Child-friendly employment

You have the legal right to return to your job after maternity leave – but will your baby fit in to your full-time lifestyle? To make your new life work it’s best to start thinking about it and planning for it now. It’s not easy to anticipate how you’ll feel after the birth, but off the top of your head, answer these questions: do you feel you’ll be able to work full-time when you’re a mum? And do you want to? Can you afford to take a drop in salary?  

If your ideal scenario is a combination of work and caring for your baby, you’re not alone: according to a recent survey one third of women returning from maternity leave change from full to part-time work, and a quarter of women who decide not to return to work after their leave say this is because they can’t find a job with the right hours.

If changes to your working hours are what you want, there are a number of things to consider. First and foremost, you do not have a legal right to return to work part-time after the birth – it’s your employer’s decision. You do, however, have a right to request to return to work on a more flexible basis (part-time, job-sharing or working slightly different hours to everyone else), and your employer has to consider your request seriously - this means he or she cannot just say no outright. Want to get your request accepted? Your best bet is to follow our step-by-step guide, below.

Best laid plans

When you’re trying to arrange child-friendly working hours, time is of the essence. It may seem mad to approach your employer about a change in hours after the birth when you haven’t even left for maternity leave yet, but if you’ve worked out what you want, put it in writing now. The longer your boss has to consider your request and make the necessary practical arrangements, the more likely it is that you’ll come to an agreement. So here goes:

Step 1

Consider the range of working options which could work for you, and suggest lots of different alternatives.

One of the best things about working in the twenty-first century is the range of different job opportunities – but the fact they exist doesn’t necessarily mean that your employer offers or has even heard of flexitime or job-sharing. So find out as much as you can, then work out what could be a possibility in your case:

Working part-time doesn’t mean you simply cut your number of hours in half. For example, you could work for three days a week, or every day but only four hours per day, or full-time but only during term-time. Flexible working or flexitime means you work an agreed number of hours over the week, for example starting two hours early on a Monday but leaving work two hours early on a Tuesday.

Job-sharing allows you to work part-time because your job, which was done full-time by one person, is shared between two people. Working from home is increasingly common in this age of email. Some employers allow their employees to work from home for an agreed number of days a week. Childcare-friendly shifts allow you to work and to pick up your child from his or her carer at convenient times (i.e. not at 5am or 11pm!).

Step 2

Now you know what you want to ask for, look at your job description, and consider the practical side of a change in your hours.

If you weren’t working full-time, how would the job be done? If you simply want to adjust your hours (for example, by taking a shorter lunch break and leaving early) this shouldn’t be difficult. If you want to drastically cut your hours, could your job be done on a job-share basis?

How would that work, and could you help your employer find a suitable candidate for the job share? Show your employer you’re being as helpful as possible. Make a detailed, well-thought out plan, giving examples of particular tasks, and be realistic: if you don’t think it can be done successfully, your boss is likely to agree.

Step 3

Gather information.

If you want a sneak preview of your employer’s reaction to your request, speak to your colleagues. Has your job, or a similar job, been done flexibly before? Are there other part-timers in the company and how are they treated? Have other employees asked to work part-time and been refused?

The more you know about the company’s attitude to flexible working, the better your chance of presenting your request the right way.

Step 4

Look at your request from your employer’s point of view – what’s in it for the company?

We’ll give you a hint: according to research, companies who offer flexible working arrangements have a loyal, better motivated and productive workforce. And when it comes to women returning to work after maternity leave, 67 per cent return to employers with family-friendly working arrangements, but only 44 per cent decided to go back to work if there’s no flexibility on offer.

You yourself are even better than the statistics, though. If the company have invested money in recruiting and training you, their investment, and your expertise, will be lost if you resign. You’re brilliant – so make sure they know what they could be losing!

Step 5

If all goes according to plan, your employer will agree that a flexible working arrangement can be beneficial for both of you. You’re not home and dry just yet, though: it’s important to always get the details of your agreement in writing. Ask your employer, or take matters into your own hands and write to your boss setting out the arrangement as you understand it.

Phew! Now you can relax, but remember: if you successfully negotiate part-time work, you have no right to return to your job full-time later. If this could be a problem, consider asking to work reduced hours for a limited time only.

‘It’s full-time or nothing…’

Not all employers see the advantages of child-friendly working, so be prepared for worst-case scenarios. You could be offered flexible work, but on different conditions (for example at a more junior level, with less status and less pay).

What are you prepared to accept? And, of course, your employer could turn your request to work flexibly down for any number of reasons, and you’d be forced to resign or work hours you feel you can no longer cope with.

But even if your request is turned down completely, all is not lost. According to the Sex Discrimination Act your employer must have a good reason for refusing to allow you to work more flexibly in order to look after your children.

The fact that there are no part-time vacancies is not a good reason for refusing your request – a job-share could be a possibility if your job cannot be done part-time. Saying you are too senior to work more flexibly is also not a good reason – even chief executives can job-share. Expense, the need for continuity, and obligatory overtime are also not good reasons.

On your part, the newly-amended law says you must be able to show a ‘detriment’ from having to work full-time (for example, not being able to afford full-time childcare, or suffering from stress as a consequence of long work hours and childcare combined could be a detriment).

If you feel that your employer hasn’t given your request proper consideration before turning it down and think that you’re definitely being disadvantaged by not being able to work more flexibly, you can make a claim of sex discrimination to an employment tribunal.

You’ll need to get legal advice as soon as possible (the claim must be made within three months of the refusal), and be warned – it will be very stressful and even if you won, compensation won’t make you a millionaire (far from it), and may be inadequate for the loss of your job.

That said, most employment wrangles aren’t so extreme: eighty per cent of people who ask the Equal Opportunities Commission for legal advice about a problem at work sort something out with their employer way before it gets to tribunal. So get cracking with our step-by-step plan now!

Your rights at a glance

As a pregnant employee, you have a right to:

• 52 Weeks Maternity leave - 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave
• health and safety protection at work
• not be dismissed because of your pregnancy
• return to your job after your leave
• have a request to change your working hours after maternity leave seriously considered by your employer

For more information visit the Govenment's website for more advice on pregnancy and maternity rights

And remember…

If you work flexible hours, you can’t be paid less per hour than everyone else at your level, and the number of holiday days you’re entitled to must be, pro rata, the same as they were.