Dhe night is over early, the baby is crying. Then it’s time to calm down, feed and change diapers, quickly put something on and take the child to care. Then – after what feels like half a working day is over – it’s finally time to go to the office.
Here you rush through emails, calls and meetings. Then you run to collect the baby in time, before the daycare closes. New parents who want to go back to work have a hard time.
However, if you keep a few points in mind, parents can avoid unpleasant surprises when returning to the office and beforehand, and make it easier for both themselves and their colleagues to get back to work. Because if communication is good from all sides, parents are an asset in the company.
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Obtain a work reference in advance
If you want to return to your old job after parental leave, you have to reckon with the fact that your position has been filled in the meantime. This is initially quite normal, because the company has to continue to function during your absence.
Legally, the employee is entitled to the same or an equivalent position after his return. “Only: In practice, there are often problems,” says specialist lawyer for labor law Sandra Runge, who advises parents on their rights at work. “It is therefore very important that parents who take parental leave can provide written evidence of the position they held before their absence and how many hours they worked.”
For example, if you have a very old employment contract that does not yet state that you have been promoted in the meantime, you will quickly face a problem with proof.
It is not uncommon for parents to be assigned the job specified in the employment contract and not the job they last performed.
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“It would be best for parents to ask for an interim report before their absence that describes exactly what they did before parental leave,” advises Runge. This is not only helpful if you want to apply elsewhere, but also if something changes within the company.
For example, it can happen that the boss changes during the absence. And then it’s good to have a written document in hand that proves the work you’ve done for the company and want to do again in the future.
To ensure that employees do not lose touch with the company during parental leave, they should also keep in touch with colleagues and superiors during their absence. So if you still have time and energy left between changing diapers and baby swimming, you can also take part in company parties, team events and the like during the baby break.
Lawyer Runge thinks that’s wise. “That’s how you are present in people’s minds.” She even recommends attending further training courses if you have the capacity to stay technically up to date.
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Use special rights in everyday work
Parents also have certain rights that their childless peers do not have. For example, they can take up to ten days off work per year if their child is acutely ill. Mothers have the right to take breaks from breastfeeding during working hours: until their child’s first birthday, they can breastfeed twice a day for 30 minutes or once for a whole hour or pump milk.
The employer is also obliged to set up a suitable room for them. However, he does not have to do this of his own accord: mothers must expressly request the room and time off from work verbally or in writing.
One problem many parents struggle with is childcare. Daycare places are scarce in many places, but more and more employers are now helping their employees, for example by offering their own offer childcare or provide money for a caregiver.
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In any case, it doesn’t hurt to ask your employer for support. “More childcare places mean more work,” says Johanna Bing, who works as a coach and helps parents to reconcile work and family life. That is a strong argument for the employee side.
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In any case, the chances are good that the range of childcare services offered by employers will continue to improve: “At dem current skills shortage employers will soon no longer be able to afford not to support parents,” says Runge.
In the future everyone will be asked
The lawyer also hopes that the legal situation for parents will improve in the future: “There’s a lot that still needs to change.” For example, the legal situation: First, Runge pleads for at least three months longer protection against dismissal during parental leave.
Employers are not allowed to fire fathers and mothers during their parental leave. Currently, however, the protection ends with parental leave, i.e. on the first working day after your return, the normal statutory protection against dismissal applies again.
Secondly, the lawyer hopes that the legislator will expand the so-called catalog of discrimination. She demands that, for example, care work, i.e. the care of relatives and children, be included as a new feature “caring responsibility” so that parents and caring relatives can no longer be disadvantaged.
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It is very important that employers make sure to get everyone on board and raise awareness about parenthood. “If new parents drop out for various reasons – which does happen once in a while – the work must not be left to the other colleagues,” demands Runge. Otherwise problems could quickly arise between parents and childless employees.
parents can do more
Good planning and clear communication also help at home when organizing the new, stressful everyday family life. “Parents should already consider during pregnancy how they want to shape family life later,” says parent coach Bing. “And work out as early as possible who will take on which tasks.” Couples could then think together about how they want to implement this and, for example, who works how many hours a week.
If communication is good from all sides, parents are an asset for companies, says Bing – because unlike newly hired staff, they not only know the company’s work processes, they also have skills that many childless employees lack: “Parents can often plan better and organize,” she explains.
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At home, children often prevent fathers and mothers from completing tasks in a strict order – it is not uncommon for something unexpected to come up. Anyone who has come to terms with this will no longer be so quickly thrown off course by surprises at work and will learn to prioritize tasks. “Also, parents who care for their children tend to be more empathetic,” says Bing. So you learn how to motivate others – and even recommend yourself for managerial jobs.
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