5 Tips to Help Get You Started When preparing to return back to work

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Why is returning back to work so hard? Well to name a few things it could be that our society lacks realistic maternity leave, a lack of knowledge by organizations on how to support  women returning back to work, lack of management training on how to communicate with mothers returning back to work, and lack of quality childcare to allow mothers to be present at work. 

Okay now that it is very clear on where the pain points come from, how do we navigate this as mothers in an environment that just expects when you return back to work you are the same person as you left often times weeks after having a baby.

Here are 5 simple high-level tips that can help and were crucial for me as I worked through postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety. Both directly rooted from the identity changes of being incredibly career focused and trying to connect with my new role as a working mom. 

 1) Do trial runs with your childcare weeks in advance. If you have lined up your childcare prior to having your little one I encourage you to check out the facility again after the arrival of your baby to see if it is still the right fit for you. Ex. We had selected our childcare facility while I was pregnant and when I went back after having our son, I was looking at the facility with a different lens. The facility was great, but I realized that for how I wanted my day to day interaction to go with our son it was not going to work for us. 

2) Schedule to go back to work on a Wednesday or Thursday. This will help ease into the transition of returning back to work if you work a traditional Monday – Friday schedule.

3) If you are interested in a flex schedule option schedule a meeting and communicate with your boss this need prior to returning. Walk into that meeting prepared to show the company how your flex schedule proposal will benefit them (I know it’s not ideal, but you have a better chance of it getting approved if you come at it with this approach). Ex. I proposed to work Monday and Friday’s at home. My plan for Monday’s was to set up my week with all my meetings and work on these key parts of the business uninterrupted allowing me to be that much more productive. Tuesday – Thursday I will then be able to be present with my team and clients. Friday’s I will schedule primarily all my conference calls which you can invite your boss to. Lastly you can propose it as a trial run with a follow up meeting in one month after starting the flex schedule options.

4) Repeat after me, “Motherhood is a strength not a weakness.” You have amazing new practical skills that apply to your career. Honestly, I have never met anyone more talented at multi-tasking than a mom. Use that to your advantage while at work it will allow you to accomplish more then you ever thought you could. 

5) Mornings and evenings can be really stressful when going back to work. Having a routine will be your friend and will also be very helpful for your baby on a predictable standpoint each day in terms of getting out of the house and navigating bedtime. If you are a dual household go through the routine’s morning and night with your partner. Identifying responsibilities like who is going to wake up with baby who is going to pick up baby or greet the nanny. This will eliminate a lot of stressful moments if you are both on the same page.