Unpaid care work

In principle, you have a legal right to return to your original or a comparable job after the agreed parental leave has expired. Attractive employers generally maintain regular contact with their employees on parental leave and offer programs to help them return to work after their family-related leave.

As a general rule, the sooner you return to work, the easier it will be for you to catch up. Those who take a longer break from work, on the other hand, often find it more difficult in the rapidly changing world of work.

In view of the current shortage of skilled workers, however, women and men represent a very important potential on the labor market. There are therefore good opportunities to return to work even after a longer family-related career break. All employment agencies and job centers also offer advice and support specifically for returning to work after a longer family phase.

At the latest when parental leave ends, couples are faced with the question of how both parents should continue their careers. Working part-time can be one solution. Part-time work makes it easier for employees to reconcile professional responsibilities and family care work.

Even today, it is still predominantly mothers who take time for childcare and take on the majority of unpaid care work. In some cases, they only return to work fewer hours after taking a family break. However, permanent part-time work carries the risk of getting stuck in the "part-time trap". It then becomes increasingly difficult to return to well-paid full-time jobs. However, working part-time not only has a negative impact on your monthly salary, but also on your total income during your working life, as well as on your wealth accumulation and personal pension provision. These are reasons why women often have to make do with a significantly lower pension in old age than men.

However, part-time work not only means less pay, it can also affect career development and promotion opportunities. Those who return to work part-time with a small number of hours are often unable to formally pick up where they left off before the birth. Management and leadership positions are less likely to be filled part-time, which limits career prospects and can lead to disadvantages.

However, the world of work is changing rapidly. Advancing digitalization and modern work and management models are changing the framework conditions, enabling greater flexibility in collaboration and thus improving the compatibility of family and career, including at management and executive level. Negotiating modern working concepts with your employer can therefore be worthwhile.

Bringing up children takes time, during which mothers and fathers cannot work or cannot work full-time. German pension insurance compensates for this and counts child-raising periods for a maximum of 36 calendar months during the break from work towards your later pension. Without having to pay your own contributions, you will be treated as if you had paid into the pension fund like an average earner.

However, if you take a career break of more than three years or work part-time for a few hours after the family phase, you should bear in mind that a lower salary and fewer working years on your pension account will significantly reduce your pension entitlement and increase the financial gap in old age.

If a couple decides that one parent in particular will give up or reduce their own employment to look after the children, it is advisable to have the pension gap calculated by Deutsche Rentenversicherung. You can then negotiate together how this gap can be compensated by your partner.