How to go to work after maternity leave

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In Russia, maternity leave is granted for a long time, after which mothers (or fathers) need to join the work. Let's figure out how to do it painlessly.

When to go to work

First, let's figure out what a decree is and what it is eaten with. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 255 and 256), the entire period, which we simply call "decree", consists of two parts.

• The first is maternity leave. It is provided for a period of 140 to 194 days, depending on the course of pregnancy. In fact, this is an analogue of a sick leave.
• The second is parental leave for a child up to three years old. Moreover, up to one and a half years, the allowance is accrued, after one and a half years - it is not accrued. This leave can be used not only by the mother, but also by the father and grandmother or grandfather of the child (if they actually take care of the child).

You can go to work any day, notifying the employer in advance with a corresponding statement, and not wait until the child turns three years old.

And you have to go to work the day after you celebrated your child's third birthday. From this day, the vacation ends, failure to appear at the workplace will be considered absenteeism.

Can you get fired

Someone is afraid of going to work, because they do not want to part with the child. And someone is worried that on the very first day after the decree they will receive a work book in their hands.

The employer cannot fire you during maternity leave until the organization itself is liquidated.

If you went to work early and your child is not yet three years old, you too are relatively safe. According to article 261 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer can break off labor relations with you on his own initiative if the organization is liquidated or if you have grossly violated labor discipline.

But when the child has grown to three years old, the employer can fire you even the next day (exceptions are single parents, breadwinners of large families and parents of disabled children).

Only women who have entered into a fixed-term employment contract need to worry. If it has expired, you may receive a notice of termination. The employer is obliged to extend the term of the contract only for the duration of pregnancy, but not for the period of parental leave.

How to go to work and stay at it

From the point of view of the head, the situation with the mother, who came after the decree, is ambiguous. An employee who worked in the required position for three years got used to it and showed himself from the best side, while the employee, after a long break, still needs to restore her qualifications and enter into a working rhythm. According to the law, it is impossible to issue a new position to a “maternity girl”, my mother returns to the same job with which she went on vacation. In addition, everyone is afraid that young mothers will more often disappear on sick leave and take time off for matinees.

What does this mean? That you have to get to the workplace in advance and talk with your superiors, and not wait for the end of the vacation.

Indicate your desire to return to work and defense, talk about the conditions under which you will start working again. Perhaps after such a conversation, you will draw conclusions whether it is worth getting an office suit out of the closet or it's time to update your resume and look for a new place.

Find out what has changed in your workplace during your absence. Who came to the team, who of the old people stayed in their place, who got a promotion. Ask how the organization is doing: it plans to expand, enter new markets, or, conversely, there is a period of austerity ahead on everything.

Read professional literature. This is useful to keep an eye out for important information and to keep the brain working on a regular basis.

Look for professional communities, watch the video. This way you can keep your finger on the pulse in your field.

How to prepare for a new regime

If, after your child's third birthday, you take him to kindergarten for the first time, and you yourself briskly run to work, everything will be bad, really. A week after the abrupt start of the new regime, a disaster awaits you: the house is a mess, the child is upset, you are squeezed out like a lemon, unhappy at work. Prepare your body and family for change before it hits your head.

Decide the issue with the kindergarten and nanny in advance. The child will need to get used to the new environment and regime. In 99.9% of cases, morning tears await you. Prepare your child for new circumstances and devote more time to him in the morning and evening.

Get up earlier. If you used to get ready for work, for example, in 15 minutes, and you can assemble a child in 30 minutes, then the formula for calculating the time will be: (15 + 30) × 2. And this is still the minimum stock. You will always have something that can make you late. Because the law of meanness works without interruption.

Distribute responsibilities. Parental leave usually includes taking care of the home. Now you won't have enough time for everything at once. Ask for help and share responsibilities among family members so you don't go crazy with the stress.

Put new things aside for later. If the new regime is given hard, no one thinks about additional activity. But sometimes women experience a frantic surge of energy. Finally, there is so much to do! There is a desire to visit all exhibitions, go to trainings or foreign language courses every day. Especially if on maternity leave you were completely focused on maternal affairs.

The body's resources are not endless, for a couple of months you will fly and flutter, and then such fatigue will fall on you that you will not even have enough strength left.

In this situation, the principle "the quieter you drive, the further you will be" is revealed in all its glory. Do you want to move mountains? Roll up, but gradually. First, learn how to divide time between home and work, and when you feel that there is a lot of energy left, look for its use.

How to behave at work

After a long break, going to work seems like falling into another world. You will be afraid and worried about the quality of your work and your knowledge. Try to calm down. You go to the same place of work from which you left. You have already started working in this organization once. And nothing terrible will happen to you.

Ask questionsand don't be afraid to show that you don't know something. It is better to ask and do it right than to redo it later. And the more questions you ask, the faster you will catch up with your colleagues.

Learn to keep quiet about the personal. Everyone talks about what worries him, and you will worry about the child.

I remind you. To the question "How are you?" you need to answer: “Thank you, good! What about you?". And not tell how you are really doing.

Do not tell the details of your family life to every colleague, not everyone is interested in listening to when your child took the first steps (to be honest, almost no one is interested in this).

Observe the dress code … Even if the company is loose-fitting, the business image will help to tune in to productivity.

What to do if there is no one to leave the child with

The reality is that not everyone is lucky with a kindergarten even by the age of three. Sometimes there is no one to leave the child with, or a ticket to a preschool institution will appear in a few months, but you need to go to work. Unfortunately, in such a situation, there are few options:

• Look for a nanny.
• Agree with the employer about the possibility of remote work.
• Write an application for unpaid leave at the right time.

You can start work before the end of the part-time parental leave. Of course, you need to coordinate the issue with the employer.

You will have to rely only on good relations with your superiors and your value for the company. So all the tips given above will work fine for you as well.

And we won't go to work

But what if you are not going to work? Usually, women who were on parental leave are concerned about the exact opposite issue. Therefore, those who, for whatever reason, decided to postpone shock work, are left behind.

How to part with work correctly? Try to keep a warm relationship at work. Suddenly, you still decide to return.

The most professional way out would be to say about your intention in advance so that the employer can prepare and find a replacement for the employee. Or did not kick out someone who is already working in your place.

Bring the news in person … On the one hand, everything we have is completely and completely tailored to the paper, and by law you can communicate with the employer solely with the help of statements and "Russian Post". Moreover, you must notify the decision to leave the position in writing. But humanly it is important that the conversation is attached to the letter and the statement. A personal conversation is not always possible (for example, you have moved or you have no one to leave your child with), but at least call.

Count payments … If you decide to quit after parental leave, make sure that you get all benefits paid if you did not go on leave before maternity leave. Moreover, the first part of the decree (maternity leave) is included in the leave period, the rest are not.

Drive your guilt away … If it seems to you that with your decision you are letting someone down, that the work will not cope without you, it seems to you. While you were on maternity leave, everything functioned without your presence, your dismissal will not destroy the organization.