer for professional development during parental leave?
How can I prepare for re-entry?
Once the framework conditions for returning to work have been clarified, it is important to plan everything else well. Because there is no way around it: reconciling child and career requires organizational talent and discipline. Forward-looking arrangements and good preparation will make your return to work easier.
These tips can help:
Keep in personal contact with your company during parental leave.
Consider with your partner the planned family and working hours binding.
Distribute responsibilities in the family and tasks in the household equally.
Organize as early as possible a reliable childcare. Plan a sufficiently long settling-in period.
Get support and relief where you can, for example, from grandparents, trusted people or a household helper.
Build a network of people in your environment who can step in at short notice if the caregiver is absent, the child suddenly becomes ill or a work appointment is longer.
Where is my child well taken care of while I work?
An important question for many parents is where and by whom their child can be well cared for during times of absence. In North Rhine-Westphalia, there are many different care options. Whether it's a daycare center, a daycare provider, an au pair or grandparents - you should think about it in good time. Every child from the age of 1 has a legal right to a Kita place. Single parents are given priority in the allocation of childcare places. If no place is actually available, the municipality must cover the costs of alternative care models. Further information on the subject of childcare and on the question of which solution is the most suitable for you can be found here on the Family Portal.NRW.
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Everything well regulated - but the guilty conscience remains?
Working parents often suffer from a guilty conscience. But what counts is not the number, but the quality of the hours spent with your child. With the daycare provider and in the daycare center, your child is reliably cared for and will benefit from the support and early education. Please do not let those around you tell you otherwise. Stand by your decision, even if other people have different views. Returning to work is your decision alone. And if the job is right for you personally, then it is also best for your family.
More informationLinks for further reading
The Internet portal "Perspective re-entry" of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has useful checklists and a lot of information ready.
