The Juggler - July 2024

Hey Jugglers, and welcome to our newsletter! We’re Allie and Jodie, and we run an online community for working parents, sharing tips, advice, news and the reality of juggling everything.

This month, we wanted to start by discussing the return to work after parental leave for both mothers and fathers.  

Returning to work after maternity leave

The thought of returning to work after maternity leave can be very daunting and overwhelming. Having spent time recovering from birth, learning to look after a small human and adapting to a whole new routine, mothers often experience anxiety in the lead up to returning. We both did! 

We both returned to work when our sons were 6 months old. No one can prepare you for the guilt you feel leaving your child in a childcare setting or remembering that you actually have to get up and ready to start work. Part of the magic of maternity leave is feeling like the world has slowed down and having no real routine - it’s rare to experience this feeling with the reality of such a fast-paced world. 

But you blink, and just like that your maternity leave is coming to an end and you’re preparing to go back to work.

So, we wanted to share our top tips for those getting ready to return after their maternity leave…

1. Consider asking for a phased return to support your transition back to work - this could be reduced daily hours or working part-time for the first few weeks

1. Ask lots of questions - have any major changes happened? What are the team goals for the year? If you were me, what would your priorities be?

1. Meet with your colleagues - spend time having a general catch up and check in with your colleagues to find out anything important that has happened whilst you were on leave

1. Create your new routine - it’s probably been a while since you needed a proper routine. Take the first few weeks to figure out your new routine and make changes when you need to. Remember, you know your family the best - do what works for you!

1. Connect with others - it’s so important to find others going through similar to you. Find others in your workplace, friends in your social group or join a community like All In The Juggle 

1. Be kind to yourself - no one is expecting you to do everything you used to do - remember that!

Returning to work after paternity leave

The return to work after paternity leave can be really hard for dads. Often your time off is very short and you feel pressured to return to work. According to a recent study:

3 in 5 fathers took two weeks or less paternity leave following the birth of their most recent child

70% of fathers only used part of their paternity leave entitlement because they couldn’t afford to stay off any longer 🤯

These statistics are just awful. It’s so important for dads to bond with their child and to support the mother in recovering from birth, without the pressure to return to work early. 

We asked our community for their top tips when returning to work from paternity leave…

1. Set clear boundaries with your colleagues so that they know when you will be available and when you won’t be

2. Try to plan ahead as much as possible, and set the expectation that you may need some flexibility when you return 

3. With paternity leave often being far too short, it’s a good idea to save some annual leave and use this to shorten your work weeks when you return

4. Be kind to yourself and don’t apologise for being away. Your life has changed completely, you’ll be very tired and will really miss your family. This is completely normal. Remember that you are doing your best.

In the News

FIFA

Last month saw FIFA reveal extensions to its coverage for female footballers and coaches to support them through maternity leave, adoption leave, or family leave. The new protocols were introduced on 1st June 2024, and will offer both players and coaches a minimum of 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. That level of coverage was previously only available to players. 

The new rules also include adoption leave and family leave, with Players and coaches being entitled to a minimum of eight weeks paid leave if they adopt a child younger than two years old. This drops to four weeks for a child between two and four years old and two weeks for a child older than four years. Eight weeks of paid leave is also available to players and coaches who are not biologically related to the child.

This is so great to see, and we hope that more employers will follow in FIFA’s footsteps and offer enhanced parental leave packages.

Our Community

All In The Juggle is a free Slack community for working parents, and we’re always welcoming new members. We’re so grateful to everyone that has joined us so far, and we hope we can continue to support all working parents out there. 

We use our community to share advice, ask those important parenting questions and network with others in a similar position. We have members from around the world and will soon be running our own community networking events for our members!

If you’d like to join us, fill in this form!

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